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To nestle once more in
That haven of rest—
Your lips upon mine,
My head on your breast.
—Hunt
His hair dripping wet, Blue Thunder ran into his tepee, stopping quickly when he found Shirleen pacing, her eyes wild with fear.
He hurried to her, and forgetting how wet his clothes were, he took her into his arms and hugged her close to him.
“I . . . am . . . so afraid of storms,” Shirleen sobbed, clinging to Blue Thunder as she trembled against his powerful body.
She was so gripped by her fear, she did not even notice that his clothes were wetting her own.
“I am here,” Blue Thunder said, gently stroking her back. “You are safe from all harm.”
“I wasn’t when I lived with Earl,” she said, finally composing herself. She still clung to Blue Thunder even when she realized her clothes were becoming as wet as his.
But that didn’t matter.
The fact that he was there with her, protecting her as no man had since she had left the protective home of her father and mother, was all that mattered.
“He is someone you need not think about again, or fear,” Blue Thunder said softly. “He will never come near you again.”
“But it will still be hard to forget the terrible memories that are evoked by thunder and lightning. I am afraid I shall always associate storms with . . . with . . . Earl Mingus,” she said, vividly recalling Earl’s bizarre behavior during the most violent storms.
“Why is that?” Blue Thunder asked, stepping away from her. He gazed questioningly into her eyes, which were red from crying. “What has he to do with storms?”
He looked past her at the sleeping child. He found it strange that Megan would be sleeping through the horrible booms of thunder, which shook the ground upon which she slept, while her mother was so afraid of them.
Feeling much more at ease now that Blue Thunder was there with his wonderful way of soothing her woes, Shirleen was able to take a deep breath. Then she became aware of Blue Thunder gazing at Megan.
She turned and looked at her daughter, too. “She sleeps so soundly,” she murmured. “The experience she has just gone through has exhausted her. She woke for a minute when the storm began, but I took her into my arms and rocked her until she fell asleep.”
“She will be alright,” Blue Thunder said, trying to reassure Shirleen of something he was not sure of himself.
But they both had to believe that in time Megan would be able to leave behind the dreadfulness of these past days, now that she was no longer the prisoner of a father who used her as a pawn.
“Yes, I know,” Shirleen murmured. She wiped away fresh tears from her eyes, then turned and looked at Blue Thunder standing there dripping wet. “You will catch your death of cold if you don’t get out of those clothes. Let me help you.”
In a matter of moments his wet clothes were removed and he wore fresh buckskins.
Shirleen dried his hair with a soft cloth. Then they stood before one another, their gazes meeting and holding.
He noticed how she flinched when the thunder boomed again, and how her eyes took on a frightened look.
“Tell me what he did to you while it stormed to make you dread thunder and lightning so much,” he said. He took her hand and led her down onto the plush pelts beside the warm fire. “Once you release the memory from inside you by telling me about it, you will be rid of it forever. I will see that thoughts of that evil man never come into your mind or heart again when it storms.”
“He was . . . is . . . such a maniac,” Shirleen said. She nervously pushed her thick hair back from her face as she gazed into the dancing flames of the fire.
Then she looked quickly over at Blue Thunder. “Earl loved storms,” she explained. “He would go outside during the worst of a storm. He would stand there laughing hysterically as he gazed up at the sky. It was as though the demon in him was unleashed during storms.”
She lowered her eyes, swallowed hard, then gazed into Blue Thunder’s eyes. “After the storm passed over, Earl would come back inside our home and throw me to the floor and force himself on me sexually. It didn’t matter if Megan was standing there, witnessing this cruelty to her mother. She saw me wince and cry out as Earl became like a wild man when he finally reached sexual release.”
She paused, gazed over her shoulder to be certain that Megan was asleep, then looked into Blue Thunder’s eyes, again. “Once he was finished with me, he would give me a kick, then leave the house for a long time,” she said coldly. “He . . . would . . . go away on his horse for hours at a time. I never knew what he was doing, or where he was going. I was just glad that he was finally gone so that I could compose myself and . . . and . . . try to help Megan get the horrible sight of what had happened to her mother out of her mind by telling her stories and singing to her.”
