Under A Prairie Moon (19 page)

“Is everything all right?” she asked.

Dalton nodded. “I told them you were my woman, and that we wished to stay here for a while. My cousin, Okute, has two wives. His second wife, Yellow Grass Woman, has agreed to let us live in her lodge while we’re here.”

“He has two wives?”

“Yellow Grass Woman is his first wife’s sister. Her husband was killed by the Crow. It is Okute’s duty to look after her.”

“Oh. What did they say when you told them I was your woman?”

Dalton grinned. “They said I was a lucky man.”

“I’ll bet.”

“Honest.” His eyes caressed her. “Any man would consider himself lucky to have you in his lodge.”

“Thank you.”

“Come on, I want to introduce you to my cousin.”

Dalton’s cousin was tall and lean. He had two faint white scars on his chest; another, longer scar ran down the length of his left arm. He smiled at her when Dalton introduced them.

“
Hou
,
hankasi
,” he said solemnly. “
Tanyan yahi yelo
.”

Kathy looked at Dalton. “What did he say?”

“He bid you welcome.”

“Tell him thank you.”

“You tell him. The Lakota word for thank you is
pilamaya
.”

“Pila-may-a,” Kathy said.

Okute grinned at her. “
Waste
,
hankasi
. I am happy to meet you.”

Kathy stared at him. “You speak English!”

“
Han
. But only a…” He looked at Dalton. “
Cikala
.”

“Little,” Dalton said.

“Little,” Okute repeated.

“And only when it suits him,” Dalton said with a wry grin. “This is his first wife, Dancing Cloud, and this is her sister, Yellow Grass Woman.”

Kathy smiled at the two women. Both were of medium height, with long black braids and dark-brown eyes. They returned Kathy’s smile, then giggled behind their hands.

“Do they speak English?”

“About as much as Okute,” Dalton said.

One by one, men and women came forward to welcome Dalton. Kathy tried to remember them all, but it was impossible. She had thought they would look at her with distrust or hatred, but they all welcomed her kindly, save for one woman, whose dark eyes blazed with loathing.

“Don’t pay any attention to the woman of Black Otter,” Dalton said as the woman turned away.

“Why does she hate me so?”

“She hates all whites. They killed her husband and her only son fifteen years ago, and she still carries the bitterness inside her.”

Kathy watched the crowd disperse, the people going back to doing whatever they had been doing before their arrival. “I guess she has good reason to hate me.”

Dalton snorted. “Why? You didn’t do it.”

“Well, that’s true, but I guess it’s just human nature. People in my time are the same. I had a friend who hated all Italians because one of them beat up her brother in high school.”

“I guess prejudice is everywhere,” Dalton mused.

“Human nature,” Kathy said again. “In my time, they’ve passed laws against it, but you can’t legislate people’s feelings.”

“You gonna be okay here?” he asked, squeezing her hand.

Kathy nodded. “I guess so.”

She glanced around the village, at the conical-shaped lodges, the people in buckskins and feathers, the vast horse herd grazing in the distance. There were dogs everywhere. Children stopped their games to stare at her through large dark eyes.

She took a deep breath and caught the aroma of roasting meat, the acrid smell of a cook fire, a scent Dalton told her was sage and sweet grass.

She saw a woman scraping a hide, another shaking out a big woolly robe, a man holding a sleeping child, a little girl playing with a rag doll.

“Kathy?”

“I’ll be fine.”

“Come on, I’ll show you where we’ll be staying. Yellow Grass Woman should be moved out by now.”

“I feel bad, putting her out of her…home.”

“She won’t mind.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah. And it won’t be for long. In a few days, we’ll have a lodge of our own.”

“We will?”

Dalton nodded. “Okute’s wives will do some trading and when they’ve got enough hides, they’ll build us a lodge.”

“Oh.”

“Okute’s women are giving a feast in our honor in two days’ time.”

Kathy grinned at him. “Sort of a welcome home for the prodigal son, I guess.”

“Yeah, something like that,” Dalton said. He stopped in front of a large tipi. “This is it.”

He let go of her hand, and she ducked and stepped inside. The interior of the lodge was far bigger than Kathy had expected. It was, she decided, about the size of her bedroom back home, only round instead of square. There was a fire pit in the center of the floor. Back rests made of wood and covered with furs were arranged on either side of the fire. Pots and pans were stacked to one side of the door, buckskin packs were piled on the other. There was a pile of furs and blankets along the back wall of the lodge.

“It’s nice,” she said, glancing around. And far cleaner and roomier than she would have expected.

“Yeah.” He closed the door flap, which had been open on their arrival. “Come here.”

“Why?”

“Why do you think?”

She grinned at him. “I don’t know. Tell me.”

He lifted one brow. “All right. See that bed back there? I want to lay you down on it, and then I want to undress you. And then I want to touch you, and taste you, and…”

“I think I get the idea,” Kathy murmured, her blood heating as she imagined the two of them entwined on the soft furs.

“Smart girl,” he said with a teasing grin. He drew her into his arms, his hands skimming over her back, her breasts.

“I always got A’s in school,” she said, suddenly breathless.

His hands delved beneath her shirt, caressing her back. “I never went to school,” he replied, his voice husky. “Why don’t you teach me what I missed.”

“All right. We’ll start with the alphabet. A is for Awesome,” she said as he nibbled her earlobe. “As in that feels awesome.”

“Does it?” He ran his tongue over her breast. “What is B for?”

“Body.” She tugged at his shirt, drew it over his head and tossed it aside. “I love your body.” She measured the width of his shoulders, kneaded the muscles in his arms.

“What about C?”

“C is for Cuddle.” She pressed herself against him. “I love to cuddle with you.”

Dalton laughed softly as he nuzzled her neck. “What about D?”

“D is for Don’t, as in don’t stop.”

He smiled down at her. “Don’t worry.”

“E is for Enough,” Kathy said.

“As in I can’t get enough of you?” Dalton asked.

“Exactly.”

“And F?” He lifted her into his arms and carried her to the bed.

“F is for Forever,” she whispered.

“
Ohinyan
,” Dalton said, his voice low and husky.

“What?”

“It’s Lakota. It means forever.” Kneeling, he placed her on the furry buffalo robes, then cupped her face in his hands. “I will love you forever, Katherine Conley,” he vowed, and kissed her.

She slipped her arms around his neck, drawing him down beside her, clinging to him as he kissed her again and again, his hands and lips and words wrapping her in a warm cocoon.

They discarded their clothing, then came together again, want turning to need, and need turning quickly into desperation.

She clung to him, the only solid thing in a world spinning wildly out of control.

“
Ohinyan
,” Dalton murmured, and with one last thrust, he carried them both over the edge of desperation to ecstasy.

“I will love you forever.”

“Why did you want to come back here?” Kathy asked. “I know you said you made a promise to your father. But what did you promise him?”

They were sitting on the bank of the river, their bare feet dangling in the cool water.

“It was just before my father was killed,” Dalton replied. “I’d never sought a vision. I’m not sure why. I think maybe I was afraid I didn’t deserve one.”

“Why not?”

“Because I was a half-breed. My white blood didn’t matter to the Lakota. No one ever looked down on me because of it, or made me feel I was different, but…”

“But you felt you were, didn’t you? Different, I mean?”

“Yeah. A couple days before my father went to battle, he took me aside and told me it was his strong wish that I seek a vision. He said I would never have any direction in my life, any balance, until I did. I promised him that I would do as he asked.” Dalton blew out a sigh of regret. “But then he was killed and my mother decided to go back to Boston. I never forgot that promise though.”

“What do you have to do to get a vision?”

“You have to prepare yourself spiritually. And then pick a secluded place, usually up in the hills somewhere.”

Kathy nodded. It made perfect sense. In the Bible, it seemed the prophets always went looking for inspiration on a mountaintop.

“Does someone go with you?”

“No.”

“How long will it take?”

“I’ll probably be gone about four days.”

“Four days! What will I do while you’re gone?”

“Okute and his wives will look after you, don’t worry.”

She wanted to protest, would have argued that she didn’t want to be left alone with people she hardly knew, but she didn’t. She could see that this was important to Dalton, something he felt he had to do. And four days wasn’t all that long.

“How soon will you be going?”

“Not for a few days. I need to talk to the shaman and arrange for a sweat.”

“A sweat?”

“Sweat lodge. It’s a way of purifying yourself.”

“Oh. Do all Indian men seek visions?”

Dalton nodded.

“And do they all have them?”

“I don’t know. I never knew anyone who didn’t, but…” He shrugged. “I don’t know.” He slipped his arm around her shoulders and drew her close. “I’m glad you’re here, with me,” he said gruffly.

Warmth spread through Kathy at his words. She knew how difficult it was for him to express his affection and cherished his words all the more because of it.

“Come on,” he said, “let’s go for a swim.”

“A swim? Here?” Kathy glanced around. It was early, but she could see a few women outside, stirring the coals of their cook fires. Dogs were prowling the camp, looking for scraps. Three men stood outside a lodge.

“Sure, come on,” Dalton said, rising. “No one will bother us.”

“But anyone could come down and see us…”

But he was already undressing, stripping off his shirt, his pants. He held out his hand. “Come on.”

Feeling horribly shy, she took off her shirt and jeans, but left on her panties and bra, rationalizing that in her day and age girls often wore far less at the beach.

Dalton lifted one brow, but said nothing.

“Fine!” Kathy muttered, and with a sigh of exasperation, she removed her bra and panties and plunged into the river, shrieking as the cold water closed over her.

With a grin, Dalton dove in after her.

“It’s freezing!” Kathy exclaimed.

“Feels great,” Dalton said. “Come on.”

He swam away from her with long, even strokes. Kathy watched him a moment, then swam after him, thinking that all those hours she had spent swimming at the Y had finally paid off. She quickly caught up with him and they swam upstream for about fifteen minutes, then turned and swam back to where they had left their clothing.

She had to admit the cold water was invigorating once she got used to it. She had never gone swimming in the nude before. It was wonderfully exhilarating to feel the water moving over her bare skin.

She shrieked when she felt something slither past her leg.

“It’s just a fish,” Dalton said.

“Are you sure?” Treading water now, she glanced around, visions of man-eating sharks and electric eels flashing through her mind even though she knew neither of them were likely to be found in a river. Snakes were a very real possibility though.

“I’m sure.”

Moments later, they stepped out of the water. Kathy used her t-shirt to dry off with, pulled on her panties, bra and jeans, then shrugged into her damp shirt. She scowled at Dalton. He stood fully nude, letting the warmth of the sun bake him dry, apparently not caring that anyone who happened by would see him.

Her stomach growled loudly, reminding her that she hadn’t eaten since the night before.

“Hungry?” Dalton asked.

“Very.”

He nodded. He hadn’t realized just how much he had missed food, how much pleasure there was in the simple act of eating. He dressed quickly, then took Kathy by the hand. “Come on, let’s go see what we can rustle up for breakfast.”

* * * * *

Kathy felt as though everyone was staring at her as they made their way toward the lodge. And maybe they were. And who could blame them. The Indians probably didn’t see a lot of white women, especially women wearing pants.

She wondered what they thought of her. Wondered if they assumed that she and Dalton were married. She didn’t know much about Indians except what she’d seen in movies, and she was pretty sure Hollywood’s view of Indians was badly skewed. One thing she was pretty sure of was that Lakota men and women probably didn’t live together unless they were married.

She felt a twinge of conscience as she ducked into the lodge. She had never believed in sex outside of marriage. She didn’t believe in casual sex. She never had. And with the very real threat of AIDS, it seemed stupid to sleep around. She’d had a few friends who claimed they were careful, but nothing was one hundred percent safe, and no matter how wonderful sex was, it wasn’t worth dying for.

She slid a glance at Dalton. No doubt she was safe enough with him, she mused, since he had been a ghost, and celibate, for over a hundred years. She couldn’t believe how quickly he had stirred her desire, how easily she had surrendered to him. She and Wayne had indulged in some pretty heavy petting before they were married, but they had never gone all the way. She had said no, and Wayne had respected her wishes.

“Kathy?”

“Hmmm?”

“Dancing Cloud left us something to eat.” He handed her a bowl.

“Thanks.”

She sat down, and Dalton sat beside her. The stew was warm and savory and filling.

There was a rap on the lodge flap.

“
Tima hiyuwo
,” Dalton called, and Dancing Cloud and her sister stepped into the lodge, both bearing folded bundles in their hands.

They spoke to Dalton, placed the bundles on the floor, smiled at Kathy and left the lodge.

“What was that all about?” Kathy asked.

“They brought us a change of clothes. Yellow Grass Woman said she would be pleased if you would wear her gift at the feast.”

Kathy glanced dubiously at the pile on the floor, trying to imagine herself in a dress similar to what the Indian women wore.

“Ever wear buckskin?”

Kathy made a face at him. “What do you think?”

“I think you’ll like it.”

“Can’t I just wear the dress I brought with me?”

“Sure, if you want.”

“I guess it would hurt Yellow Grass Woman’s feelings if I refused.”

“Yeah.”

“Okay, I’ll wear it.”

“Thanks, darlin’.”

She would have worn a potato sack to have him look at her like that.

* * * * *

The next two days passed swiftly. As Dalton had predicted, Yellow Grass Woman and Dancing Cloud soon collected enough hides to erect a new lodge. It was not so large as Yellow Grass Woman’s, and the hides, unpainted and without decoration of any kind, looked rather plain when compared to the surrounding tipis, many of which were elaborately painted.

Dalton grinned at Kathy when she remarked on it. “Well,” he drawled, “the paintings on Black Otter’s lodge depict his exploits in battle. The painting on Okute’s lodge represents the time he stole one hundred ponies from the Crow. I guess I could always draw one of my gunfights on ours.”

With a laugh, Kathy punched him on the shoulder.

They had laughed a lot in the last two days. She had put her fears for the future aside and now, for the first time in her life, she felt completely free. She had no responsibilities, no pressing appointments, nothing to worry about. They made love far into the night, slept late, swam in the river, walked along the shore.

Dalton taught her a few Lakota words and sentences that he thought she would find useful.

Toniktuka he
? How are you?

Iyuskinyan wancinyankelo
. I am happy to meet you.

Ake u wo
. Come again.

Pilamaya
. Thank you.

Sunkawakan
. Horse

She watched the women, amazed by the amount of work they did each day—caring for their children, scraping hides, preparing meals, mending their clothes or making new ones, gathering wood and water. Nothing they did was quick or easy, and she thought how spoiled women of the future were, with refrigerators and freezers and microwave ovens, and how lucky she had been to be born in a time of ease and luxury. It gave her a new appreciation for all the conveniences she had taken for granted. And, even more than the luxuries, she was grateful to have been born in a time when babies were born in hospitals, when there were vaccinations for childhood diseases. True, AIDS was a plague to be reckoned with in the twentieth century, but Dalton told her that whole tribes had been wiped out by measles and smallpox and cholera.

The Lakota made her feel welcome, accepting her as one of them because she was Dalton’s woman.

She sighed as she watched him walk toward her. She was Dalton’s woman, and that was all she ever wanted to be.

* * * * *

Kathy smoothed the dress over her hips, wishing she had a mirror so she could see how she looked. It was made of antelope skin, tanned a creamy white and softer than velvet against her skin. Rows of tiny blue, red and yellow beads adorned the bodice and the point of each shoulder. She had found a pair of moccasins wrapped inside the dress. They were a surprisingly good fit and more comfortable than she would have imagined.

She turned, feeling nervous, as Dalton stepped into the lodge. What would he think?

He stood just inside the doorway, his gaze moving over her from head to foot and back up again. Never, he thought, never had he seen anything so lovely. The dress, while not snug, still managed to show every curve. Her hair fell over her shoulders, a dark contrast to the creamy color of the buckskin.

Kathy tugged at her skirt. “Well?”

“You look beautiful, darlin’. Prettiest thing I’ve ever seen.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

“Thank you.” She smiled, warmed by his words, and the look in his eyes. “You look mighty fine yourself,” she remarked, and felt her heart skip a beat as she took a good look at Dalton.

He was wearing a clout, a buckskin vest and moccasins. The left side of the vest was painted with a sunburst, the right side depicted a man on horseback. Long fringe dangled from the bottom hem. It was a lovely garment, one that emphasized his broad shoulders and muscular arms. His legs were long and straight and well-muscled. He wore a beaded headband; there was a feather braided into his long, inky black hair. He looked primal, virile, sexy as hell.

He cocked his head to one side. “What?”

“Nothing.”

“Tell me.”

“You look so…so…”

“So what?”

She shrugged. “Indian.”

“Is that good?”

“Very.”

He blew out a breath between his teeth. He hadn’t realized, until this minute, how much her acceptance of this part of his heritage meant to him. “Are you ready?”

“I guess so.” She bit down on her lower lip. “I’m a little scared.”

“Don’t be.” He crossed the distance between them and took her in his arms. “I’m glad you’re here.”

With a sigh, she rested her head against his chest. “Me too.”

“Kathy…”

“Hmmmm?”

“I love you.”

She felt the sting of tears and closed her eyes. What was there about those three simple words that had the power, in a matter of moments, to change one’s whole life?

“Would you…” His hand stroked her hair, slid down her back to draw her closer. “Do you think that…” He muttered an oath. “Would you marry me?”

Kathy’s head snapped up, her gaze meeting his. “Marry you,” she murmured. “Are you serious?”