The Savage

“Amelia is to be the guest of honor,” Reed told his sister.

“Oh?” Summer said in surprise. “Melly really means to leave the house?”

“She says no,” Harlan replied, “but I hope she’ll change her mind.”

With a smile, Summer took the older man’s arm. Steering him toward his horse, she asked after his wife, Becky, and stood chatting with him for a moment, answering his concerned questions about the difficulty they’d had rescuing Amelia.

By the time he mounted his horse and rode off, both her husband and brother had disappeared into the barn to unsaddle the horses.

Or rather, Reed was leaning on his crutches, watching Lance do the work. When Summer joined them, Reed handed her the invitation, which had been written on expensive pressed paper.

“He really means to include Lance?” she asked skeptically.

“Yes. See, it specifically says Mr. and Mrs. Calder.”

“Did you put him up to it?” Lance demanded, glancing over his shoulder with narrowed eyes.

“I spoke to him last week, yes, and convinced him to give you a chance. There’s no one else in the county who could do you more good. If it’s seen that Harlan and his wife accept you, you’ll have won half the battle.”

Lance didn’t seem to appreciate the efforts on his behalf. Instead his jaw had hardened in that stiff, belligerent way Summer knew so well.

“It would be fun to go to a party,” she acknowledged. “It’s been so long since we had much to celebrate. What about you, Reed? Do you mean to go?”

Her brother gave her a grim smile. “Absolutely—although I

doubt I’ll be much more welcome than Lance is, Union traitor that I am. But I have some fence mending to do. And I’ll have to escort Amelia, if she attends.”

“Do you think she will?”

“I don’t know. I’ll do my darnedest to persuade her.” Balancing on one crutch, he put his arm around Summer’s shoulder and squeezed. “Come on, sis. Use your powers of persuasion to convince this ungrateful grizzly to accept Fisk’s invitation. We’ll all be outcasts together. Strength in unity and all that.” Shifting his crutch back beneath his arm, he turned and hobbled away, calling over his shoulder, “I’ll see you at dinner in a little while.”

Alone with Lance, Summer watched him in silence, wondering exactly how far she could push him. His reaction to the invitation was as cynical as she’d expected, and just as bristling. When it came to dealing with whites, Lance was like a half-tame wolf, bearing his teeth and raising his neck fur, ready to attack before being attacked, hating to accept the slightest show of kindness, yet at the same time dependent on that very kindness. He had needed such defensive measures in dealing with a hostile white world till now, but it was time to lower his defenses and give people a chance to accept him.

“I think we should go,” she said finally.

“Do you?” His tone was far from agreeable.

“Yes, I do. Reed was right. Harlan’s support will make it much easier for others to accept you.”

“You think anyone’s going to welcome me just on his say-so?”

“Perhaps not, but they certainly won’t if you don’t try.”

When Lance didn’t answer, Summer bit her lip. She wouldn’t use the argument that they should attend for Melly’s sake. Lance had done more than enough for her sister, with too little thanks to show for it. Besides, she wanted him to go for his own sake. “Lance…please?”

A muscle clenched in his jaw at her pleading tone. “If you want to go so bad, then have your brother take you,” he muttered.

Summer shook her head. “If you think I intend to face all those people alone, you’re greatly mistaken. Reed was right about sticking together. We go as a family or not at all.”

“Then we don’t go.”

“You’re not afraid, are you?”

A spark of fury kindled in his eyes, but he didn’t rise to the bait.

She tried a different tact. “Lance, it won’t be so bad, truly; you’ll see.”

“For you, maybe. You’re one of them.” His mouth curled at the corner. “But your neighbors sure as hell wouldn’t agree with you. And I wouldn’t want to spoil their fancy party.”