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Sam shrugged. “Well, okay, she’s gone,” he said, walking past Jeremiah. He stopped before leaving the house. “But she can’t be far away if she left this place during the night. Mark my word, Mormon, I’ll find ’er.”
Sam laughed sardonically. “Do you know, I’m not sure which punishment would be worse for her?” he said. “Bringin’ her back here to live with the likes of you and your people, or takin’ her for myself to do with as I wish.”
Again Sam shrugged and left, leaving Jeremiah gasping on the floor, stunned that he had been allowed to live. He lay there until he heard the horses ride away.
He waited a while longer before he got up. Then he scrambled to his feet and ran outside, where everyone who had been in the dining hall was now gathered. The two wives of the fallen man were kneeling over him, along with his three children. All were weeping.
It was apparent that everyone was in a state of shock. They all looked to Jeremiah for answers.
Jeremiah went to them and stood before them. “Seems we had quite a problem on our hands, but I’ve taken care of it,” he said thickly. “Those men came to Hope looking for Nicole. Well, they came too late, for she left our community during the night. Seems she wasn’t satisfied with the haven we offered her here and she managed to talk one of our own into allowing her to leave.”
He hung his head. “We’ll never know which man allowed this, for without even going to look, I feel sure all of those who stood sentry last night were killed by the murdering outlaws,” he said sadly. He looked up at his people. “I’m sorry, so sorry. You know that I didn’t ask for any of this to happen, but I do feel responsible since I was the one who insisted on bringing Nicole among us.”
He looked at the children, whose eyes were filled with tears. He looked at the men who now stood together, their wives huddling as they held their children closer.
“Go and find those who were victims of the madmen,” Jeremiah said. “Perhaps one among them might still be alive.”
His head hanging, Jeremiah walked away from them all. He went to his home and locked himself into his room.
He had been so wrong to bring Nicole back to Hope. That woman had brought death with her.
It seemed to follow wherever she went.
Feeling so responsible for the tragedy that had come to Hope, Jeremiah bowed his head in shame.
Chapter Twenty-six
In the air there was the aroma of food cooking, alerting Nicole that they must be nearing Eagle Wolf’s stronghold.
A moment later, Eagle Wolf led her through a small pass, and Nicole got her first glimpse of the tops of tepees with smoke wafting in soft, gray spirals from their smoke holes.
As she rode with Eagle Wolf just a bit farther down the narrow path, she saw the entire village lying nestled in a hidden valley. The sight of a waterfall at the far side, cascading beautifully from a tall cliff, drew Nicole’s breath away. She had never seen anything as grand and majestic as that water falling in such a long stream, down, down, into a beautiful river that ran along one side of the village.
Nicole saw some women at the river, bending over the water, filling jugs with it. Others walked leisurely away from the river, each carrying a jug on her shoulder.
Farther still, to her left, she saw a huge garden, where women were busy harvesting what Nicole recognized as corn, beans, and beautiful, golden squash, as well as other vegetables. It was obvious that these people needed no one else for their survival.
Nicole also saw sheep in pens, their wool thick and ready to be shorn to make warm clothes for the winter. Then she wondered, would she be spending the winter here among the Navaho?
She was a woman with white skin. Surely she would be seen as these peoples’ enemy, for was it not people with white skin who had forced them into hiding?
The thought of their not accepting her caused a sick feeling in the pit of Nicole’s stomach. If they didn’t, what then would Eagle Wolf do about her?
Would he put her above everyone else and allow her to stay among his people? Or would he do their bidding if they told him that they did not want her to stay among them?
Oh, Lord, would he turn her away so that she was all alone in the world once again?
Oh, surely not.
At that moment, Eagle Wolf reached over and grabbed her reins to stop her horse, drawing his own to a stop beside her.
She looked into his eyes, seeing an emotion in them that told her of the depths of his love for her.
She didn’t know how this love had happened since they were of two different worlds.
And it had happened so quickly.
But they did love each other!
