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Dawnmarie gasped and paled. She stopped in midstep when she saw John Shelton in the cage.
Kaylene gazed at John as he gave her a pleading look, while trying to keep that most private part of himself covered beneath his hands.
Every time Kaylene looked at him, she felt herself despising him more deeply. His presence there in the cage represented everything evil about him.
“Ignore him,” Kaylene said icily. “He led the attack on the Kickapoo. He was captured. He is paying for his evil deeds.”
“But who is he?” Dawnmarie asked, shuffling past him, embarrassed somewhat by his nudity.
“He once was my father,” Kaylene said, her voice void of emotion.
Dawnmarie looked quickly over at Kaylene. “Your . . . father?” she gasped out.
“Only in pretense, it seems,” Kaylene said, sighing heavily. She looked at Dawnmarie. “Please, let’s not talk about him. Let’s talk about other things that are more pleasant. I hope that you will tell me your feelings about living among Indians; about, oh, so many things. You seem to have experienced so much. Surely you can offer advice about that which is troubling me.”
“And what is that?” Dawnmarie asked softly. “Tell me. I shall do whatever I can. You do seem troubled about so much.”
“Yes, and life, in general, it seems,” Kaylene said, again sighing. “But one thing is in my favor. I have Fire Thunder’s love.” She laughed awkwardly. “But that did not come easy. He took me captive. I, at first . . . hated him.”
“Captive?” Dawnmarie asked, eyes wide. She glanced over her shoulder at the cage, then paled as she looked at Kaylene. “Do not tell me that you were also placed in . . . in . . . that thing.”
Kaylene smiled. “Yes, I know the miseries of that hellish cage,” she said softly.
“Yet, you are still going to marry Fire Thunder?” Dawnmarie asked incredulously.
“My hate, my rage, for him, turned into something more, something beautiful,” Kaylene said, opening the door to Fire Thunder’s cabin. “We fell in love. I am here now, because I wish to be.”
Dawnmarie entered the lodge first. Kaylene and Little Sparrow followed, along with Midnight.
Midnight went and sprawled out before the roaring fire in the fireplace, on the blanket he had claimed as his own.
Kaylene offered Dawnmarie a chair, then sat down opposite her, while Little Sparrow lay down on the blanket with Midnight, soon cuddling against him, asleep.
“Now, Dawnmarie, please tell me about yourself, how you met White Wolf, and how you adjusted to life with Indians,” Kaylene began. She slipped her feet beneath her, so glad that her dress and hair were finally dry after the drenching in the rainstorm.
“My life before I met White Wolf was pleasant enough because my Kickapoo mother was so dear and sweet to me,” Dawnmarie said. “My father, until he took to drinking, was kind and gentle. He was a trapper. Then he became the owner of a trading post. It was there that I became acquainted with the different tribes of Indians that lived in the Wisconsin area. White Wolf stole my heart the moment I saw him. He has had it ever since.”
“And you married him,” Kaylene said, raking her fingers through her hair, drawing it back across her shoulders. “Did his people accept you quickly?”
“I fit in like a hand snuggled into a tight glove,” Dawnmarie said, laughing softly. Then her laughter faded. “But for a time now, I have been too troubled about things to enjoy being a wife to my husband, as I have, in the past.”
“And why is that?” Kaylene pressed. “If you don’t mind telling me, that is.”
“It has been this constant need to find my true people,” Dawnmarie said, her eyes taking on a faraway look. “It has been so long now since the first time my mother told me that I must seek out my people. But life kept getting in the way. I now wish that I hadn’t waited so long. I could have had a lifetime of getting to know them. Now it will be only brief, for I see the importance of returning to my children, to enjoy them, and my grandchildren. Life is sometimes cut off way before one is ready. One must set things right as soon as possible, or perhaps never get the chance.”
She paused, reached over and placed a hand on Kaylene’s arm. “I was one of the lucky ones,” she said softly. “Although I waited so long to come to Mexico, to be with my true people, it could have been different. I might have waited too long.”
“I am sure that Fire Thunder’s people, your people, are glad that you are here,” Kaylene said as Dawnmarie eased her hand away and rested it on her lap. “And perhaps you have told me enough for me to know what I must do. Only recently have I discovered that the man out in that cage is not my true father. I have been living a lie. That man out there abducted me when I was a child too small to even remember my real parents. Now I must go and find them. What you have told me has helped my decision. Have I made the right decision? Should I seek the full truths about my parents?”
“I encourage you to,” Dawnmarie said. “Please don’t wait as long as I waited. Look at what I have missed by not knowing my people. The years, the love, the bond! Yes, follow your heart. Find those who unwillingly gave you up.”
“But what if Fire Thunder gets impatient with my search and falls out of love with me by thinking that I care more for people I have never known than him,” Kaylene said, her voice breaking.
“I saw the love that man has for you,” Dawnmarie reassured her. “It matches the feelings my husband has for me. It is an eternal, deep love. He will stand by your decision, no matter the inconvenience it might bring him.”
Kaylene left her chair and went to Dawnmarie. She knelt before her and reached her arms up. Dawnmarie leaned down and welcomed Kaylene’s warm hug.
Kaylene then gazed intently into Dawnmarie’s eyes. “I have failed to tell you how often I am puzzled by feelings that I belong to this way of life, as though I, in part, am Indian,” she murmured. “Can it be because of a past life? Was I an Indian maiden in my past life?”
