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Smiling, she reached a hand to her brother's arm. "I hope you both will be happy," she said.
Chapter Thirty-One
Shivering in the cool breeze of the morning, Jolena stood solemnly by, watching Kirk preparing to leave for Fort Chance. Word had been received that a riverboat would be passing through and would be making a stop at Fort Chance. Kirk had just enough time to get there.
Jolena frowned as she watched Kirk help Moon Flower into her saddle, then swung himself onto a horse that had been assigned him for the journey.
Then her eyes were drawn around and she smiled weakly up at Spotted Eagle. "I'm glad that you are riding with the warriors who are accompanying my brother to Fort Chance," she murmured. "And I understand why you don't want me to go with you. Please hurry back, my love. The nights are getting colder. The blankets will be cold and empty without you at my side."
"It is good that you understand why you must stay behind," he said, lifting her chin with a forefinger, so that her lips were only a breath away from his. "Good-byes might be harder to say if you are again thrown into the life of white people at the fort. It is best not to tempt you."
"Darling, I know it would be futile to argue with you, to tell you that I think you are wrong about that," Jolena said. "So I shan't, and I shall stay with my people and learn more of their ways while I am waiting for you to return to me."
"It should be only one night that I will be gone from you," Spotted Eagle said, ignoring Kirk's glare when he brushed a kiss across Jolena's lips. He then whispered to her. "And if the blankets do not warm you enough, let your mind recall our moments together. Will that not warm you through and through, my woman?"
"I can't do that," Jolena murmured, smiling softly up at him. "It would truly be best if I think of other things while you are gone from me. Recalling our moments together would make me want you too much at a time when you are being denied me."
"Perhaps this separation will be good for us both," Spotted Eagle said, chuckling.
He leaned even closer to be sure that no one else could hear, especially Kirk. "Waiting will enhance the pleasure,'' he whispered. "When I return, we will make love as though it were the first time."
"My every heartbeat will count the minutes for your return," she whispered back, giving him a soft kiss, then moved away from him and went stiffly to her brother.
"Kirk, I hope there are no hard feelings between us," she said. "And please, please do your best to make father understand. He, of all people, should. He is the one who took me from my true people. He had me for many years, as his own. My true father will have me for less, for his years are already too many in number to count many more."
Kirk sat stiffly for a few moments as silence fell like a wall between him and Jolena, then he reached a hand to her cheek.
"Sis, I hold no grudges," he said, his voice drawn. "If it were me, and had I been denied my true people for so long, I am sure I would do the same as you. Please be happy, sis. That's what's important now. That you are happy in your decision to live with the Blackfoot people. You… have my blessing."
Jolena knew that he was saying things that he did not feel and was grateful that he could do this for her, placing his true feelings aside to deal with later, after he was away from her.
"Thank you, Kirk," Jolena said, a sob lodging in her throat. She gazed at Moon Flower, her spine stiffening at the thought that this Blackfoot maiden was deceiving Kirk. But still she could not find it in herself to warn Kirk, for he was a man now and should be capable of making his own decisions without a sister's interference.
Spotted Eagle mounted his horse and guided it next to Kirk's. "White brother, it is time to leave," he said, then turned his eyes to Jolena again. "When the sun rises again and slides upward to the highest point in the sky your man will return to you."
"
Please be careful," Jolena said, nervously clasping and unclasping her hands behind her.
Spotted Eagle nodded, then rode on ahead to join the other warriors who were riding with him.
Kirk and Jolena stared at one another a moment, then Kirk nudged his heels into the flanks of his horse and rode away, Moon Flower dutifully at his side on her white mare.
Jolena watched until they became only spots on the horizon. Then she turned around and looked at the activity in the village.
The sun was just rising. Thin columns of smoke were creeping from the smoke holes of the lodges, ascending into the still morning air. Everywhere outside, women were busy carrying water and wood. Some were digging in a bank near the river for red clay, which would be used for paint.
Inside their dwellings the women were preparing meals.
The men were coming out and starting for the river. Some were followed by their children. Some were carrying those too small to walk. When they reached the water's edge, they dropped their blankets and plunged into the cold water.
Jolena knew now that winter and summer, storm or shine, this was their daily custom. The Blackfoot had been taught that this made them tough and healthy and enabled them to endure the bitter cold while hunting on the bare, bleak prairie.
Jolena had already eaten her morning meal with Spotted Eagle before he left and now planned to do many things to help pass her long and lonely day without Spotted Eagle near.
As soon as the women left their dwellings and began their daily chores, Jolena joined them, following their lead so that she could learn the proper way to do everything. Today the women were making foods from dried meat, the thicker parts of the buffalo having already been cut in large, thin sheets and hung in the sun to dry.
The back fat of the buffalo was also dried and would be eaten with the meat as Jolena had eaten her bread and butter when she lived in Saint Louis.
