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In time they would know.
In time . . . “My owanyake, handsome warrior,” she whispered against his lips as she leaned closer to him. “I love you so very, very much.”
“You are learning my . . . our . . . language very well,” he said, laughing.
Chapter Thirty-two
She could feel as if she were
Out for the day,
As she had not done
Since she was a little girl.
—James
May . . . Moon When the Ponies Shed
Radiantly happy, so proud of the swell of her belly, Shirleen was now four months pregnant. She had left the village to pick spring flowers, loving the pretty blue lupines and wild pink roses that grew up the trunks of trees.
Every spring the aspen trees exploded with color and sound as waves of yellow-rumped warblers came north to feast on caterpillars and insects on the budding branches.
Shirleen had been amazed the first time she had looked up and seen the sheer volume of birds in the sky.
It was a feast for the eyes and ears.
Blue Thunder had seen her marvel over the birds and had told her that they came every spring to the northern forests on their way to the breeding grounds in Canada and beyond.
Shirleen laughed softly as she looked over her shoulder and saw Megan and Little Bee chasing beautiful butterflies. The girls were hardly ever apart, true sisters, as though they had been born from the same womb, created by the same mother and father.
Little Bee still slept in Bright Sun’s lodge, because of their attachment to one another, while Megan most of the time slept in Shirleen and Blue Thunder’s tepee.
Megan did sleep with Little Bee and Bright Sun whenever she could, for the children loved talking and laughing into the wee hours of the morning. They never seemed to lack for things to talk about.
“I have never felt as at peace as I do now,” Shirleen murmured as she looked over at Speckled Fawn, whose face still wore sadness from the loss of her husband. She reached over and gently touched Speckled Fawn’s arm. “One day you will be at peace again inside your heart. Each day should get easier for you.”
“I know that most people see it strange that I could have loved an older man so deeply, but I did,” Speckled Fawn said softly. “I doubt I shall ever love again. They say you only love once—I mean truly love—in your lifetime. Dancing Shadow was my true and lasting love.”
“You are still young,” Shirleen said as she slowly pulled her hand away from Speckled Fawn. “I believe you will find another man who will bring sunshine back into your heart.”
“I’m not sure I would even want that,” Speckled Fawn said, her eyes brightening when she saw a patch of yellow daisies a short distance away. They were growing at the edge of a thick stand of aspen trees. She walked quickly to them. “I love daisies. I want some for my lodge.”
Shirleen always felt uncomfortable when she was so close to trees where anyone could be lurking.
She knew she shouldn’t have wandered so far from the village, yet if she turned and looked in its direction, she could still see smoke spiraling from the smoke holes of the tepees and felt that she was safe enough.
But she would not go farther.
She must do nothing to endanger her unborn child, or her two darling girls.
“Don’t go any farther, Speckled Fawn,” Shirleen warned, still studying the dark shadows between the aspen trees. A soft wind suddenly blew, rustling the leaves and creating a peaceful sound that almost lulled Shirleen into forgetting that danger could be anywhere, at any time.
She was so glad that the renegades, especially Big Nose, were no longer wreaking havoc.
And no one from the fort had come to the village to question the Assiniboine about the renegades’ deaths.
Sighing, standing, and waiting for Speckled Fawn to gather the last of the daisies, Shirleen marveled about the goodness of her husband. He and his Assiniboine people had accepted her and Megan completely into their lives.
