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“Thank you,” she finally managed to say in surprisingly good English. “Thank you for saving my son Little Sky.”
“I’m so glad that I was in time,” Jessie said, pushing herself to her feet.
“Jessie!” Reginald screamed, obviously embarrassed by what she had done.
He grabbed her by an arm and whisked her quickly away. Before she could say anything to him, he had rushed her into the buggy, hurrying to climb aboard beside her. They were soon on their way back down the main street, toward his home.
“Jessie, listen to what I say now,” Reginald snarled. “Never do anything this foolish again. I have my name to protect.”
“But I just saved a child,” Jessie said, stunned by Reginald’s reaction. “He . . . would have died if I had not done something to help him.”
“The town was filled with people. Did you see anyone else go to help the little savage?” Reginald snapped back at her, giving her a look that turned her cold inside. “Listen to me, Jessie. Never do anything like that again to embarrass me.”
“Reginald, no man of God would ever forbid someone to save a child,” Jessie replied angrily, but her response seemed to infuriate him even more.
Suddenly she had to fight hard to keep herself from vomiting.
She knew this sudden urge to vomit was not only because of how she felt about Reginald and his behavior, but also . . . because she was with child.
She prayed that she wouldn’t be ill. She didn’t want to be forced to tell him about her child.
It was obvious that he hated children; why else would he have objected to her saving one?
But of course the child was Indian. She supposed that was the main reason for his anger.
“You are suddenly so pale,” Reginald said, his eyebrows lifting. “You look like you might puke. Jessie—damn it, Jessie, don’t puke in my buggy. Do you want me to stop?”
“No, I’m fine,” she murmured, and just as they began to ride past the cribs, she saw Lee-Lee stumble back into view again in her assigned window, her hair mussed, her lipstick smeared.
Suddenly Jessie was aware of Lee-Lee looking back at her.
Their eyes met.
Now more than ever, Jessie knew she had someone else to save besides the Indian child.
She had to find a way to help Lee-Lee and at the same time save herself and Jade from this madman. She now knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that Reginald was nothing at all as he had been when they were young.
Something in his life had caused him to become deranged.
Thunder Horse was in the village council house with his warriors, discussing the upcoming hunt, when Two Stones, one of Thunder Horse’s favored scouts, came in to report to him.
“Today I saw something I thought you might be interested in knowing,” Two Stones said. He wore only a breechclout and moccasins. His hair hung in one long braid down his muscled back.
“And that was?” Thunder Horse asked.
“The white woman who has came to live with Reginald Vineyard showed today that she is a woman of good heart,” Two Stones said.
“What did she do?” Thunder Horse asked, his heart suddenly pounding.
“She saved the Cheyenne child Little Sky from being trampled by a bull during the slaughter today,” Two Stones said. “One crazed bull escaped the kill. It was headed directly toward Little Sky when the woman ran and pulled the child aside just in time to keep him from being trampled and killed.”
Thunder Horse took a deep breath. Once again Jessie had proved herself to be a woman of heart . . . of courage.
Yet how could such a woman care for such a man as Reginald Vineyard? She was not only courageous, she was beautiful!
He again thought about how she had held her hands over her stomach.
Was she really pregnant? She had only recently arrived to live with Reginald. Had he met her somewhere else and married her?
