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She lowered her eyes and swallowed hard. "Spotted Eagle saw my resemblance to my mother and explained everything to me," she said softly, then raised her eyes again slowly. "Only then did I know that I was Blackfoot and that my father was Brown Elk."
Chief Gray Bear forked an eyebrow. "You know my son?" he said. He looked past her, then into her eyes again. "I do not see him here. He did not accompany you
here, to introduce you to your true people?"
Jolena cast her Blackfoot father a troubled glance, seeking assistance in explaining to a father that his son might be dead!
Brown Elk drew her closer to his side, giving her the comfort that she was seeking. He explained to Gray Bear what had happened, though he found it hard to explain away his own son's absence since he should have arrived back at the village by now.
Chief Gray Bear leaned more heavily into his cane, the grief and concern thick in his eyes and his voice as he spoke. "We will not begin mourning my son until his body has been brought to his people as proof of his death," he said. "I will send many warriors to search for both our sons. I will speak to the fires of the sun to bring them home safely to us."
Then Chief Gray Bear raised a hand in the air and motioned for his people to come forth. Everyone obeyed and came and stood quietly behind Jolena and Brown Elk. Brown Elk urged her around to face them, as Chief Gray Bear addressed them.
"One of our people has returned to us!" Chief Gray Bear shouted, as best his voice would carry in his weakened state of health. "Look upon her! You will see Sweet Dove in her features! She is the daughter of Brown Elk and Sweet Dove! She has come home to us!"
Now Jolena understood why so many of the women had fled for shelter inside their tepees when they had gotten a better look at her. The older women remembered Sweet Dove as though she were alive only yesterday!
They surely thought she had risen from the dead!
Now that Jolena's true identity had been explained to them, they all came to her in clusters, some smiling, some touching, some hugging.
Chief Gray Bear came to Jolena and himself embraced her. "There should be a great feast to celebrate your return to us," he said, stepping away from her. His eyes were hauntingly dark as he peered down at her. "But you understand that while my son is missing there can be no celebration?"
"Yes, I understand," she murmured, deep within herself wishing that she could tell him that she understood more than he realized. She wanted to share her feelings with this elderly, ailing man, about a son whom he apparently idolized. She wanted to tell Chief Gray Bear that she loved him as much!
But she knew that this was not the timeeven that the time might never be afforded her.
If Spotted Eagle were truly dead, their feelings for one another would be kept a secret, stored safely within the soft confines of Jolena's heart, to enjoy on those nights when she allowed herself to close her eyes and pretend he was there with her again.
"Let us go inside my dwelling," Brown Elk said, again placing a protective arm around Jolena's waist and whisking her away from the others. "There you will eat and be given clothes of our people."
Only for an instant did Jolena think about the father who had raised and nourished her. The wonder of being with her true father was washing all thoughts of her past life slowly away.
"That sounds wonderful," Jolena said, smiling at him. Over her shoulder she watched several warriors mount their proud steeds and ride away. Her smile waned, knowing where they were going.
She closed her eyes and gave a silent prayer that Two Ridges had been lying about Spotted Eagle and that he would be found alive and well.
"White woman's attire should have never clothed you," said Brown Elk, his voice breaking. "Never shall it again."
The hurt in her father's voice drew Jolena's thoughts back to him. At this moment, he deserved her full attention and devotion. He had been denied these things for far too long.
She followed him inside his tepee, where she began to absorb everything as though her mind were a sponge, wanting to quickly learn everything that had been denied her, to make up for lost time.
She already felt deep inside her soul that this was where she belonged!
Oh, but if only Spotted Eagle could have been a part of this discovery of herself as she was truly meant to be!
Knowing that if she labored over thoughts of Spotted Eagle much longer, she would not be able to keep from weeping, she held her chin proudly high as her father helped her down onto a couch softened with a cushion of buffalo robes beside the fire in the firepit.
As Brown Elk placed more wood on the fire, Jolena gazed around her again. The inside walls of the tepee were made of brightly painted cowhide, reaching from the ground to a height of five or six feet. The paintings portrayed the various battles and adventures in which her father had taken part. An air space about two or three inches thick had been left between the inner lining and the lodge covering. The air rushing up through it from the outside made a draft which aided the large flap at the top to free the lodge of smoke.
Three couches were positioned around the fire. At the foot and head of every couch, a mat made of straight, peeled willow twigs, fastened side by side, was suspended on a tripod so that between the couches spaces were left as convenient places to store articles which were not in use.
The earth flooring of the lodge had been swept fantastically clean, and domestic paraphernaliaworn, gray millstones, gourds, baskets, and clay potssat neatly in place along the walls.
Jolena's eyes were drawn to an exhibit of warring attire and weapons, which was most impressive as the fire cast its dancing shadows upon the bows and arrows, the lances decorated with many colorful feathers, and the rifles with their shining barrels.
She looked for signs of women's attire or needlework, seeing nothing of the kind, which had to mean that her father no longer had a wife.
