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Afterward he sang to her as he held her close before the fire. She gazed up at him, her eyes, heart and soul filled with him as she listened....
“Oh, I am thinking, oh, I am thinking I have found my love,” Dancing Cloud sang softly. “Oh, I think it is so . . .”
And then he kissed her, the whole universe seemingly spinning.
Chapter 34
The heavens reward thee manifold, I pray
—ANNE BRADSTREET
Ten years later.
Black smoke belched into the sky from the train’s engine as Lauralee sat beside a window in one of the passenger cars. She gazed wistfully at the countryside as the train rumbled along its tracks through the never-ending flat land of Illinois.
Autumn had arrived with its magical, vivid colors. In this brief fleeting moment at sunset, when the orange sky became a canvas for the autumn trees, Lauralee was rendered breathless as she peered at them through the window. Along the horizon were a scattering of trees, their leaves resembling a patchwork quilt from this distance, the colors of red, purple, bronze, and yellow intermingling.
From her experience of having traveled through Illinois on horse and buggy, she knew that high in those trees there were secret hollows, where bushy-tailed squirrels made their residence. Toasty warm in their thick, gray coats, the squirrels busied themselves putting together their private store of acorns and hickory nuts. Woodpeckers would also he nestled in their own secret places, as also would owls.
Illinois was a beautiful place, and Lauralee had enjoyed discovering more about the state while traveling in the comforts of a train instead of how she had arrived there the first time, in her horse and buggy.
And not only was she not arriving by horse and buggy, other things about her arrival had changed. Her Uncle Abner would not be there to greet her with his open, muscled arms.
She stifled a sob behind her gloved hand. Uncle Abner had died recently and was already buried.
Guilt spread through her, paining her heart, over having not made time to visit her aunt and uncle enough times through the years.
And she would never forget how wonderful their surprise visit at the Cherokee village had been. Dancing Cloud had known of their visit prior to their arrival but had not told Lauralee.
She inhaled a quavering breath. Nervously, she placed her hands on the brim of her hat, slightly repositioning it on her head where her hair was circled into a tight bun beneath it.
“My o-ge-ye, I can tell that you are fighting your emotions,” Dancing Cloud said, reaching over to take a hand. He affectionately squeezed it. “Remember that although your Uncle Abner has crossed over to the other world, he is here with you even now, in spirit. Allow that to give you comfort.”
Lauralee turned to Dancing Cloud. “It’s so difficult,” she murmured. “And how I hate to see the grave. It will be hard to accept that he is in the ground, in a . . .”
She placed her free hand to her mouth and turned her eyes away from Dancing Cloud again. “I just find death hard to accept,” she said, her voice drawn. “I doubt that it shall ever be any other way for me.”
A soft hand on her face made Lauralee force a smile. She gazed at her ten-year-old daughter as Wilnoty came and knelt before Lauralee. Wilnoty was the picture image of her mother, so beautiful and petite.
“Do not be sad, Mother,” Wilnoty said softly. “It makes me sad.”
“I know, I know,” Lauralee said, leaning a kiss to her daughter’s brow. “And we don’t want you to have a sad face when we arrive at Mattoon’s Union Depot. Your Aunt Nancy will be there with her carriage, waiting for us. We must smile for our Aunt Nancy. I am certain she has seen enough sadness these past weeks to last her a lifetime. To lose one’s husband must be a devastating, horrible thing.”
“I wish Brian Brave Walker were here to share the excitement of the train ride, and of seeing Aunt Nancy once again,” Wilnoty said as she settled back on the seat opposite her mother and father.
Demurely, she clasped her hands together on her lap, the ruffles of her petticoats spreading out beneath the fully gathered skirt of her gingham dress. She wore a bonnet that tied beneath her chin with a yellow satin bow that matched the color of her dress.
“But I understand why my brother stayed behind,” she said, lifting her chin proudly. “He is assuming the role of chief in the absence of Father.”
She smiled, her dark eyes dancing. “Is he not a smart, handsome brother?” she asked, gazing from her mother to her father. “Will not Brian Brave Walker one day make a true, great leader of our people?”
“He has listened well to the teachings of his father,” Dancing Cloud said, stretching a long, lean leg out before him, revealing new, shiny boots, and dark, snug breeches.
Lauralee gazed over at him, pride swelling within her heart as once again she realized how noble and magnificent a man he was. And he was always so generous. Whenever he would return from the trading post, he would always bring her a surprise.
One of his finest surprises was a sewing machine. She loved to sew on the new-fangled contraption, and not only did she make Dancing Cloud and Brian Brave Walker’s breeches and shirts, she made herself and her daughter lovely dresses and petticoats.
Dancing Cloud had even built a new, larger cabin for his family and had cut windows out of the logs for Lauralee, to give her more true light for which to sew her creations. She had even sold several dresses and suits to the trading post, having begun to make quite a profit now from her sewing skills.
