AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Because Lloyd had heard so much about Custer’s illustrious reputation as a leader, he had deemed it an honor to be a part of any battle that would be led by the general. He had been the very first man at Fort Kitt to step forth and sign up with General Custer.
That decision had made her husband a marked man even before she gave him her news about the divorce . . . news that she now knew had torn his world apart.
Mary Beth and her son David had attended Lloyd’s funeral three months ago. Although she hated leaving his grave behind, knowing that she would never see it again, she could hardly wait to reach the fort that stood on the banks of the Missouri River. From there she would travel by river-boat to her farm in Kentucky.
She would be so glad to be away from this place where death might be lurking around every bend or behind every tree.
Ah, fate. Who could ever know what fate had in store?
Home.
Oh, Lord, she could hardly wait to get back home to her own little world!
She wished that she had never left Kentucky. Now she understood what the word “loneliness” truly meant, for she had never felt so empty or so alone.
Knowing that she would never hear Lloyd’s laughter again, or be able to look into his beautiful blue eyes, filled her with a despair she had never thought possible.
“Lloyd. . . . Lloyd . . .” she whispered as hot tears rolled across her lips.
“Mama, what did you just say?” David asked, drawing Mary Beth’s eyes quickly to him. “Mama, you have tears in your eyes again. Is it because of Papa? Is it?”
She almost choked on a sob when she turned to look at her son. He had Lloyd’s blue eyes, the same golden hair, the same long, straight nose.
And she could already see that David’s shoulders were going to be as wide and powerful as his father’s.
Yes, her David was Lloyd all over again, and at least in him, she would have her husband with her forever.
She reached over and tousled David’s thick, golden hair. “Yes, it’s because of your daddy,” she murmured. “His death is too fresh in my heart for me not to cry occasionally at the thought of him.”
“I miss him too,” David said, wiping tears from his own eyes. “Why did it have to happen, Mama? Why do Indians hate us so much?”
“I’ve thought about that, David, and I think I can see why they would,” Mary Beth said, sighing.
She looked away from him and swept her eyes over the vastness of the land, on to the mountains, and then closer, to the deer that could be seen browsing in the brush.
It was a lovely land. The grass was green and thick, fed by the bright streams that came tumbling out of the snow banks of the mountains. There were lush meadows and plentiful game.
It was a paradise, a paradise that the red men saw as being spoiled by white people.
“Why would Indians want to kill Papa?” David asked, wiping more tears from his eyes.
“They see all white people as takers of their land, interfering in their lives,” Mary Beth said.
She found it strange to be defending the very people who were responsible for her Lloyd lying in a grave.
Yet she had heard about so many atrocities against the Indians.
She supposed that even Lloyd had participated in such horrendous action against the Indians, because he was a man who followed orders.
“But the Indians are murderers, Mama,” David said stiffly. “They murdered all . . . all . . . of the men who fought with Papa and General Custer.”
“It was a battle and everyone fought for survival, both red-skinned and white, David,” Mary Beth said, her voice breaking. “It just happened that during that battle, the red man was the strongest.”
“But I thought General Custer was supposed to be the best soldier ever,” David said, gazing intently at his mother. “Papa, too. He was a good soldier.”
“Even good soldiers die, David,” Mary Beth murmured.
She looked quickly past David when she caught a movement along the ridge of a hill. But it was gone as quickly as it had come.
