White Owl (20 page)

She looked back at White Owl. His jaw was squared and his mouth clamped tightly shut as if he was trying to hold in his words. She was relieved to see that Strong Elk was glaring at his youngest son.

“We have talked of this, Two Feathers, and we will not talk of it again,” the older warrior said sternly.

“Are you proud of a son who hides behind the skirts of our enemies?” The contempt in his voice was heavy, and the expression on his face in the flickering firelight conveyed his rage.

White Owl sprang to his feet and faced his brother. His hands fisted at his sides. “It was decided by all of us that I would protect Wild Rose by taking her away from here. Even Jack thought we should leave.”

“You could have sent her back to the whites where she belongs and stood beside your brothers in war. She has turned you into a woman!”

Rose jumped to her feet as the two brothers charged each other. She screamed, but stepped back when they both went crashing to the ground, barely missing the fire pit. Strong Elk shouted something in Ute, and before she realized it, a crowd of villagers surrounded the two men rolling on the ground. She was pushed back and could no longer see what was happening until she fought her way back to the front of the spectators. She opened her mouth to cry out to White Owl, but the words stuck in her throat.

Two Feathers was lying on his back in the dirt, and White Owl was kneeling on top of him with one knee pinning him to the ground and his forearm pressed against his neck. In his hand, he held his hunting knife, which was now pressed against Two Feathers’ chest. Her insides froze with dread. For the first time since they had met, her husband looked savage and murderous.

She rushed to White Owl’s side. He did not look up at her until she cried out to him. “No, he’s your brother! I won’t let you kill your own brother because of me.”

White Owl remained unmoving for a few
minutes and kept his death grip on Two Feathers. Rose glanced at Two Feathers and was shocked to see him looking up at her with a smirk on his face. She stumbled back a step as she tried to control her fear. For one crazy second, she almost wished White Owl would plunge that blade into his brother’s heart.

Strong Elk had walked up to stand beside Rose. An expression of pain contorted his face, but when she noticed the look of terror on Sage’s face as she entered the circle, Rose’s own agony seemed unimportant. These were her sons, and Rose could not imagine the heartbreak she must be feeling at this moment.

“I’ll leave, and you’ll never see me again if you kill him, White Owl,” Rose said. She hoped her voice sounded stern, but she knew it was more shaky than strong. Now she finally had his attention. His eyes closed for a second. He slowly raised his arm from his brother’s neck, but he kept the knife against his chest for another moment. Strong Elk ran up to his sons and grabbed Two Feathers as White Owl drew the knife away. Rose exhaled hard. They had been back for only a short time, and already they had encountered exactly the type of trouble that White Owl had predicted.

White Owl slowly rose and turned to give Rose a questioning look.

She stepped up to him. “I saw your mother’s face. I had to do something.”

Without replying, White Owl turned and walked away.

Rose watched him disappear into the darkness. She didn’t understand what had just happened. They had promised only earlier today that they wouldn’t allow their families to tear them apart. Was that promise about to be broken?

“Thank you,” a soft voice said.

Rose turned to look at Sage. She shrugged, but could not speak because of the hard lump in her throat.

“He is angry, but he return to you,” the older woman said softly.

“I know,” Rose whispered. She attempted to smile at Sage, but couldn’t pull it off.

The older woman put her arm around Rose’s shoulder. “Come rest now. I have made a bed for you and my son in our tepee for tonight. In morning we put up your tepee.”

Rose nodded and let Sage guide her into the tepee. A small fire in the center of the tepee created a cozy atmosphere and made Rose think of the cave they had lived in for the past couple of months. How she wished they were still there now. She was surprised that Cloud Woman and Shy Girl were not there, but she was too distraught about White Owl to ask about them.

She gratefully sank down to the thick mattress Sage had made of blankets. The long trip had taken its toll on her body, and the fight between White Owl and Two Feathers had drained her mind of all
coherent thoughts. Still, she was certain that she would not be able to sleep without White Owl beside her. Within minutes of lying down, though, she was asleep.

Her slumber was disturbed with fleeting nightmares of the men at the agency being slaughtered and crying babies and flashes of dead soldiers. She awoke drenched in sweat and feeling disoriented until she became aware of where she was. When she realized that White Owl was lying beside her, the nightmares dissipated into relief.

She took a deep breath and wiped her hand across her sweating brow. He was lying on his side with his back to her. She reached out to touch him, but then pulled her hand back. Her heart ached for the pain her husband must feel, and even more because she knew there was no way she could help him.

“I’m awake,” he whispered.

Rose exhaled the breath she had been holding as he rolled over onto his back. She immediately snuggled up against him. His arm cradled her securely at his side.

“I’m so sorry, White Owl. I never wanted to cause you and your fam—”

“You did not cause this,” he cut in. “It has been brewing since we were little.”

“But I—” Her words were cut off once again when he put his hand up to her mouth.

“I will not allow you to blame yourself.” He sighed heavily. “Your brothers and father will feel the same.”

The blood in Rose’s veins turned ice cold. Her father and Tate would be even worse than Two Feathers. “I must go see them alone.”

White Owl was silent for a moment. He exhaled sharply. “I will ride with you, but you are right. You should talk to your family alone first and try to make them understand our love. If I am there, they will only be concerned with putting a bullet between my eyes.”

Rose blinked several times to wipe that horrible image from her mind. As for making them understand? That was not going to happen. Still, she had to go back and see them one last time, especially her mother and Donavan. Then she could move on with her life and the peaceful future she envisioned with her handsome husband, in spite of the sense of impending doom that settled heavily in her heart at this moment.

Although everything at White Owl’s village had changed, nothing at the Adair ranch looked any different. Rose glanced back over her shoulder at White Owl. He waited farther back on the ridge so that he was out of sight. He gave her an encouraging smile. Rose forced herself to smile back.

He looked so regal sitting on his big black stallion. Wearing a complete buckskin suit he looked more handsome than usual. She had braided the front sections of his hair and the long braids hung over his chest. The remainder of his luscious locks that she loved to run her fingers through hung down his back. A beaded headband encircled his head. The only things that detracted from his beautiful image were the thick belts of ammunition he wore around his narrow waist and angled across his broad chest. A rifle hung from his saddle, reminding Rose of the grave danger they faced in this area now.

She blew him a kiss. His smiled widened, and he nodded his head. When he waved back and turned to ride away, Rose had to wipe away a tear. It was good that he had been strong enough to ride away,
because she knew she wouldn’t have been able to be the first one to leave. Even now, it took all of her restraint to keep from kicking Molly in the sides and galloping after him. But she had to be as strong as he was being and take care of unfinished business.

Besides, he would be back to get her in the morning.

Rose hunched up her shoulders as a frosty blast of wind whipped around her. The weather was turning colder, and dark clouds were gathering overhead. She would spend the night apart from White Owl for the first time since she had left here over two months ago. It was going to be a long, cold night.

She drew a deep breath and turned back toward her family homestead. With a gentle nudge, she led Molly down the hill. Before she had even ridden all the way down the slope, Donavan spotted her. He had been getting water from the well, but he had dropped the full bucket on the ground when he saw her.

“Ma! Pa! Rose is back,” he yelled as he ran toward her. “Rose! Rose!” he cried over and over as they drew nearer to one another.

The tears flooding down her face were uncontrollable now, and when she was still several hundred yards away from him, Rose jumped down from Molly’s back and ran the rest of the way until her little brother was wrapped in her embrace. Although it had not been that long since she had seen him, it seemed as if he had grown several inches
taller, or maybe it had been such a long time since they had actually hugged that she had forgotten how fast he was growing into a young man. He was now taller than she was, and she was certain he hadn’t been when she left two months earlier.

When they finally pulled apart, Rose’s gaze was drawn to the small woman who was standing a couple of feet away.

“Mama,” she gasped through her tears. She held her arms open and waited as her mother stepped forward hesitantly as if she was afraid of her. Taking the initiative, Rose stepped forward and threw her arms around her mother. “I’m sorry I left the way I did,” she cried as her mother tightened her hold around her.

As her mother cried and they hugged, she looked over her mother’s head and glimpsed her father and Tate. They had stopped a good distance back. Each held a rifle and their expressions were identical, filled with hate and disgust.

“Are you here to stay?” Colleen whispered in Rose’s ear.

Rose choked back her tears as she realized the fearful tone in her mother’s voice. “No, Mother, I am not,” she replied. She pulled back from her mother and met the other woman’s sorrowful gaze. “I am only here to apologize for leaving the way I did. And to make sure that you are all safe after what happened at the agency. Then I will be returning to my husband.” She said the words as loudly as her shaking voice would allow. Beside her,
Donavan moaned. Her mother’s face drained of all color.

“So it’s true then,” her mother said. “What you wrote in your note?”

Rose reached out and clasped her mother’s hand; it lay limply in her own. “Please try to understand. I love him more than my own life.”

“Well, that’s good, ’cause your life is worthless if you are still with that Injun,” Tate spat as he walked closer. Her father had not moved.

Rose dropped her mother’s hand and stepped away from all of them. “Please hear me out,” she pleaded loud enough for her father to hear. He took several steps closer. “Father, I am begging you to listen to me.” She took a couple shaky steps toward him.

His face was red, and the fury in his blue eyes made them look as hard as ice; his lips were drawn together so tightly that they barely formed a thin white line above his chin. Inwardly, she cringed. “I will have my say and then I will leave, and you will not have to look at me again.”

“Paddy, please?” Colleen cried out. “She’s our daughter.”

“And a filthy squaw,” Tate growled between gritted teeth. He raised his rifle.

Colleen screamed, and Donavan ran to place himself between his older brother and sister. Rose could not move in her dazed state. Did her own twin hate her enough to kill her? The events of the previous night flashed through her mind . . .
White Owl and Two Feathers, wrestling on the ground and then the knife pressed against Two Feathers’ heart. She swallowed hard. How could two people falling in love cause so much animosity?

“Tate!” Paddy yelled. He walked up to the group and faced his eldest son. “I know how you feel, but this ain’t gonna solve the problem.”

Tate stared at his father for an instant and then slowly lowered the gun. His head dropped. Paddy reached out and easily took the rifle from his hand. Then, turning back to the rest of his family, he said flatly, “You came back for a reason, and we will hear you out.”

“T-th—” Rose’s voice would not work. She felt her mother’s arm around her shoulder and Donavan’s hand clasp ahold of hers.

“We’ll set at the table and talk like a rational family,” Colleen said.

“I don’t want her in the house,” Tate announced.

“Enough, boy.” Paddy glanced at Rose with narrowed eyes. “You say what you came to say.” He shook his head and added, “And you’re welcome in the house.” He cast a warning glance at Tate, whose face was now redder than his father’s.

Rose was led forward by her mother and younger brother, but she felt like her legs were made of lead. Although she had known what to expect from Tate and her father, actually hearing how much they hated her was worse than she had ever imagined.

The delicious odor of freshly baked cornbread filled the air, and the interior of the sprawling ranch
house was warm and comforting, especially compared to the dropping temperature outside. But Rose no longer felt welcome there. She pictured the cozy cave at Vermillion Basin and fought back tears. She sat down at the table and stared blankly at her father as he sat across from her. They were the only two to sit down.