Savage Summer (4 page)

Her aunt’s words came as such a surprise that Danielle had no ready reply. She had often wondered what her Aunt Joanna would be like. She couldn’t understand what would cause a white woman who had been brought up in polite society to abandon her way of life to live with an Indian. “Your portrait which was painted when you were a young girl hangs on the wall in my father’s study. You were lovely then; you are beautiful now” was all Danielle could think to reply.

Joanna smiled. “I thank you for the compliment. You cannot know how long I have looked forward to this summer. There are so many people who are anxious to meet you, not the least of whom is your Uncle Windhawk.”

Danielle looked down at the toe of her satin slipper which was peeking out of the hem of her gown. She couldn’t meet the blue eyes that held so much love and understanding. She didn’t want to like this woman. Hadn’t she sworn that she would make everyone miserable for forcing her to spend four months with a tribe of savages?

“If you have any influence with my father, I beg you to intercede on my behalf. I do not want to spend the summer with the Blackfoot. All I want to do is go home.”

Joanna turned quickly and looked at her brother. She had expected Danielle to be apprehensive, but she hadn’t expected her to be defiant.

“Danielle, I am warning you,” her father said, giving her a look that clearly told her he was angry with her. “Apologize at once to your Aunt Joanna!”

Danielle raised her chin stubbornly. “I will apologize
because you ordered me to, Papa, but I will not say I’m sorry, because I’m not. I want to go home.”

Tag’s eyes sought his sister’s and she read the hopelessness there. “Danielle, you cannot possibly know how much you are loved by many of us in the Blackfoot tribe. Your grandmother, Sun Woman, marks the passing days off on a piece of buffalo robe. There are many who impatiently await your visit. We have planned many exciting adventures with which to entertain you,” Joanna said, watching the young girl’s eyes fill with anger, or perhaps it was apprehension.

Danielle crossed her arms and tapped her foot. “I’m not in the least interested in what a bunch of Indians have planned for me. I was brought up to be white; I will not act like a savage!”

Tag’s face showed the rage he was feeling. When he would have vented that anger on his daughter, Joanna silenced him with a glance. Taking Danielle by the shoulders, she turned her niece to face her. “You only say these things because you are frightened, Danielle. I understand what you are feeling because at one time I felt the same as you. Give yourself this chance to experience a whole new way of life.”

Again it was hard for Danielle to look into her aunt’s eyes. She wanted to cry out her anguish because no one seemed to understand what she was feeling except her aunt. “I won’t go, and no one can make me!” she cried, throwing herself into Joanna’s arms.

Joanna raised her niece’s face and stared into her eyes. “Danielle, you are forgetting one very important thing. You are the daughter of Morning Song, and as her daughter, you, in your own rights, are an Indian princess of a proud and noble family. It is your duty to act accordingly.’

“I…am a real princess?” Danielle asked in shocked surprise. “No one has ever told me this before.”

“I can assure you it is the truth,” her father concurred. We have never mentioned it to you because, as you know, we had to keep your identity a secret. We wanted you to lead a
normal life, which wouldn’t have been allowed had the neighbors known that you were half Indian.”

Danielle was thoughtful for a moment as she looked at Sky Dancer. They were both half white and half Indian, yet her cousin didn’t look or act like a savage. Perhaps she had been wrong in not wanting to visit her mother’s people. If she were a princess, would she be treated like royalty? “I will go with you, Aunt Joanna,” she said reflectively. “But only because I am forced to. I am unimpressed with the title of Indian princess.”

Joanna saw the anguish on her brother’s face as he sent her a grateful glance. She realized that Danielle had a long way to go before she would be able to come to terms with who she was. The way would be a difficult one, but she was determined to help guide this girl in finding true happiness. She owed it to her brother and to Danielle’s dead mother, Morning Song.

Tag held his arm out to Sky Dancer and gave her a bright smile. “Let us proceed to the dining room. I will have the distinction of escorting the four loveliest ladies who ever stepped foot in this town. St. Louis will never see the likes of you again.”

Alexandria took Joanna’s arm and gave her a woebegone look. They both knew that they were tampering with nature to transplant two young girls into a world they didn’t belong.

“Danielle will come around, Alex. She just needs time to grow up.”

“I will take the greatest care of Sky Dancer, Joanna. She is so sweet and lovely. I wish Danielle could be more like…” She shrugged her shoulders. “I just hope we haven’t made a mistake.”

“Me too,” Joanna agreed. “Me too.”

That night the two girls went into Danielle’s room while their parents visited in Tag’s and Alexandria’s room. They were sitting in the middle of the bed getting better acquainted. Danielle reached out and touched her look-alike’s
face. “We really could pass for twins, you know. I bet if we put our minds to it, we could fool almost anyone.”

Sky Dancer removed the ribbon from her hair and tied it about Danielle’s head so it resembled an Indian headband. “Yes, I believe you are right. It is truly a wonder, is it not?”

Danielle’s face became thoughtful and secretive. “I have an idea, Sky Dancer,” she said, smiling mischievously. “Tomorrow we are supposed to spend the day with your father. My father said it had all been arranged this morning. What if…” She giggled and stood up, dancing around the room, causing her gown to swirl out about her. “What if you pretended to be me, and I pretended to be you?”

Sky Dancer scooted off the bed and caught her cousin’s hand. “It might be fun—do you think we could get by with it?”

“Let me see now…” Danielle began thoughtfully. “Your voice doesn’t sound like mine. You speak English with an accent. Do you think you can talk like me?”

“Do you think you can talk like me?” Sky Dancer mimicked her cousin perfectly.

“That’s it, you did it!”

“Now, listen to this. Tomorrow I will dress in one of your gowns, and you will wear mine. I will wear my hair straight like yours, and we’ll put yours up on your head.”

“Wouldn’t it be something if we could fool them well enough so I wouldn’t have to go to Philadelphia, and you wouldn’t have to go to my village,” Sky Dancer said, giggling delightedly.

Danielle’s eyes narrowed. “Who knows, if we are very clever we might just pull it off. Would you be willing to do that?”

“No, I would never try to trick my mother and father in that way, Danielle. It would be fun for a while, but not for what you are suggesting.”

“I thought Indians were supposed to be devious and sly,” Danielle said in a haughty voice.

“I had heard that white men often say things that are not true,” Sky Dancer replied in an angry voice.

Both girls glared at each other until at last Danielle’s face eased into a grin. “You know what—I think I like you. All right, we will just try to fool them for tomorrow.”

Sky Dancer was slower to get over her anger than Danielle. She didn’t like the things her cousin had said about the Indians. “I am not so sure I like you at all,” she admitted.

Danielle, who was always a tease, made a face at Sky Dancer. “How can you not like your twin. Come on, let’s plan what we are going to do tomorrow.”

Slowly Sky Dancer’s temper cooled. No one could stay mad at Danielle for very long.

From across the hall Tag heard Sky Dancer and Danielle’s laughter. “I knew the girls would get along once they got to know one another. It’s a shame that they haven’t known each other over the years.”

“Well they won’t get to know each other this year,” Alexandria stated. “How can they, when they will each go their separate ways?”

“I believe they will always remember this summer,” Joanna predicted. “Let us hope they will look back on this year with fond memories.”

Sky Dancer was aware that she was dreaming and yet it seemed so real. She stood alone overlooking a strange and wondrous garden. There was a sweet aroma in the air, and she knew it came from the many flowers in bloom. Turning her face up to the moon, she felt a loneliness in the very depths of her being.

If it were only a dream why did she feel so alive? She knew something extraordinary was about to happen. Glancing down, she found herself dressed in a lovely shimmering gown of the white woman…

A voice she didn’t recognize spoke from out of the shadows. “I wonder what you were wishing for just now? A new gown, perhaps, or maybe a new bonnet?”

Sky Dancer slowly turned to face the stranger. He was a head taller than she was and wore the blue uniform of a Cavalry officer—he was a white man! She couldn’t see his features very well since they were cast in shadows, but his eyes seemed to sparkle with mirth.

“I do not know you, sir,” she heard herself saying.

He reached out and captured her hand, stilling her movement. She looked into laughing silver-gray eyes. Those eyes gleamed as he gathered her in his arms. She felt his nearness like a pain in her heart. Who was this man who controlled her dreams.

Sky Dancer wanted to leave—wanted to wake up—but she seemed hypnotized by the deep chord in his voice and the way he was looking at her. Since she had never been kissed by a man—no Blackfoot brave would ever have dared touch her—she didn’t suspect his intention until it was too late.

When their lips met, her mouth trembled beneath his. She was bewildered by the touch of this man’s lips on hers. A warmth seemed to surround her heart, and it frightened her so much that she pulled away from him.

Placing her hand to her lips, she looked at him quizzically. What should she do? Surely it was wrong to allow a strange man to kiss her. “My father will kill you for this,” she said, voicing the first thought that came to mind.

He laughed. “Surely not for just one stolen kiss.” The mocking laughter danced in his eyes.

Sky Dancer knew she should leave but he seemed to hold her prisoner with his strange silver eyes. She also realized she was still dreaming and didn’t want to wake up. She wanted to stay in this dreamworld with her silver-eyed lover.

Her face was flushed, and she placed her hand to her lips. She hadn’t known it could be so pleasant to be kissed by a man. The blue uniform fit his broad shoulders and six-foot frame to perfection. His features were bold and handsome. His hair and sideburns were golden in color. His most disturbing
feature was his silver-colored eyes. They reminded Sky Dancer of the color of a frozen pond, except there was warmth and humor in his glance.

What was his name? she wondered. Why was she dreaming about him? No, surely it was more than a dream—it was a vision—perhaps a prediction of things to come!

She found herself reaching out to him, but a swirling shadow world had already enveloped him in its darkness. She cried out to him to take her hand and hold her in this shadow land, but already she could feel herself waking.

Her eyes opened and she focused them on the ceiling of the hotel room. She felt strangely empty and bewildered. Had the dream been a glimpse into the future, or merely a nightmare? She didn’t know. She was fully awake—the dream was gone. Shaking her head she tried to clear it. Still sleep-drugged she tried to remember what she had dreamed but couldn’t—it was lost, gone.

The dream had left her drained. Trying to fall asleep, she wanted to recapture the fleeting vision, but couldn’t. It was almost daylight when she again closed her eyes in sleep. Even then the dream did not return…

Sky Dancer waited until her mother had gone across the hall to her uncle’s room, then she dashed down the hallway into Danielle’s room. Her arms were laden with a gown, slippers, and undergarments.

“Hurry, Sky Dancer, we don’t have much time,” Danielle breathed. “Someone might come in and catch us in the act of trading clothing.”

Both girls quickly changed into each other’s gowns and shoes. Danielle sat Sky Dancer down on the bed and arranged her hair on top of her head, with one long trailing curl
hanging over her shoulder. They then stood back and surveyed each other.

“Yes, it will work if you can remember to talk like me,” Danielle said with mischief dancing in her eyes. “You talk so proper, Sky Dancer. Try to drop your accent and remember to say
can’t
instead of
cannot,
and
don’t
instead of
do not.”

“I’ll try to remember. What do we do next?”

“Here’s where the true test comes in. You go to my father’s room, and I’ll go to your room and wait for your mother.”

“I am very nervous, Danielle.”

“No, say, ‘I’m very nervous,’” Danielle corrected.

“I’ll try to remember,” Sky Dancer said, feeling the excitement building up inside her.

“Hurry, before someone comes! Let’s see how long we can fool everyone,” Danielle urged.

“No, say, ‘Let us see how long we can fool everyone,’” Sky Dancer said, giggling.

Danielle shoved Sky Dancer toward the door. “Go on, you little imp—but be careful.”

Sky Dancer moved quickly down the hall. When she neared her uncle’s room, the door opened and her mother stepped out into the hall.

“Hello, Aunt Joanna.” She held her breath wondering if her mother would discover the deception, and hoping she had correctly imitated Danielle’s voice.

“Good morning, Danielle. Are you excited about the picnic?”

“Yes,” Sky Dancer said, brushing past her mother and entering the room before she doubled over in a fit of laughter. This was going to be fun, she thought.

“Good morning, dear,” Alexandria said, planting a quick kiss on her forehead. “I was going to come to your room and help you with your hair, but I see you have done it yourself.”

Tag was reading a newspaper, and he laid it aside. “There is a special bloom to your cheeks this morning, Danielle. Did you sleep well?”

“Yes, Papa. When do we leave for the picnic?”

“When Joanna and Sky Dancer are ready,” he answered. Pulling her down into his lap, he held her close for a moment. “I’m going to miss you, honey. Tell me, how did you get along with Sky Dancer?”

“I liked her very well,” Sky Dancer answered, hiding a smile behind her hand.

“Didn’t I tell you Sky Dancer was wonderful? If you were of a mind to, you could learn some manners from your cousin. She’s special.”

“Well, I can tell you I was charmed by Sky Dancer,” Alexandria added her views to the conversation.

“Don’t you think she’s a little savage?” Sky Dancer said offhandedly.

Tag turned her to face him. “Don’t you ever let me hear you say th—” His eyes widened in shocked surprise as he recognized Sky Dancer. A smile eased his lips into a smile. “Well, perhaps she has a few rough edges,” he said, winking.

Sky Dancer knew her uncle had recognized her, but he seemed willing to play along with the little game.

“Tag, how can you say such a thing?” Alexandria cried. “I think she’s lovely.”

“Yep, I can’t argue with that, can you, Danielle?”

Sky Dancer’s eyes danced merrily. “I think she is breathtaking.”

Danielle watched her aunt go about the room gathering up scattered clothing and placing them in the trunk. Lifting a sparkling pink ball gown, she held it against Danielle. “This is lovely. I wish I could be in Philadelphia when you wear it.”

“I would rather wear my buckskins, Mother. Will you not take me back home with you?”

“We have already discussed this, Sky Dancer. Besides, I’m looking forward to getting to know Danielle better.”

“Do you like her?”

“I love her.”

“But do you like her?”

“I’m sure when I get to know her better, I will like her very
much. I suspect she can be a very charming young lady.” Joanna folded the pink gown, and carefully placed it in the trunk.

“Come, it’s time to go. Your uncle will be wondering what’s keeping us.”

The picnic was being held in the woods so Windhawk could be with them. Joanna and Alexandria had hoped a picnic would break the tension and allow the two young girls a chance to become better acquainted. It would also allow Tag time to visit with Windhawk. Tag had always looked up to his brother-in-law. He would never forget that Windhawk had saved his life many times. Windhawk had taken him in and raised him, instilling a sense of values in him that Tag still lived by today.

The girls continued to play their roles. Sky Dancer had told Danielle that her Uncle Tag knew about the switch, but no one else seemed to catch on.

Danielle stood beside Joanna as Windhawk arrived. This was the most frightening moment of all for her. When he walked up to her, she cringed inside. His dark eyes moved over her face, and he smiled. Glancing at Sky Dancer he shook his head. “Which one of you is my daughter, and which is my niece?” To Danielle’s surprise, his English was perfect.

“Father, do you not know me?” Danielle said, feeling that no one could fool this man with the probing black eyes.

“I am glad to see you, my daughter.” He made no attempt to draw her into his arms, but went over to Tag. The two men clasped arms in Blackfoot fashion. Anyone could see they were happy to see one another. “Do our daughters try to play a trick?” he said under his breath so only Tag could hear.

“Play along with them for a while. It seems they have fooled everyone but you and I.”

Windhawk moved over to Alexandria. “It has been many years since I have seen you, my sister. It is good to look upon your face.”

Alexandria had always been a bit intimidated by the Blackfoot
chief. She could never completely forget that he was Tag’s first wife’s brother. “It’s always good to see you, Windhawk.”

He smiled, putting her at ease. “Today we are blessed, because we are all together.”

“All but our two sons,” she reminded him.

“This is true.” He turned to Sky Dancer and knew he must pretend she was his niece Danielle. “I have long looked forward to seeing you, Danielle. You are as pretty as my own Sky Dancer.”

She smiled. “I am glad to see you, Uncle. I have heard many things about you.”

He took her hand and pulled her into his arms. “Have you also heard it is not nice to try and fool your father?” he whispered against her ear.

“How could you tell?” she whispered back.

He chuckled. “It’s a wise father who knows his own flesh.”

He moved away, and held his hand out to Joanna. “Let us give thanks for this day. We are with the people that we love,” Windhawk announced.

Farley chose that moment to amble into the family circle. Without a word to anyone, he walked right up to Sky Dancer. “Why are you wearing your hair up like that, Sky Dancer? I like it better hanging down.”

Joanna and Alexandria looked at the two girls in surprise, then they burst out laughing. “It took you to point out our own daughters, Farley.” Joanna was laughing so hard, she had to stop to catch her breath.

“Farley, you spoiled everything,” Danielle cried. “Why did you have to do that?”

Farley looked at the smiles on everyone’s face. He couldn’t understand what was so funny.

“We did fool you for a time,” Sky Dancer said. “Of course our fathers knew from the start who was who.”

The broad, muddy Mississippi River flowed lazily toward the sea, oblivious to the green slopes and dense forest that grew along its banks.

Sky Dancer stood on a hill overlooking the place where the Missouri and Mississippi rivers joined in the endless flow to the sea. These rivers with the strange-sounding names might be larger and wider than the Milk River of her homeland, but they couldn’t compare with its life-giving water.

The young girl wore a gray and white pin-striped gown, with its cumbersome steel hoop swaying with the warm breeze. How she longed for her soft buckskins and moccasins.

“What are you thinking,” her look-alike asked, coming up beside her and following Sky Dancer’s eyes down to the river.

“I suppose I am homesick. Like you, I wish I didn’t have to venture so far from home.”

Danielle sat down on the green grass and motioned for Sky Dancer to join her. “Perhaps, if we were to band together and present a united front, our parents would listen to us and relent.”

Sky Dancer shook her head. “I have given my word and cannot break it. Would it not be better to go forward with a happy heart and make the best of a bad situation, suffering only in silence?”

Danielle sighed heavily. “I suppose,” she declared ruefully. “Tell me about your life in the Indian village. Somehow I cannot fathom you living with savages and enjoying it. You seem so civilized.”

Sky Dancer didn’t take offense at her cousin’s words. At the moment she felt years older than Danielle, even though they were only a few weeks apart in age. “I have known no life other than the one I was born into. I love the people of the Blackfoot tribe. Both you and I are what others less kind might call half-breeds. Yet if I were to resent anything in life, it would be the white blood that flows in my veins. It seems you resent the Indian that is a part of you.”

“I suppose you are right,” Danielle admitted. “I didn’t intend to like you or my Aunt Joanna, but I find that I do. Wouldn’t it be fun if we could spend the summer together? La, I can just see the ladies of Philadelphia turning green
with envy when the two of us walk into a room. We are both beautiful, you know.”

Sky Dancer couldn’t help but laugh at her cousin’s observation. “Are we? I suppose I never thought much about how I looked until I met you. You
are
very lovely.”

Danielle chewed on a long stem of grass. “If I am beautiful, then you are too. Have you never had a young man tell you that you are pleasant to look upon?”

“No, they wouldn’t dare say such a thing to me. I am daughter to the chief.”

“How very dull. I love all the attention I am showered with when I go to balls and parties. Is there no one special whom you like in the Blackfoot village?”

“No, not really, although…I do think Wolfrunner is very handsome. He has not looked at me as a woman though. We are no more than good friends. You will meet him since he is traveling with my father and mother.”

“Tell me about him,” Danielle said with interest.

“Wolfrunner is the son of a powerful war chief, Gray Fox. He is five summers older than I, and very handsome. He is a very brave warrior. Many of the maidens of my tribe wish he would look at them, but he does not.”

“I know someone like him. His name is Morgan Prescott. Actually, he’s a doctor and is serving in the Cavalry. His family lives on the estate down the road from ours. He is very handsome and dashing. All the girls make fools of themselves over him, but he hardly notices them.”

“Is he interested in you, Danielle?” Sky Dancer wanted to know.

Danielle tossed aside the blade of grass she had been chewing. “Not in the way you think. He has always treated me like a child. I declare he can be the most irritating man sometimes. He is a colonel in the Cavalry and doesn’t come home very often. I haven’t seen him in over a year. How dashing he looked in his uniform the last time I saw him. He did kiss me once, but it was all in fun.”

“The war is very bad, isn’t it?”

“Didn’t you know the war is over—we won. General Lee surrendered to General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse. But to answer your question, yes, the war was awful and for more reasons than one. There are never enough handsome dancing partners at a ball. I am ofttimes forced to dance with bearded old men. It will be wonderful when our men come home again. Of course, if they come home while I am away, all the most eligible ones will be snapped up before I return.”

“Do you love this Morgan Prescott?”

“Goodness, no.”

“You said he kissed you.”

“That was nothing. Morgan kisses all the young ladies. He is the most sought-after bachelor in Philadelphia, but he isn’t marriage minded. I was very angry with him the last time we met. I believe I damned him to the enemy.”

“I have never kissed a man other than my father and brother, with the exception of Farley.”

Danielle giggled. “Isn’t it strange. That crusty old trapper is a big part of both our lives. I just adore him, don’t you?”

“Yes, he lives in my village. Farley is like one of the family.”

Danielle frowned. “Just think, your brother and mine are traveling in Europe this summer with our Grandfather James. Men have all the advantages, don’t you agree?”

“I have never thought about it. I know Little Hawk was very excited about going abroad with Grandfather.”

“I would settle for a party or a ball at the moment. I like excitement in my life,” Danielle admitted.

Sky Dancer laughed. “My mother has taught me how to dance, but I wouldn’t want to dance with one of your young gentlemen. I would be too frightened.”

“Father told me that your mother taught you to speak English as soon as you could talk. I suppose she was preparing you for this summer.”

“Yes, she taught me what she calls all the niceties of society.
I hope I can put them into practice when we reach Philadelphia. I would not wish to shame your father and mother.”

“I don’t think you have anything to worry about. You realize, of course, they aren’t going to tell anyone that you have an Indian father. They will guard the truth as they have for me all these years.”

“Yes, I have been told this. I wonder why I cannot be honest about myself. I feel only pride for the Indian blood that came to me through my father.”

Danielle’s eyes turned cold, and she frowned at Sky Dancer. “The one thing you must not do is let anyone find out that you are half Indian. You may not care, but I would be humiliated if they were to find out about me. I will hate you forever if you betray me!”