“I’m truly sorry, Bear, that we didn’t get to grow up together. But you are my brother. I feel it in my bones. She fingered a strand of his chestnut hair. “You look just like Papa. Tell me”—she took his hand—“tell me you feel it, too.”
Bear grasped her hand. “I should have been there,” he said. “I should have been there to take care of you, little sister.”
Ella flung her arms around his neck and hugged him. He stiffened, but within a few seconds, he softened and hugged her back.
“I’m fine. Mama and Papa took care of me. And you were here, taking care of Singing Dove. You did your duties. You did them well, Bear.” She swallowed. “David.”
“David,” he said. “David Robert Charles Morgan. That is my name.”
Ella released her brother and looked to her father.
His eyes softened. “David, for a man who was kind to me once when I was on my own as a youngun’. Robert for me, Charles for your mother’s father.” He turned to Standing Elk. “It seems I am in your debt once again.”
“You owe me nothing, Robert Morgan. I love Bear as if he were my own. He filled a void for Summer Breeze and me.” Standing Elk’s voice cracked. “You see, I understand what it is to lose a child. Raven had twin brothers, born when he had seen five winters. When they had seen no more than four winters, they wandered away from camp, content in each other’s company, as twins are. We searched and searched, but we never saw them again.”
Ella’s eyes stung with tears. So much loss. What could have happened to Raven’s brothers? She chilled to think about it.
“A year later, when Bear wandered into our camp, he wandered into my heart as well. A few years later, the Great Spirit blessed us with Singing Dove, and our family was complete.”
For several moments, no one spoke. Ella felt the ominous silence in the depths of her soul. So much pain. For her parents, for her in-laws. For Bear. For Raven’s little brothers, may they rest in peace.
Finally her father spoke, his gaze resting on Bear. “Can you ever forgive me?”
“For what?”
“For not taking you to look for arrowheads that day. For making you go to bed.” He swiped at his forehead and raked his fingers through his chestnut hair sprinkled with silver. “I’m sorry.”
“Forgive yourself,” Bear said. “You had my forgiveness a long time ago.”
“You were happy here?”
“Very happy. I will not leave here.”
Her father nodded. “I won’t ask you to.” He turned to Standing Elk. “You told me once that there were good and bad Indians, just as there are good and bad white men. Indians raped my mother and then slaughtered her and my father. I was ten years old, and I saw the whole thing through a window.”
Ella gasped. Her belly lurched. Vivid half-formed images scattered through her mind. She swallowed back the nausea in her throat. She knew so little about her father. He sat, his amber eyes sunken and wet. Her strong, handsome father, brought to his knees by these Indians—her new family.
“But then you saved Naomi. I tried to change my thinkin’ about Indians, but when David was taken, and Indians had been in the area that night, I just assumed…”
“You assumed Indians had taken him. And some Indians might have. Just like some white men might have. There are evil among all types of people, Robert Morgan.”
“Yes, I know. I forgave the Indians. Truly I did. That’s why I became a preacher. But when I saw your son with Ella, and I thought I would lose another child to Indians… Well, it all came back to me. The slaughter of my parents, the loss of David.”
“I understand.”
“Yes, I think you do.” Again her father turned to Bear. “I hope you will let your mother and me be part of your life. You can come visit us anytime. And we will come to visit you and Ella here, if we are welcome.”
“You are welcome,” Standing Elk said.
Bear simply nodded.
Tears stung Ella’s eyes, but she had heard enough about pain and loss for one day. She took her place at Raven’s side.
“Papa. In light of these developments, I think maybe we should postpone the wedding for a few days.”
Bobby nodded. “When your mama can travel, we’ll go back to the claim. This will be a lot for her to digest. We’ll come back day after tomorrow.”
“That would be wonderful.”