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More than once Wolf Hawk had said that she was free to go whenever she wished, yet at the same time he’d told her he hoped that she would choose to stay.
He had not gone so far as to ask her to be his wife, yet she knew that was in his heart. She could tell by the way he looked at her, with gazes that melted her heart.
She ached to be in his arms, to be held by him. Her lips quivered even now with want of his kiss.
“What am I doing?” she said aloud, causing Georgina to hop from one perch to another at the sound of Mia’s voice.
Her canary began singing, the sound so sweet it made Mia again thank God above that her bird had been saved from harm in the forest. It gave her shivers to think of what could have happened, but she refused to dwell on painful thoughts of the past.
She had a decision to make. She must decide what her future held for her.
She did have her parents’ home waiting for her in St. Louis, but that was all. There were no relatives in the city. Mia would be alone.
She had cousins, aunts and uncles scattered across the country. But it took money to travel and she had nothing.
If she had had the scow, she could have sold it for enough money to help her fend for herself for awhile. And, of course, she could sell her St. Louis home.
But somehow that plan did not seem appealing. Her family had never been close. In fact, she could count on the fingers of one hand how often her parents had invited their family members to their home.
So she doubted that any of them would relish the idea of Mia coming to live with them. She would be only an intrusion on their lives.
“Mama, Papa,” she whispered, gazing up through the smoke hole toward the blue sky. “What should I do?”
She was feeling more comfortable with the death of her parents now. Wolf Hawk had told her that after a person loses someone they love, they must carry on with life, for death was a natural thing.
He had told her that losing a loved one was difficult, yet one should be happy for the departed, for they were now without pain or sadness. They were with their ancestors in the sky, happy to see them again.
That should be celebrated, not regretted.
It was hard, but she knew that she must not succumb to the emptiness in her heart caused by her parents’ deaths.
Her deep thoughts were interrupted by the sound of whispering from somewhere behind her. She looked quickly around and her eyes widened when she saw several children standing just outside the entranceway to the tepee.
They were whispering to one another as they watched and listened to Georgina. The canary was still singing, and its song had reached outside to the children who were at play.
Mia smiled and reached a hand out toward them. She beckoned for them to come inside.
“Come and see my bird up close if you wish,” Mia offered. “She loves an audience.”
The children didn’t have to be asked a second time. They almost fell over one another as they scrambled inside, then sat in a circle around the cage.
Georgina didn’t seem at all perturbed by this sudden audience. In fact she hopped back and forth on her perch as she continued sweetly singing.
Mia stood away from the children, watching and smiling. She had always loved children but had never had the chance to be around many.
Even as a child, she had led a mostly solitary life. Her mother had taught her everything that other children learned in a school house.
She had felt a certain emptiness inside that came with not being able to associate with other children. But that, too, had passed, for she had accepted the life her parents had made for her. She had loved them too much to cause problems over anything that they had chosen for her.
Mia covered a soft laugh behind a hand when she looked at Georgina and saw how the bird seemed to be strutting as she moved along the perch. It seemed as though Georgina had missed having an audience, for she seemed to be singing her heart out, to entertain…to please.
Suddenly Mia felt another presence in the tepee. She turned and felt the heat of a blush rush to her cheeks when she found Wolf Hawk standing behind her.
He had apparently heard Georgina singing and had seen the children enter his lodge. He had came to join the happy group inside.
He saw the warmth in Mia’s eyes as she smiled and stepped back to stand beside him.
“Isn’t it sweet?” she asked, gazing into Wolf Hawk’s dark, beautiful eyes. “The bird loves the children as much as they love her.”
