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“They are with your sister at your brother’s ranch,” Strong Wolf said, brushing her hair back from her eyes. “The boat has left. The crisis is over. We may now resume our lives. We will be married.”
Hannah sucked in a quivering air of breath. “I remember it all now,” she said. “It was like a nightmare, Strong Wolf.” She flung herself into his arms again. “Hold me. Please just hold me.”
“A beautiful maid of nineteen winters lies on my bed of sweet grass,” he said in almost a whisper as he caressed her back through the thin fabric of her dress. “And I love her more than life itself.”
“And I love you,” Hannah said, clinging. “I missed you so while away from you.” She visibly shivered. “At times, it was almost unbearable. Those who died? It was as though I lost someone of my very own kin. I tried so hard to help keep them alive.”
She leaned somewhat away from him and gazed into his eyes. “Father badgered me constantly about becoming a doctor,” she murmured. “Perhaps in time I would have considered it had I not met you, and had I not been introduced to the ways of doctoring while on that death boat. Now that I have seen suffering and death, firsthand, I wonder how anyone can be a doctor?”
“You are too compassionate to face death and illness each day,” Strong Wolf said, smiling at her. “You see, I am certain it was like a small part of your heart was torn away each time someone died.”
“That is how it felt,” Hannah said, eyes wide.
“Then it is wise that you are leaving the doctoring to your father,” Strong Wolf said, again drawing her into his embrace. “This is where you belong. Only here.”
Hannah paled. She leaned back and looked up at Strong Wolf. “My parents,” she gasped. “Surely they don’t approve of my being here. How did I get here?”
“It seems that while you were with your parents during that ordeal on the riverboat, you managed to persuade them that your future was with me,” he said softly. “When the crisis was over on the boat, and you fainted from exhaustion, your parents had you brought to me.”
“So that when I awakened, I would find myself in your arms?” Hannah said, her eyebrows raising. “I had not known that I was that persuasive when I talked to my father about my feelings.”
Strong Wolf saw no reason to allow her to know that it was only her mother whose mind had been changed toward Strong Wolf, not her father. It would only cause her pain to know that her father still had deep, negative feelings about Hannah’s choice of a husband. For now, Strong Wolf would just give her information that would not cause her added grief.
“Your parents love you,” he said, leaning a soft kiss to her brow. “They want you to be happy.”
“I had no idea that my words were sinking at all into my father’s consciousness,” Hannah said, laughing softly. “He is such a stubborn man. And usually, he gets his way about everything.”
Now completely awake and aware of things, Hannah could smell the unpleasantness of her armpits, and her hair was so dirty it felt as though tiny bugs were crawling around on her scalp.
She eased from Strong Wolf’s arms, her face red with embarrassment. “How can you stand for me to be near you?” she said, inching farther away from him on the bed. “I smell horrible.” She ran her fingers through her hair and cringed. “And my hair. It hasn’t been washed in days. How horrible I must look to you!”
“You could never look anything but beautiful to this man who will soon be your husband,” Strong Wolf said, then rose from the bed. He took her hands and led her up from the bed. “Are you strong enough to stand?”
“Now that I have rested, yes, my strength has somewhat returned,” she murmured, testing her legs as she stood up before Strong Wolf. She laughed softly. “My knees no longer feel like rubber.”
“Then, we shall go to the river and bathe,” Strong Wolf said.
He left her long enough to gather up some fresh, clean clothes from the back of the lodge. He placed two pairs of breeches and two shirts over his arms. He grabbed a piece of soap from the basin.
“Come,” he said, reaching his hand out for her. “We shall bathe together.”
So relieved that she was no longer on the boat, and so glad to be with Strong Wolf, Hannah took Strong Wolf’s hand and left the lodge with him.
When she got outside she stopped with a start, in awe of how many of Strong Wolf’s people were there, their eyes seeming to brighten as they gazed at her.
Hannah sidled over closer to Strong Wolf. “Why are they here?” she asked softly.
“They know of my love for you,” Strong Wolf said, smiling into the crowd. “They came to see if you were going to be all right.”
A small girl came to Hannah. She held out a cornhusk doll toward her.
Hannah turned questioning eyes up at Strong Wolf.
“Talks Softly is offering you a gift,” Strong Wolf said. He placed a gentle hand to the child’s elbow and led her closer. “This is her way to show her happiness over you being all right. The doll? She made it. She has always loved it.”
“If it is so special to her, does she truly wish to part with it?” Hannah asked, hesitating.
“She offers her special doll to you to prove how much she wishes to be your friend,” Strong Wolf said. “If you do not take it, you will humiliate her.”
