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She would not allow herself to remember that her brother had been too cowardly to save her.
Chapter Fourteen
Traveling in the back of the wagon instead of on the seat beside Kirk, Jolena spread her journals around her, her fingers gingerly pinning first one specimen of butterfly onto a board, then another.
She stopped, and with a magnifying glass studied one of the most colorful and beautiful butterflies she had ever seen. Its wings were covered with overlapping scales, thousands of these tiny scales giving the insect its brilliant colors.
Jolena was scarcely aware of the thunder that was rumbling outside the wagon, muffled somewhat by the trees of the forest. Only moments ago, she had been sitting outside beside her brother, admiring the brilliant orange flowers staring out boldly from vines on the sides of the trees, their scent trapped in the steady air. She had been in awe of a colorful lizard as it basked on a rock in the ribbons of sun that broke through the thick foliage overhead.
She was not even aware of the struggling efforts of those who were leading the teams of mules through the thick forest in an effort to enable everyone to continue traveling along the narrow path that had been cut through the forest by earlier travelers, instead of being forced to travel on the mules or on foot.
Jolena busied her fingers to get together the collection of butterflies for her father, while her mind was busy elsewhere.
"Spotted Eagle," she whispered, thrilling at the mere sound of his name as it breathed across her lips.
She had never thought that being in love could make one feel so much more alive. It was as though all of her feelings were intensified now that she had fallen in love. She felt as though her very heart was singing!
A lurid flash of lightning close by outside
the wagon and an ensuing crash of thunder caused Jolena's fingers to slip so that the pin she was readying to stick into the board pricked her finger instead.
"Ouch!" she whispered harshly, wincing even more as blood began trickling down her finger.
Reaching for a clean, dry piece of cotton, she placed it over the tiny wound. She then jumped with alarm when lightning flashed again, sending its lurid light through the canvas of the wagon, followed by an even louder crash of thunder.
As a small child, Jolena had always covered her head with a blanket if it stormed in the middle of the night while she was alone in her bedroom. Now she crawled to the front of the wagon and gazed upward, gasping. Black, billowing clouds were visible through the break in the trees overhead. She grabbed for Kirk's arm when lightning flooded the forest with another series of blue-white flashes, thunder booming only seconds later.
Kirk gave Jolena a frown over his shoulder. "We're in for one bad storm," he shouted over the loud thrashing of the leaves overhead as the wind suddenly began whipping through the trees. "It's going to hit us head on. There's no way to get away from it."
"Is there anything I can do?" Jolena asked, glancing around her as the canvas cover of the wagon began to strain against the bolts that were keeping it in place.
"Go to the back and tie down the cover as tightly as you can," Kirk shouted. "Close the front opening also, or everything we own might get blown away or soaked. Then all we can do is sit tight and ride this one out."
Jolena nodded.
She crawled to the back of the wagon and tied the canvas down as tightly as possible. She went from bolt to bolt, testing them, glad to find that they were all tight and snug.
Then she stared at her journals and the delicate specimens of butterflies spread out on the wagon floor. To make sure they were not harmed, she covered them with sheets of canvas that they had brought along just for this purpose.
When she felt that everything was secured as well as possible, she turned and stared at Kirk again, then at the empty seat beside him, wondering if she wanted to ride out the storm at his side or within the canvas walls of the wagon.
Fearing being alone during the storm, she chose to sit outside with her brother. She rushed to the seat and sat down, then turned and drew the canvas together behind them and tied it securely in place.
She clung nervously to the seat, her eyes darting around, trying to find Spotted Eagle. He was usually there, close to her wagon. But this time he was missing. He was probably going from wagon to wagon, checking to see if everything was readied for the storm.
Two Ridges was still there, riding a little behind her wagon. A strange coldness seemed to seize her when she found him staring at her, his eyes shadowed as everything became dull and gray with the approach of the storm.
She could not put her finger on what troubled her about Two Ridges. It was not only that he had been too cowardly to save her from the fall over the cliff. She had felt the same way before her accident. There seemed to be something about him that tugged at her soul, as though perhaps she had known him in another time, another life.
It was not the same feeling that she had about Spotted Eagle. Somehow he had appeared in her dreams, becoming real to her before she'd met him.
She had known nothing of Two Ridges until she first laid eyes on him. Yet since that first eye contact, something had been there, troubling her and seemingly haunting him as well.
Fear gripped her as another menacing bolt of lightning lit the trees with its silver light, followed by a fast roll of thunder. She gripped the seat with her fingers as the menacing black clouds raced overhead with enormous speed, pushed by tremendous winds that were curling the tree tops.
Then the rain began falling in torrents, the wind lashing the rain against Jolena's face. She screamed as the trees began swaying jerkily, threatening to hurl down their branches.
''Get inside the wagon!" Kirk shouted, wiping water from his face with the back of one hand, while with his other he tried to keep the wagon steady as the mules reared and brayed.
