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Yet . . . she was a woman who had fled her husband, and in the world of the Assiniboine, no woman left a husband once she had spoken vows with him. Loyalty ran deep among his people.
But neither were husbands cruel to their wives.
He wondered just how far the husband’s cruelty had gone. In time he would learn, for he wanted to know everything about Shirleen.
“You have not yet given me an answer about tomorrow,” he said, changing the subject, which seemed to have made Shirleen tense again. “Will you travel with me and my warriors as we set out again to search for your daughter? If you are with us, and we find a wandering child, you can identify her.”
“Oh, I do wish to go with you,” Shirleen quickly said. “I must admit to some continued pain in my head, but I am no longer as dizzy as I was. I believe I am well enough to ride my horse. Thank you for being so kind. You . . . are . . . truly generous.”
“I do hope to bring you and your child together again,” Blue Thunder said thickly. “No mother should be separated from her child. I hope to reunite you and your Megan.”
He gazed into her eyes. “But you must be certain you are able to ride a horse, for once you are on it and we are far from my village, it will take some time to return,” Blue Thunder said. “That journey back home could be grueling if you are in pain.”
“Blue Thunder, the true pain is in my heart because I miss my daughter so much. I am so worried about her,” Shirleen said, a sob catching in her throat. “I will suffer whatever pain I must, if it means I can help find her.”
“She will be found,” Blue Thunder said with a certainty that made Shirleen truly believe that soon she would be holding her daughter in her arms.
And if that were so, she would never let Megan out of her sight again.
Tomorrow couldn’t come fast enough now for Shirleen!
Chapter Fifteen
Under the arch of life, I saw
Beauty enthroned, and
Tho her gaze struck awe,
I drew it in as simply as my breath.
—Rossetti
The morning sky was cloudy and Shirleen could feel moisture settling on her face as fog crept over the village while she brought her horse from the corral and readied it for travel.
When it was saddled, she looked from tepee to tepee, hoping to see one or more warriors leave their homes, prepared to accompany her and Blue Thunder on the search for her daughter.
But she was still the only one who had come outside. Clearly, she was the most anxious to begin the search for Megan.
Sighing, she clung to her horse’s reins and shifted her feet nervously on the ground as she waited for the warriors to say good-bye to their wives and children. Even Blue Thunder must be spending some last moments with his daughter.
As for her, she had hardly slept, she was so eager to begin the search.
She had lain in her bed of blankets and pelts the entire night, clutching Megan’s dress, as she impateitly awaited dawn’s arrival.
When the soft light of morning finally filtered through the smoke that wafted up from what was left of her fire, she hadn’t been able to get up fast enough to dress for the day’s journey.
After untangling her hair with a brush she’d found among the clothes in the travel bag Speckled Fawn had brought to her, Shirleen had quickly pulled on her clothes.
Wanting to keep her fire burning while she was gone, because both the days and evenings were cool now, she had placed several logs on what remained of her lodge fire. There was plenty of wood in the stack of logs that had been brought for her daily use.
Her thoughts were interrupted as first one and then another warrior came from their tepees and took horses from their personal corrals.
Her heart thumped wildly in her chest, for the moment had finally arrived when she would be riding alongside the handsome chief and his warriors.
As she mounted her horse, her leather skirt hiked up past her knees, revealing the leather boots that were also among the things Speckled Fawn had brought for her to choose from.
It seemed strange how fate had returned to her these physical reminders of her normal life.
