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“Why?”
“A maiden must heal after her first time. It is natural and normal. For now, I want you to put your clothing back on. The breeze has gotten a bit cooler, and I don’t want you to catch a chill.”
“In the summer? I couldn’t possibly.”
Raven tightened his arms around her. “For me, tehila.”
“Goodness. All right.” She sat up and glanced around for her clothing. “You’ll have to button me.” She pulled on her stockings and drawers, then her chemise. When her head popped through the neck opening of her calico, Raven was already behind her, fastening her. After he had helped her, he donned his buckskins and moccasins, pulled her to his body once more, and embraced her.
“You are everything to me, Ella,” he whispered into her hair, his breath tickling her. “Everything.”
She warmed, and smiled against his chest, slick with perspiration. Her heart felt complete. Oh, so complete. “Raven?”
“Hmm?”
“What will we do now?”
“You will come live with me. With my people. I will care for you and for our children.”
“Leave my family?” What would Mama and Papa do without her? She was all they had. “And have children? Goodness.”
“What? You do not wish for children?”
“Well, of course, I would love children.” She imagined a little boy with bronze skin and black eyes. A beautiful baby boy. Oh, yes, she definitely wanted children. “I just hadn’t thought about it. But yes, Raven. I would love to have your children.”
“We will live with my people, high in the Black Hills, where the ravens and hawks soar.”
“How lovely.”
Raven turned Ella in his arms, positioned her back against his chest, and pulled her close. “The waning moon sits high in the sky, tehila.” He pointed. “You can see the summit of the highest peak.”
Ella nodded, taking in the breathtaking beauty of the shadowed mountains in the moonlight.
“That is where the thunderbird lives.”
“The thunderbird?”
“Yes, he flashes lightning from his eyes, and with each flap of his wings, the thunder booms.”
“You’re joking again.” She swatted his forearm lightly.
“No. It’s a story my people tell their children.”
“That’s silly, Raven.” She laughed. “A storm is just a storm.”
“Perhaps.” He kissed the top of her head. “But my people have passed stories of the thunderbird down for centuries. Still, young children are warned not to go too near the peak of the highest mountain.”
Ella shivered in Raven’s arms. Silly, to fear a mythical creature. Perhaps her shivers were not due to the thunderbird, after all.
Raven’s husky laugh blew into her hair. “I will protect you from the thunderbird.”
She giggled. She knew he would protect her from everything. “Where is your camp?”
“Do you know the creek that runs through these woods?” He gestured, and she nodded. “It runs downstream. If you follow it upstream for several hours, it will lead you to a clearing in the dense evergreens. It is there my tribe makes its home.”
Ella closed her eyes and imagined living with Raven, making a home with him in the Black Hills, raising his beautiful children.
“Raven…”
