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“You are free, my son,” Sage said, and turned to Stephanie. He gently gripped her shoulders. “Because of you my son is free. How can I ever repay you?”
“By accepting me among your family and people as the woman who will soon be your older son’s wife,” Stephanie said, tears pooling in her eyes. “I’m sorry for all of the g
rief my brother caused you. Even that which I caused. I want you to know that I will never again bring a camera among your people. I even plan to destroy all of the photographs that I took of Navaho land. I hope that these things are enough to prove my loyalty to your son, and the People.”
“Proof?” Sage chuckled. “White woman, today was proof enough.”
He drew her into his embrace. “I speak for my family and my people when I say how eagerly I welcome you as part of my son’s life,” he said. “Runner is a lucky man.”
Stephanie returned his embrace, turned to Runner, then grew cold as she watched him step up to the cell in which Adam was incarcerated. She listened and shook inwardly with a guarded fear when she heard what Runner was telling Adam.
“Adam, not only is your sister Stephanie well rid of you, but also my sister, Pure Blossom,” Runner said, speaking to Adam through the bars.
Adam laughed sardonically. “I played the game well with them both, wouldn’t you say?” he said, feeling safe behind the bars.
“As for Pure Blossom, I suckered her from the very beginning into believing that I loved her,” he bragged. “I hoped that it might bring some sort of understanding between me and the Navaho, so that I could feel comfortable building my town on Navaho land. I never loved your sister. Only what I could get from her.”
Beneath Adam’s rough exterior and harsh words, his heart was bleeding for those times when he had found such bliss within the arms of his sweet Pure Blossom. He still loved her. He would never love again.
Anger flaring his nostrils, Runner grabbed Adam by the throat through the bars and yanked him closer. “If you are ever released from jail, for any reason, you had better keep a good watch on your back, because I, personally, will soon seek you out to kill you.”
The sweat of fear beaded Adam’s brow.
Chapter 31
I will love you like the stars, love,
Set in the heavenly blue,
That only shine the brighter,
After weeping tears of dew.
—R. W. RAYMOND
The entrance into the Navaho village was one of celebration. Stephanie rode at Runner’s side as Sage and Thunder Hawk rode ahead of them, proud, free, and jubilantly accepting the chants of welcome.
Stephanie saw that obviously the word had spread while she had been gone about Thunder Hawk’s incarceration. But she wondered just how many of the People knew exactly why, and who was responsible? Thus far, no one had singled her out with a frown. She wasn’t sure if this was because they didn’t know about Adam’s guilt, or if they knew that she, Adam’s stepsister, had gone against him, on behalf of Thunder Hawk.
Stephanie was taken up with the joy that shone on everyone’s face; it was quite contagious. Inside her heart she felt such peace, such wonderful, precious peace, even though she had only a short while ago bade a farewell to a part of her past that had at one time been as special to her as her acceptance into Navaho life was to her now.
She smiled as Sky Dancer came running toward Thunder Hawk. Something tugged at her heart as she watched Thunder Hawk take Sky Dancer into his arms and twirl in a circle with her as she laughed gleefully.
Stephanie wiped tears of joy from her eyes and gave Leonida a warm smile as the older woman stepped away from the throngs of people and met Sage as he approached on his horse. After Sage swung himself down from the saddle, he grabbed Leonida into his arms and gave her a fierce hug.
“I have heard it said that if one waits patiently enough, things will fall into place where they belong,” Runner said, drawing a tight rein as Stephanie drew her horse to a halt.
He dismounted and went to Stephanie and held his arms up to her. “Because of you, things are being restored to proper balance one by one,” he said. “Soon you will join with my people for a ‘Chant Way Ceremony, ’ and then the balance of my people’s lives will be fully restored.”
Stephanie slipped easily from the horse and into Runner’s arms. His hands at her waist, he drew her close to him, their eyes locked. “Darling, I have never heard of a ‘Chant Way Ceremony,’” she murmured.
“We Navaho believe in always maintaining hozho, or harmony, within our world,” Runner explained, his eyes dancing. “When one of us upsets the balance between good and evil, misfortune will result, and it may affect our people as a whole.”
He slipped an arm around her waist and drew her to his side as they began gently pushing their way through the crowd. “To restore disrupted order in our village, we turn to our ceremony called ‘Chant Ways,’” he said. “Each ‘way’ is a series of prayers and songs telling tales of my people’s history. Some of them can take as long as nine days to complete, so the singers who perform them rarely know more than one or two ‘ways.’”
“That sounds so interesting,” Stephanie said, then stretched her neck to see over the crowd when she caught sight of Pure Blossom standing alone in the doorway of her hogan.
Stephanie’s insides tightened. She had to wonder how much Pure Blossom knew about what had happened, and whether or not she knew about Adam’s participation in the crime that had been committed.
