Savage Flames

Swooping down to its papyrus marsh.

—Love Songs of The New Kingdom

Joshua! Twila!” Lavinia exclaimed excitedly as she awakened and found them sitting together beside her bed.

Then she saw someone else. Her insides felt strange, a feeling she had never before felt, as she found Wolf Dancer sitting on her other side, his eyes full of concern for her.

She would never forget his loving care of her. It went beyond his just wanting to be certain she didn’t die from the snakebite.

She knew when she had seen him that first time in the tree that he felt something special for her.

She had actually felt a connection to him, then, and she felt it now as he sat close beside her. She wanted to reach out and touch him, just to know that he was actually so close to her.

These strange feelings he aroused in her were the ones she should have felt for her husband.

But sad to say, she hadn’t felt anything but kindness and affection toward Virgil.

But now?

A host of beautiful emotions seemed to have been awakened inside her at the mere sight of Wolf Dancer.

And he was a proud Seminole chief! His pride in being chief was evident in his demeanor.

“Your fever is gone,” Wolf Dancer said, smiling at her and feeling deeply for her, especially now that he had seen how she felt toward those whose skin was black. Her pleasure in seeing Joshua and Twila proved that she was not a prejudiced woman. She could possibly feel something for him, a Seminole Indian.

He had felt something for her for some time now. Wolf Dancer had missed seeing Lavinia these past days, when she had not been visible even at the window. He had feared she might have died.

“Yes, your fever is gone,” he repeated, so very glad she was alive and well. “And your eyes are clear. How do you feel?”

“I feel wonderful,” Lavinia said, slowly sitting up and drawing a blanket around her shoulders. “Thanks to you and your shaman, I believe I am going to live.”

Then she gazed at Joshua and Twila. “Joshua, oh, Joshua, you are alive!” she said, reaching out to take one of his hands in hers. “I thought—”

“We all thought he was dead,” Twila said, taking her father’s other hand and smiling up into his dark eyes. “But he ain’t. He was only wounded.”

Twila turned grateful eyes to Wolf Dancer. “Chief Wolf Dancer not only saved you, Miz Lavinia, but also my pappy,” she murmured. “He found him in a canoe, unconscious, with that dre

adful arrow in his shoulder that Massa Hiram shot him with.”

“What?” Lavinia gasped. “Hiram…shot you, Joshua?”

Realizing that it might not be best to reveal too much to Lavinia while she was still weak from her wound, Joshua decided not to tell her that Hiram had shot not only him but also her husband.

“Yes’m, he done shot me,” Joshua said tightly. “He’s no good, dat man. Rest now, Lavinia. Don’t fret none ’bout what dat man did. I’se goin’ to tell you all ’bout it later.”

She understood and agreed.

Although she was so much better, she still felt weak and even disoriented at times.

“Yes, later. For now, all that is important, Joshua, is that you are alive,” she murmured.

She turned smiling eyes to Twila. “And you, you sweet thing,” she said, reaching out and placing a gentle hand on Twila’s cheek. “I’m so glad to see you safely with your pappy.”

And then sudden alarm entered her eyes and heart and she gripped Joshua’s hand harder. “Oh, Lord,” she cried. “What of Dorey? Twila, after I was bitten and fell unconscious, did you…did…you see…did you find…Dorey?”

But she already knew the answer without hearing it. If Dorey had been found, and was safe, she would be there at her mother’s bedside.

Realizing that, Lavinia slowly took her hand from Joshua’s and turned her gaze away from them all as tears spilled from her eyes.