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“You are serious, aren’t you?” she finally said.
“I’ve never been more serious in my life.” The lie slipped across his lips way more easily than he would have thought possible. “In fact, Stephanie, I’ll go first thing tomorrow. I’ll take council with Sage and Runner. You can go with me, if you wish.”
Stephanie laughed nervously and walked away from him. She went to her liquor cabinet and poured some wine in two long-stemmed glasses. “No. I think not. I’ll let you do your own apologizing. But let’s drink to your success,” she said, holding a glass out for Adam. “And to much happiness.”
Adam sauntered over and took the glass from her. “Yes, to much happiness,” he said, clinking his glass against hers. “Especially ours.”
They emptied their glasses and set them aside. “Adam, today, when you rode past me and Runner, without your shirt and boots on, where on earth had you been? And from whom were you escaping?” she asked.
Adam absently raked his fingers through his hair. “Sis, it’s obvious that you are in love with Runner,” he said. “I’ve fallen in love with his sister, Pure Blossom. I had spent the night with her in her hogan. Sage found me there. He ordered me from the village. I have never been so humiliated.”
“You . . . and . . . Pure Blossom?” Stephanie said, stunned. “You slept with her? And . . . you . . . were chased from the village?”
Adam nodded.
“You just told me that you were going to go to the Navaho village and offer apologies and friendship,” Stephanie said solemnly. “How on earth can you do that, especially in light of what you have just told me?”
“Sis, that’s exactly why it is so important to go there,” he said softly. “Not only for you and me, but for Pure Blossom. I don’t think I can live without her.”
“Incredible,” Stephanie said, her eyes wide.
“Magnificent,” Adam teased back, then took her into his arms and swung her around, laughing happily.
Runner arrived back at his hogan just as the sky was brightening into soft pinks along the eastern horizon. Exhausted, he slung himself across his bed and fell instantly asleep. In what seemed only a few short minutes, a hand on his shoulder awakened him with a start.
When he found his father standing over him, his arms folded angrily across his chest, he sat up quickly.
“What is it, Father?” he asked, smoothing his hair back from his eyes.
“You have been gone a day and a night,” Sage said, eyeing Runner suspiciously. “What has taken you so long from your people?”
Runner rose to his feet and eluded his father’s eyes by going and stacking some fresh firewood into his fireplace. “I am sure that you have already guessed why,” he said, watching the flames take hold. “But I will tell you anyway, since you have asked. I was with the white woman.”
“After my warnings, you still go to her,” Sage said, disappointment in his tone. “She means that much to you?”
Runner looked up at his father, then slowly rose to his full height. “Yes, she means everything to me,” he said smoothly.
“Where did you go with her that took so long?”
“I took her and her camera many places.”
“You know the evil of the camera, yet you still gave the white woman assistance?”
“I understand your feelings, Father. I led her to locations of less value to our people, where there were no sacred meanings. I kept her interest away from our people while doing this.”
Sage kneaded his chin. “Yes, I see that what you did was, indeed, clever,” he said. Then he stepped closer to Runner. “You did this for the People. But also you did it for yourself.”
“That is so,” Runner said, nodding. “She has filled my life with something special. Father, I cannot help but love her.”
“I told you more than once why you should not allow this to happen,” Sage said, shaking his head slowly. “But my words fell on deaf ears.”
“I am sorry that you cannot accept the side of me that is drawn to this white woman,” Runner said, going to embrace his father. “Father, inside, where my heart beats soundly, it beats as a Navaho, instead of white. So will it be until the day I leave this earth to walk that long path in the Hereafter. Loving a white woman will not change that, ever.”
Sage patted his son’s back, then eased away from him.
“Many of our horses were stolen while you were gone,” Sage said, his eyes dark. “As you know, I have always spoken out against horse stealing. I have always urged our braves to remember that by treaties we made promises: no fighting, no raiding. If the People need something, do not steal, instead trade. But Damon Stout has caused me to go back on my teachings. We must steal back that which is ours.”
The thought of such a raid against Damon Stout filled Runner’s veins with excitement. He had waited a long time for his father to decide to retaliate against the wrong that was being done them at the hands of the white rancher.
