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He stood up and walked around the fire to Nicole. He bent down, gathered a blanket into his arms, and then held it out for her.
“Again you will sleep on this side of the fire and I, the other,” he said solemnly as their eyes met and held.
Nicole felt so much for him at this moment, it was hard not to fling herself into his arms and thank him over and over again for his kindness. He had made her feel so much better about everything.
He had such a mystical way of talking and thinking.
She longed to stay so that she could be with him forever.
When she gazed deep into his eyes, and saw emotion that matched her own feelings for him, she found it hard to believe that she would leave him tonight and surely never see him again, unless…
Unless he wanted her as badly as she wanted him, and came searching for her.
If he did find her, would he feel comfortable enough to take her to his home with him? Would he ignore how his people might feel about her?
She blinked her eyes in order to stop herself from thinking these things.
She smiled and accepted the blanket. Then she watched as he went and stretched out on his own.
Nicole spread her blanket and lay down upon it, fighting her feelings as each moment passed. Soon she would tiptoe into the darkness and perhaps never see him again.
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She hated to think that she might never see his beautiful eyes and smile again, or feel that fleeting touch that seemed oh, so magical and sweet.
She ached for his arms!
She ached for his kiss!
She ached with all of her heart at what she must do.
As Eagle Wolf lay there, he wrestled with his own feelings. He knew how alone Nicole was in the world now, yet he also knew how much his people hated the white eyes.
He must trust that she would find her way to a white community. That was the only way it could be.
But he knew that he would always carry a sense of no longer being whole. This woman completed him.
Without her, life would be so lonely, so empty.
Yet he saw no other course except to tell her good-bye on the morrow.
It would be sad, but necessary.
Finally he fell asleep, only to have fitful dreams of watching Nicole ride away, his arms outstretched as he begged her not to go.
It seemed only a matter of moments since he had gone to sleep beneath the crescent moon, yet there it was dawn already, the birds overhead awakening him.
Believing he would find Nicole on the other side of the campfire, Eagle Wolf leaned up on an elbow to say good morning to her.
When he saw that Nicole was not there, he sat up quickly and looked toward where her horse had been tethered. It was gone, too. His heart sank, for he knew now that she had left while he slept.
He realized that she, too, would have found it hard to look into his eyes to say good-bye. He knew that she loved him as deeply as he loved her.
He was not certain how love could come so quickly and completely, but it had. Yet now that she was gone, he must leave, too, and return to his life…without her.
Dispirited, he rose from his blanket and prepared his horse for leaving.
Although he ached to hold Nicole and keep and protect her, ka-bike-hozhoni-bi, happy evermore, he mounted his horse and rode away in the direction of his home.
