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Spotted Eagle's eyes lit with fire at the mention of the Cree, and his jaw tightened. He chose not to respond.
Jolena turned her eyes toward the approaching horsemen again. When she recognized the lead rider, she grew cold inside and swayed from dizziness.
Kirk!
It was Kirk!
She had not seen or heard from him since his departure those five long years ago. Even when she had sent a message from Fort Chance to her father and brother, she had been ignored.
A feeling of foreboding swept over Jolena at the sight of her brother.
She had missed him, but she did not want him to complicate her life again with talk of life back in Saint Louis and the friends and family she had turned her back on.
If he spoke of that life again, she would absolutely refuse to listen. She never could have been as happy anywhere as she had been these past years in the village of her true people, married to her beloved Spotted Eagle.
When Yellow Eagle came in a rush from the tepee and clung to the skirt of her buckskin dress, Jolena's father followed him to stand at Spotted Eagle's right side. Jolena squared her shoulders. Nothing would take them away from her. But she could not deny her anxiety as Kirk swung himself out of his saddle and walked toward her. She had loved him for so long, long before she had ever thought it possible to live with her true people. She could not deny the claim he had on her.
"Kirk?" Jolena murmured, then ran to him and flung herself into his arms and hugged him. "Oh, Kirk, why have you ignored my messages? Why? And what of father? How is he?"
"Father is the reason I have come," Kirk said, easing her from his arms. "Jolena, he lasted until only a few months ago. Then… then he just went to sleep. He died without pain."
Jolena's heart seemed to stop beating for a moment. In her mind's eye she saw her white father as she had loved and known him as a child. She had shared her secrets with him. She had laughed and joked with him. Those things she had missed these past five years.
"Kirk, did he die hating me?" she asked, tears streaming down her cheeks.
"No, sis," Kirk said softly. "He knew from the moment he took you from your mother that you would one day leave him. It hurt, but he accepted it. These past years he was happy, writing his journals, and enjoying your contributions to his butterfly collection."
" My contributions?" Jolena said, her voice drawn.
"Yes, sis," Kirk said, smiling down at her. "After I reached Fort Chance, I led a detachment of soldiers back to the site of the accident. While they were burying the dead, I found several of your journals, as well as the butterfly collection that you had begun. There were enough cards left unharmed to give our father much pleasure."
He nodded toward his horse. "Sis, father finally wrote a book," he said. "It's about butterfliesand his life. I've brought you a copy."
Jolena's pulse raced as she waited for Kirk to go to his horse and lift the book from his saddlebag. She took the book and held it tenderly within her hands as she gazed down at it. Seeing her father's name on the cover made her very proud.
"Thank you, Kirk," Jolena murmured, hugging the book to her chest. "You went to a lot of trouble bringing it to me. I shall always cherish it."
Kirk looked around at the people who were coming from their dwellings to see who the late night visitor was. "Sis, I've come for more reasons than I've confessed," he admitted, his gaze moving from face to face, searching for one in
particular.
"And that is?" Jolena asked, seeing that he was studying everyone and suddenly guessing why. She glanced over at Moon Flower's tepee, then heard his gasp as his former love walked slowly toward him, Double Runner at her side, one child in his arms and another in Moon Flower's.
Kirk paled and quickly looked away from Moon Flower. "I should have known that she would be married," he said, raking his fingers through his hair. "I should've come sooner."
"If you loved her, you shouldn't ever have let her go," Jolena said, remembering the day that Moon Flower had returned to the village, heartbroken. "Double Runner is a good husband. Moon Flower loves him very much. Their children are beautiful, are they not?"
Kirk glanced again Moon Flower's way, their eyes momentarily locking. Then he shifted his gaze to the children. "They are lovely children," he murmured, bowing his head.
"Even Two Ridges' son," Jolena said stiffly. "He plays with my son often."
Kirk looked down at the child at Jolena's side. "Your son?" he said, his eyes wavering when he saw the likeness of the child to Spotted Eagle.
"He's a handsome boy," Kirk forced himself to say, his resentment toward Spotted Eagle no less today than five years before. He still thought that had it not been for Spotted Eagle, Jolena would not have felt such a strong need to stay with the Blackfoot.
"His name is Yellow Eagle," Jolena said, pushing her son toward Kirk. "Yellow Eagle, This is your Uncle Kirk."
Yellow Eagle stared up at Kirk for a moment, then smiled. "I already know you," he said. "My mother has talked of you often."
