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For Nicole the future was once again promising and wonderful. Because of Eagle Wolf.
“It is my turn now to braid your hair,” he said, gently holding her away from him. Then he turned her so that her back was to him. He lifted her hair, sniffed its clean smell, then began braiding it, slowly, almost meditatively, for this moment was one he would never forget.
It marked the beginning of their lives together.
Chapter Twenty-nine
It was midmorning as Nicole rode her mare beside Eagle Wolf’s majestic white stallion.
While they had eaten the breakfast that Dancing Snow Feather had brought to them, Eagle Wolf had said that he wanted to acquaint Nicole with this wondrous land that was now her home.
They had been riding for perhaps an hour beneath the cottonwoods, their yellow leaves brilliant in the morning sun.
The grass that had been so green and bright only a few weeks ago was now turning brown and blew stiffly in the wind today. Only a few wild-flowers remained, their colors now faded and their stems wilted from last night’s sudden frost.
Nicole could hear the splash of the waterfall, and she marveled at the rainbows formed as the water plummeted to the river below.
She glanced over at Eagle Wolf, feeling the connection between them, which she still marveled over. The soft breeze on the mountain lifted his long and flowing hair so that it blew behind him like sleek, black satin.
She was glad that he had chosen to leave his hair loose today. She loved to see it and run her fingers through it.
She loved to smell it, too. It always smelled clean, like fresh river water!
Today he wore only a breechclout, and most of his copper body was revealed to Nicole. She marveled over his muscles and his handsomeness as though this were the first time she had seen him.
It was not only his looks that had captured her heart. She would never stop appreciating his kindness toward her.
It seemed a miracle that she had been led to him that day, where he lay so ill beneath a tree. Had she chosen a different path up the mountain, she would never have seen him or known the love of this man who had given his all to her.
Soon they would be married.
He had told her that he must go on a hunt before they could stand together and speak the words that would make them husband and wife. The autumn hunt. He would leave tomorrow.
But today was theirs, and he rode beside her to acquaint her with his land, the marvels of it.
She was glad that the breeze had turned warm. When they first arose this morning and stepped outside for a breath of fresh air, frost had lain on the pumpkins that had not yet been harvested in the garden.
It had not been a heavy enough frost to damage the vegetables that had not yet been harvested. But it had left a brownish tint against the orange of the pumpkins.
Despite the nip in the air, Eagle Wolf, had left Nicole long enough to take his morning plunge in the river, while she had returned inside the tepee to do her own washing from a basin of water. She had to admit to missing the copper tub in her parents’ lovely bathroom back at their home in St. Louis.
Even her aunt Dot and uncle Zeb had a beautiful tub. They also had an outdoor shower they had prepared. One stood in a small cubicle where one could look up and see the sky while tugging on a rope that sent water splashing down from a contraption her uncle had invented.
The water was always cold, but it was fun to take a shower in such a way.
“You are so quiet,” Eagle Wolf suddenly said, drawing Nicole’s eyes to him. “You are as captivated by my mountain as we Navaho. You feel safe here, do you not? You feel the mountain’s embrace?”
“I feel so many things as I ride beside you,” Nicole said, smiling at him. “And, yes, I do feel safe and I do feel your mountain’s embrace. It is wonderful, Eagle Wolf.”
“In this mountain you will find sanctuary as we Navaho have found. When we first came here, we were fleeing the wrath of the white pony soldiers and the United States government, who stole from us all of the land that has been the Navaho’s from the beginning of time.”
Nicole saw the hardening of his jaw. She knew he was struggling to control his rage over what had been done to his people.
She felt ashamed of her own countrymen, for she had seen how they had wronged the red man, sometimes even worse than those whose skin was black. There was more than one way to enslave a person.
“Let us ride to where I can gather salt for the women of our village,” Eagle Wolf said, quickly lifting his head and changing the subject.
“There is salt up on this mountain?” Nicole asked.
