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After a long moment of peaceful silence, Brown Elk began to talk. "There are many winters in this old man," he said. "But once I was young, and I had a young wife. Her name was Sweet Dove, the most beautiful woman of the Blackfoot, Cree, Crow, and Snake tribes of the Montana Territory. When she agreed to become my wife, I gave a celebration that lasted for many days and nights."
He swallowed hard. "We spent many nights sharing blanket warmth, and then she told me she was with child," he said, giving Jolena a proud smile. "Never was a Blackfoot warrior as happy as when that announcement was made to me. I pampered my woman, and every night I spoke to my child through the walls of my wife's stomach. I told my child that this father already loved her very much."
He looked quickly away as te
ars began silvering his eyes. "Yes, even then I saw the child as a daughter," he said, his voice trailing away. "And then came the day for this child to be born. Foolishly I allowed my wife to go from this village to have the child alone, as Blackfoot wives do. Never did the life of my child seem threatened, nor that of my wife. Sweet Dove was healthy and strong. But not strong enough, it seems."
Brown Elk rested his face in his hands and began shaking his head back and forth mournfully. "She must have suffered much before she released the child from her womb," he said, his voice drawn. "The blood… there was so much blood when she was found…"
Jolena moved to her father and took his hands from his face and leaned into his arms. "No more," she cried. "Please don't say any more. It isn't fair of me to ask you to go through this again, as though it were today instead of eighteen summers ago. Please say no more, Father."
In her mind's eye, Jolena was trying desperately to block out the sight of her mother lying in a pool of her life's blood without feeling to blame, even though she had been a mere babe, innocent of everything as she had lain beside her dying mother, who had given her life to give birth to her. She was so glad that her Blackfoot father did not see her as the cause of his wife's death.
Jolena clenched her eyelids closed, having learned something from this experience. She knew that whenever she was heavy with child, she would most definitely break away from the old tradition of going from the village to give birth to the child alone! She would want her beloved Spotted Eagle at her side during her time of labor and birthing. She would not let history repeat itself.
Her eyes fluttered open, realizing where her thoughts had just taken her! She was marveling at how she could think that far ahead and consider children with Spotted Eagle when she wasn't even yet his wife!
Someone crying just outside the tepee drew Jolena and Brown Elk apart. They both rushed to their feet and went to the entrance. Jolena watched anxiously as her father lifted the flap, gasping when she found Moon Flower there, trembling and crying.
"I have been banished from my parents' lodge," Moon Flower said, sobbing as she gazed from Jolena to Brown Elk. "Where can I go? What am I to do? My parents disown me."
Brown Elk reached quickly to Moon Flower. He placed an arm around her waist and drew her into the tepee. "Tell us what has happened to cause such trouble between yourself and your parents," he said, helping her down onto the couch cushioned with many pelts.
Jolena followed and sat down on one side of Moon Flower as her father sat down on the other side of the distraught young woman.
Moon Flower buried her face in her hands, her whole body shaking as she continued crying. "I told my parents that I was with child!" she cried. "I asked for their pity and… told them that a child born to me now would be born of a daughter still unmarried!"
"You are with child?" Jolena said, trying to keep the alarm that she was feeling from her voice. She knew of Moon Flower's love for Two Ridges. The child could be none other than his!
"Yes, and I am proud, not ashamed!" Moon Flower said, giving Jolena a defiant look. "Had Two Ridges not died, he would have married me! I… had not found the courage yet to tell him about the… child."
She lowered her eyes and wept again. "And never shall I be able to!" she wailed.
"You did not have the courage also to tell your parents until now?" Brown Elk said, reaching a hand to Moon Flower's brow, smoothing some fallen dark locks of hair back into place.
"I did not want to tell them until I had exchanged vows with Two Ridges and then the pregnancy would be legitimate in the eyes of my parents and my people," Moon Flower said, sniffling as she wiped her nose with the back of a hand. "I had thought to run away after his burial and stay away until I had the child. I did not think my parents could turn their backs on a daughter who was offering a tiny child to its grandparents for loving and understanding. But today I could not bear the thought of leaving, nor could I bear the thought of carrying this burden within my heart any longer. I revealed the truth of my condition to my mother and father, and neither embraced the knowing. Both are ashamed and they pointed to the door and ordered me to leave."
Knowing that Two Ridges had never had any true feelings for Moon Flower, Jolena was torn in her feelings about knowing that the child Moon Flower was carrying was his.
Now a part of this horrible man would be alive forever!
Yet she could not shun this woman whose life had been altered forever by Two Ridges' need to conquer as many women as he could to prove his prowess.
This woman had not been as lucky as Jolenato find a man who was honorable in every way!
Also, this unborn child was in part related to Jolena! She would be the child's aunt!
She glanced at her father, seeing how he wore this knowledge heavy in the depths of his eyesto know that a son had fathered a child and had not wed the woman first!
She could see a mixture of alarm and shame in his expression and was glad when he opened his arms to Moon Flower, surely ready to accept this woman into his life as he would his grandchild once it was born.
"You need go no farther than my tepee," Brown Elk said, embracing Moon Flower as she clung desperately to him. "I shall take over the duties of my son. You will live with me. The child will have a place to live. Your child will be dearly loved."
"Oh, thank you, thank you," Moon Flower sobbed. "I promise that I will find many ways to repay your kindness."
"You need not worry about repayment," Brown Elk said, patting her back. "That you were honest enough to reveal the truth to me, the unborn child's grandparent, is payment enough. Should you have left the village, never would I have been given the chance to hold my grandchild, nor to give it the love it deserves from a grandparent."
He paused, then said, "Your mother and father will envy this grandparent when they see he holds the child up on the day of its birth for all to see!"
