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He would have to make up some sort of story. He would say that Jessie had been called back to Kansas City because of a friend’s death.
Yes, that would work. That story would save face for him.
“But if I ever come face to face with you again, you’ll pay, Jessie,” Reginald grumbled, suddenly wheezing so hard he could hardly catch his breath. “Damn it, you’ll pay!”
As Reginald’s hate for Jessie swelled inside his heart, Jade was crying from fear of what might happen to Jessie. She prayed Jessie had found a safe haven.
If only she could gain the courage to try her own plan of escape.
Soon.
Ai, she would, and soon!
“Lee-Lee, please have the strength to live another day,” she whispered as she gazed out a window toward the town where the cribs so brazenly displayed her daughter’s beauty. “Do not be one of those who commit suicide because of hopelessness!”
Chapter Nineteen
It was early evening. The meadow hummed with crickets. Cottonwoods shimmered along a creek that ran glassy-smooth through bear grass and camas.
The hunt was now over, and Jessie sat beside the huge outdoor fire where the overnight camp had been set up.
To her surprise, when Thunder Horse had led her back to the camp after the hunt, she had found many women from his village there, awaiting the arrival of the hunters.
They had come during the hunt and prepared the meat racks, which were ready now for the fresh meat. A fine bed of coals had also been prepared to cook the meat.
Fat ribs of deer were now roasting over these coals, and the dripping fat was popping and snapping, sending up a tantalizing aroma.
Jessie’s attention was drawn to the sight of more warriors and their packhorses entering the camp. The meat was folded inside skins on the packhorses, with the large bones tied on top to be broken later for the sweet marrow.
She turned and watched for Thunder Horse’s return. He had left a short while ago to go to the top of a hill, where he would leave a gift of gratitude—the finest cut of meat taken today. This offering was made to their brother, the deer, because so many of the deer’s relations had died to feed the Sioux, who would one day also die and feed the grasses the deer fed from.
That had touched Jessie’s heart, to learn that the Indians never took anything without giving back. Oh, if only all white people could be as grateful for what they had received from heaven above. Instead, it seemed that many of her own people were greedy and never seemed to have enough.
Reginald was the worst of that kind. She felt so grateful that she was no longer a part of his life. She dearly hoped that he would not find her and try to ruin her life again. She had found a home among these Sioux people, thanks to the generosity of one man: Thunder Horse.
She had never met anyone as kind and giving.
Although her parents, and also her husband, had always thought of others before themselves, Thunder Horse was even more generous.
She thought back to this morning, when Jessie had awakened in Thunder Horse’s lodge, where she had slept snugly wrapped in blankets across the fire from him. She had found him kneeling beside her, watching her sleep.
He had bent low and kissed her, yet he did nothing more than that. Then she had noticed what he had draped across his arms: the clothing of a Sioux warrior.
When he had explained to her that she must wear these garments in order to disguise herself in case Reginald Vineyard was out searching for her, she had willingly dressed in the fringed breeches, shirt, and moccasins.
She had sat in front of him as he braided her hair into one long braid down her back; then she had turned and smiled as he placed a beaded headband around her head.
She had departed for the hunt mounted on one of his horses. The beautiful white steed she had brought from Reginald’s corral remained safely hidden in case her cousin came to the village.
Thanks to Thunder Horse’s precautions, she had felt quite safe as she witnessed the hunt. She had been impressed by the skills of the hunters and the clever way they had brought down the deer.
As they had left the village, Thunder Horse had explained that there was a place the Sioux called the Deer Run. It was to this place that the Deer Dreamer, with his mysterious powers and medicine, sent the deer for the Sioux people. There the hunters could easily kill all the deer that were needed for meat and skins.
She had discovered that the Deer Run was an un-wooded space on the bank of a river. This bank was high and steep, and at its foot the river ran dark and deep. No deer would dare leap from this bank.
She had sat back on her horse and watched as the warriors cut a path through the woods up to the clearing on the riverbank. On the forest side of the clearing, the woods were thick, and the limbs and boughs were interlaced to form an unbreakable fence that the deer could not penetrate. This had left but one entrance to the deer enclosure.
The warriors then rode in a great circle until they found a herd of deer. Steadily and slowly, they directed the deer toward the path that led to the enclosure.
