Wild Ecstasy (22 page)

Pale and nauseated, Mariah ran after him and knelt beside him as he was placed on the ground.

Echohawk came quickly to Mariah's side and placed a blanket over her father's body, up to his chin.

“Papa,” Mariah cried, reaching out to touch him, but drawing her hand back as though she had been shot when he began wheezing and trembling violently with a chill.

“Mariah? How can it be? How . . . can . . . you be . . . here?” Victor Temple said, turning his weakened bloodshot eyes up to her, making out only a hazy shadow. “Thank God. You . . . are . . . all right. God, Mariah, I looked high and low for you. Where have you been? I . . . I thought you were dead.”

“I was with Echohawk and his people for a while, and then I went and stayed with Colonel and Mrs. Snelling,” she said, trying to keep her composure even as she saw that her father was near death. She could tell by the rattles in his chest. And she could tell by looking that he had not eaten for days. “I am here now because Echohawk brought me. Papa, I—”

“Echohawk?” Victor said, interrupting Mariah. He squinted as he tried to make out Echohawk beside Mariah. He slowly rolled his head back and forth. “No, Mariah. Not Echohawk. You can't be consorting with Indians. And especially not Echohawk. His father . . . he and your mother . . .”

“His father and my mother . . . ?” Mariah said, leaning closer to his face. “What about them, Papa?”

Victor turned his head away from her, not knowing how to tell her the truths that would hurt her. He would talk of something else. He licked his parched lips, and felt the warmth of tears flooding from his eyes and across his cheeks. “Damn that Tanner,” he said, only barely audible. “He abducted me. He hated me. But with reason. I . . . I . . . I've cheated Tanner on a regular basis, and because I refused him your hand in marriage, he did this to me, Mariah.”

Wonderfully happy to know that Echohawk had just had his name totally cleared of any crime, Mariah flashed him a warm smile. Her father continued to ramble on, as though seeking a way to repent for all the wrongs done to her. She listened attentively, growing more numb by the minute.

“Before I die I've many things I've got to tell you. And now,” Victor said, looking pleadingly up at her. “I've protected you from so many things in your lifetime—among them the truth that could have hurt and confused you as a child. But it is only fair to you that you know everything. You are now an adult and can stand up against such knowledge better than you could have as a child.”

He paused and coughed, blood spewing from between his lips.

Mariah winced and bit her lower lip, still caring too much for her father not to feel remorse for him as he lay dying before her eyes.

“Long ago, Mariah,” Victor continued, knowing that he could not delay telling her any longer. “When me and Colonel Snelling were stationed with General Hull's army in Detroit, your mother had an affair with Colonel Snelling. Mariah, you are the offspring of that affair, but even I didn't know of this deception until your mother confessed the truth on her deathbed.”

He coughed again and stopped to take a long shaky breath, then continued, oblivious of Mariah's bloodless complexion and wide eyes, her hands at her cheeks, stunned speechless by this revelation.

“Mariah,” Victor said, lifting a bony hand to her cheek, patting it, “I knew of your mother's affair with Josiah Snelling, but I had not been aware that you were his. She was very clever in her deceptions! She had more than one affair while married to me. She had an affair with Chief Gray Elk. She killed herself over that Indian who put his people's welfare before hers, a white woman.”

Echohawk grew stiff and his jaw went slack, to hear such a thing about his beloved father. Even while a dutiful father to Echohawk, Gray Elk had been in love with a white woman!

He turned his eyes away, ashamed, yet now understanding why Mariah's father had hated Chief Gray Elk with such a vengeance—and why he had long ago come to the village of Chippewa and killed and maimed so many.

He looked down at the dying white man, knowing that if it had been he whose wife had wronged him with another man, he would have hated as much. He would have become as hard-hearted.

Ay-uh
, it was easy now to see the reasoning behind this man who had pretended to be Mariah's father for her sake.

In truth, he was a man of good heart!

Mariah was finding it hard to comprehend what was being said to her, yet knew that it must be the truth. It would make no sense at all for her father to lie to her now.

Yes, she concluded sadly, it was all true. Her dear sweet mother had been guilty of many infidelities. It was hard to accept—harder still to know that this was not her true father who lay at her feet dying.

But she did understand so much now—why Victor Temple had grown to hate all women and why he had forced Mariah to dress and behave like a man. She understood why he had become a cold and embittered man.

And the fact that he was not her true father? How could he have loved her at all, except that he had already raised her as his for six full years before knowing the truth. By then, in his heart, she
was
his daughter.

Mariah now saw many more pieces fall into place. Her father's coolness toward Colonel and Mrs. Snelling. And the way he tried to keep her from becoming their friend, when she accompanied her father to the fort for supplies. And the true reason for Victor Temple attacking Chief Gray Elk again after all those years. It was not so much for his lame leg as because of a grudge that he had carried with him over a woman!

Mariah stared down at the man she had always called Papa and watched him reach out to her, pleas for forgiveness on his parched lips. Knowing what he had been forced to endure because of his faithless wife, and now understanding this man whose heart had turned bitter, yet still had done his best to raise a child that was not his, Mariah leaned over and hugged him, her tears wetting his clammy cheeks.

“Papa,” she sobbed. “I'm so sorry about everything. If I had only known. I would have made life much simpler for you. I . . . I would have been nothing but good to you.”

“Mariah,” he whispered harshly, coughing. “My dear sweet Mariah!”

She winced when his body tightened, then went limp, and his breathing ceased.

“No,” she whispered, still clinging. “Please, Papa, let me make it all up to you!”

“Mariah, he is gone,” Echohawk said gently, placing a hand on her arm, drawing her reluctantly to her feet. He drew her into his embrace. “We were both wrong about him. Deep within his heart, there was much good.”

“I know,” Mariah murmured. Yet as much as she pitied Victor, she could not help but be relieved to know who her true father was.

Colonel Snelling was a man of honor.

Colonel Snelling was a man of morals.

He was a father who could be revered, trusted, and relied upon.

This man at Mariah's feet had long ago lost all of those virtues.

Filled with sadness and regret, Mariah turned to Echohawk. “We must travel to Fort Snelling soon to clear your name,” she said. “And I want to face my father with the truth. Surely he will be as happy as I to know this. There has been a bond between us from the very beginning. Now I know why. Somehow we surely sensed our blood ties.”

“It may be best to keep this truth hidden within your heart,” Echohawk suggested.

“I doubt that I can,” Mariah said, thinking of William Joseph, and that he was her half-brother. How grand to know that she actually had a brother. And Colonel Snelling had fathered seven children by Abigail! That meant that Mariah had seven brothers and sisters, if even only half kin to her.

“Let us leave this sorrowful place,” Echohawk said softly.

Mariah glanced back down at Victor Temple. “After I see to his burial,” she murmured. “It can't be as I had at first wanted it. He would not want to be buried beside my mother's grave, after all.”

A deep sadness came into her eyes as she thought about her mother and how she had always worshiped her in her memories.

She did not know how she should feel now.

Chapter 22

—Shakespeare

 

 

 

The sound of singing and throbbing drums marked a victory celebration at Chief Silver Wing's newly established village—a village bordering a serene lake, very pretty with its encircling of majestic pine and maple trees.

Mariah was taking comfort in Echohawk's arms as she sat beside him before a roaring fire in the dance lodge, venison steaks simmering and dripping tantalizing juices into the flames.

As the drumbeats quickened, Mariah tried to enjoy the merriment. But she was unable to shake her sadness over Victor Temple's death and his last confessions. She snuggled closer to Echohawk and concentrated her thoughts on the celebration. Brightly dressed men and women had formed a large circle around seven drummers, who beat out a steady rhythm on a single huge drum. All the participants sang and danced to the drumbeat, and Mariah tried to make sense of the steps and words.

Then a young girl entered the circle, shaking a rattle and singing a new song. “Her rattle is called a
she-she-qua
,” Echohawk whispered. Soon other young girls joined in her chant and began to dance.

“Is it not a beautiful performance by the young Chippewa maidens?” Echohawk said, taking Mariah's hand, clasping it. “They would welcome you if you wish to join them.”

Recalling her clumsiness at Abigail's ball, Mariah gazed over at Echohawk, smiling. “I don't believe I would be welcome for long,” she said. “I am not a skilled dancer, Echohawk, I seem to have four feet instead of two when I try to dance.”

He laughed heartily, then turned and nodded a hello to Nee-kah as she came and sat down beside Mariah. “And how are you faring, Nee-kah?” he asked, eyeing her abdomen, which was developing rapidly with child. His eyes softened with affection as he reached around Mariah and placed a gentle hand on Nee-kah. “Soon you will have a child to join the dancing and singing. Of course the child will be a son.”

“
Ay-uh
, a son,” Nee-kah said, in her heart praying that it would be so. For her husband she must bear a son! And for herself—for she did not want to be cast away so that he could take another wife who might have more luck at birthing sons than she.

Echohawk's gaze returned to Mariah. “No-din and I will have many sons and daughters,” he said, his eyes twinkling into Mariah's. “Is not that so, No-din?”

Mariah's face reddened with a blush; then she looked at Nee-kah. “
Ay-uh
, many,” she murmured. “Just like Josiah and Abigail Snelling. It is not fair to a child to be raised without brothers and sisters.” She smiled radiantly at Echohawk. “For so long I was without brothers and sisters. But now I have many!”

The sound of horses arriving outside the dance lodge caused all merriment to cease. Everything became so quiet, only harsh, frightened breaths could be heard.

A brave, one who had been guarding the approach of the village, entered the lodge and went to stand before Chief Silver Wing, who sat opposite the fire from Echohawk.

Chief Silver Wing rose slowly to his feet, frowning. He tried to hide the alarm in his eyes that had sprung there upon hearing so many horses, when he knew that almost all the braves were in the dance lodge attending the celebration. Only a few had been outside in strategic places to keep watch for intruders.

“What is it?” Chief Silver Wing grunted as Echohawk came to his side, as stern and as quiet as the elder chief. “Whom have you escorted into the village of Chippewa?”

“William Joseph Snelling and soldiers from Fort Snelling,” the brave said, his gaze moving from Chief Silver Wing to Chief Echohawk. “He comes in peace. He wishes council with the two chiefs of this village. Do I escort him to the council house? Should I say that you will be there soon to smoke the pipe of peace with him?”

Mariah's heart was thundering wildly, torn over how to feel. She was anxious to see William Joseph, now knowing that he was her blood kin. Yet she was apprehensive of him being here, for Chief Silver Wing had moved his village far from Fort Snelling and all white people because he felt safer in isolation.

Also, she feared for Echohawk. Although his innocence had been proved, they had not yet gone to Fort Snelling to clear his name.

“Tell him we will share a smoke with him,” Chief Silver Wing said after getting a nod of consent from Echohawk. “Take him there. We will soon follow.”

As quickly as the people had gathered for the celebration, they were gone, leaving the dance lodge eerily quiet.

Mariah went to Echohawk and placed a hand on his arm. “Take me with you,” she said. “Let me sit in council with you. Echohawk, I may be needed to convince William Joseph of your innocence. Neither my father nor Tanner McCloud is alive to explain it. Let me sit beside you to speak for you, if necessary.”

Nee-kah went to Chief Silver Wing and clung to his hand. “I, too, wish to sit in council,” she said softly. “My chieftain husband, I am saddened greatly that the white pony soldiers have found our village again.”

Chief Silver Wing and Echohawk exchanged troubled glances, then nodded. Mariah warmed clear through when Echohawk placed a blanket around her shoulders. Chief Silver Wing placed a blanket around Nee-kah's, and together they left the lodge and stepped out into the frosty night air.

Mariah shivered as the cold pressed against her face. The first snows were near. Every morning and evening now the little streams which led away from the rivers were puckered with ice.

Tonight the moon was high in a velvety clear sky, and the stars shone so brightly, it was as though hundreds of thousands of candles were burning in the heavens.

In the distance the silence was broken by a lone coyote howling at the shadow of the moon. A shiver not related to the cold fled down Mariah's spine as she caught sight of several soldiers standing beside their horses close to the large council house.

Her gaze swept over them. William Joseph was among them. When their eyes locked, Mariah's pulse raced, for now that she knew that he was her brother, she could see so many resemblances in their features!

But her attention was quickly drawn from her brother. With Echohawk she entered the council house, where a fire was already burning brightly. Solemnly, and with a humble heart, Mariah went with Echohawk and sat down beside him on a platform cushioned with many animal pelts, while Chief Silver Wing and Nee-kah sat down beside them on the same platform.

A young lad entered, carrying a large pipe with many colorful feathers attached at its bowl. He took the pipe to Chief Silver Wing, which he accepted and rested on his lap, while the young lad knelt on his haunches on the floor beside him.

“Tell William Joseph that he can now enter,” Chief Silver Wing said, nodding at a brave, who quickly responded to the command and soon returned with William Joseph at his side.

Remaining seated, Chief Silver Wing gestured with a hand to William Joseph. “
Nah-mah-dah-bee-yen
, sit,” he said without expression. “Let us share in a smoke. Then tell us why you have come with many pony soldiers to my village.”

As William Joseph settled down on a rush mat beside the fire, his gaze stopped at Mariah. He looked at her quizzically. It looked as though she belonged beside Chief Echohawk, but why?

The young lad rose and brought a flaming twig to Chief Silver Wing and placed the flame to the tobacco. Chief Silver Wing drew on the stem, the sweet aroma of tobacco soon rising into the air.

Chief Silver Wing then straightened his back, waved the lad away, and puffed on the pipe for a moment, passing it then to Echohawk, who also smoked from it and in turn handed it to William Joseph.

After all three had shared in the ritual, Chief Silver Wing rested the bowl of the pipe on his knee. “Now, William Joseph, tell us why you are here,” he said, his expression guarded. “It was not my intent that any pony soldiers ever ride into my new village. I meant to lead my people to a place of peace. Your presence threatens this peace.”

William Joseph's gaze moved from chief to chief, then momentarily locked on Mariah again, still confused by her presence here. But of course she was here on her own initiative. Neither Echohawk nor Silver Wing abducted white women! His mind was swirling with questions, yet he straightened his back as once again he focused his full attention on the chiefs.

“For several days I have been in pursuit of Chief Echohawk,” William Joseph said. “One of my trusted scouts came to me with the news of this location. I had hoped to find Chief Echohawk with you.”

“And what do you want with Echohawk?” Chief Silver Wing asked, his shoulders stiffening.

“Answers to questions about the disappearance of Victor Temple,” William Joseph said, his gaze once more moving to Mariah. “And also the disappearance of Mariah from my camp. I see that she is safe. That is good.”

“And what questions do you have concerning me?” Echohawk interjected, seeing William Joseph's intenseness as he stared at Mariah, yet no longer jealous of such attention. William Joseph did not know they were related, but it was enough that Mariah knew.

“We at Fort Snelling received word that an Indian identified by his eyeglasses was involved in raids close to Victor Temple's trading post,” William Joseph said, clearing his throat nervously as he felt everyone's eyes heatedly looking at him, even Mariah's. “Of course I had to follow such leads and question Echohawk. That is why I am here. To get answers and take them back to my father, who has sent me on this mission.”

“And does your father see me as guilty of such crimes?” Echohawk said, his voice a low growl. “He has always known me to be a peace-loving man. Would gossip mean more to him than how he has always perceived me?”

“My father did not believe the gossip,” William Joseph said, placing his hands on his knees, leaning forward. “That is why he has sent me to ask you to return to Fort Snelling. All he needs from you is your word that you had no part in what happened to Victor Temple.” He glanced over at Mariah. “I need no further explanation myself. Mariah wouldn't be sitting at your side if you had had anything to do with her father's disappearance.”

William Joseph paused, then added, “Mariah, I don't understand. Why are you with Echohawk? You sit at his side as though you are his—”

“Wife?” Mariah said, interrupting. She lifted her chin proudly. “William Joseph, I am not his wife yet. But I will be soon. I plan to make my future with Echohawk.”

“But you went to Mother and Father, asking for their assistance,” William Joseph said, his confusion and dismay apparent.

“That was only because I did not think Echohawk wanted me,” she said in defense. She slipped a hand over one of Echohawk's. “But I was wrong. He wants me very much.”

Mariah wanted to reach out to William Joseph and tell him that he was her brother, but she did not think this was the appropriate time. It would be best, she thought to herself, first to tell William Joseph's father—and then the rest of the family.

She suddenly realized that the truth might be hard for all concerned to accept, except for herself. She, of course, was jubilant with the knowledge.

“And how is it that you
are
with Echohawk?” William Joseph asked.

“Because I could not sleep that morning in your camp, I took a ride,” she softly explained. “And I came across Echohawk at that time. I went with him then to—”

“She accompanied me and my braves to find out the truth,” Echohawk said, taking over. “The truth about her father's disappearance—and many more things. Tonight when you arrived my people and Chief Silver Wing's people were celebrating a victory over the truths that were uncovered.”

“Truths?” William Joseph asked, arching an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

“Yellow Eyes,” Echohawk said blandly. “The truth about Yellow Eyes.”

William Joseph leaned forward. “Who is this Yellow Eyes?” he asked, looking from Echohawk to Mariah.

“That is Echohawk's nickname for Tanner McCloud,” Mariah quickly explained.

“Tanner McCloud?” William Joseph said, again arching an eyebrow. “What about him? What does he have to do with any of this?”

“Tanner McCloud is the one who spread the lie about Echohawk,” Mariah said before Echohawk could speak for himself. “Tanner was the one who burned my father's trading post. He's the one who abducted my father.” She swallowed hard, then added, “He's the one responsible for my father's death.”

“Your father is dead?” William Joseph said in a low gasp.

“After abducting my father, Tanner locked him up in a cabin without food and water,” Mariah said, lowering her eyes, the thought of her father's dying breaths almost too painful to bear. “He died because of this mistreatment.”

“And Tanner?” William Joseph dared to ask. “What of him?”

“He is no longer among the living,” Echohawk said without hesitation. “And that is good. For years he has abused my people
and
yours. He was a worthless cheat and liar. He was greedy. His spirit hovers now, somewhere between darkness and light, never to be at peace.”

William Joseph wiped a hand across his face, shaking his head slowly back and forth, then peered at Echohawk with a warm smile. “I'm glad that your name has been cleared,” he said softly. He gazed with compassion at Mariah. “But I'm sorry about your father.”

Mariah's lips parted, and she came close to telling William Joseph that he wasn't her father—that
his
father and hers were one and the same.