“They are for me?” Dorey said, her eyes widening as she gazed at the beautifully colored feathers on the darts.
“For always,” Deer Shadow said, holding them closer to her. “Please take them and come with us to play darts with our friends.”
Dorey slowly reached a hand out toward him, then smiled as he laid the lovely darts in her palm. “They are very pretty,” she murmured. She looked from one boy to the other. “Are they truly mine?”
“Yes, and we have made another set for your black friend,” Running Bear said as he brought out the darts he had hidden behind his back. “Will she come, too?”
Twila had heard everything, and her heart skipped a beat when she saw the darts that the young braves had made especially for her.
She scampered to her feet and went to stand beside Dorey. When Running Bear held the darts closer to her, she slowly opened her hand and accepted them.
“Thank you,” she murmured, her eyes bright with excitement.
Dorey turned and smiled at her mother. “May I go and play with the children?” she asked. She turned to Joshua. “May Twila?”
Both parents quickly nodded.
Lavinia sighed with a mixture of relief and happiness as she w
atched Dorey and Twila join the two young braves. They were all soon laughing together as they ran and joined the others who were waiting for them.
Wolf Dancer closed the door and sat down beside Lavinia.
“It is a good day,” he said, gently taking her hand in his. “You do believe the boys were sincere?” “The gifts they made for Dorey and Twila proved their sincerity,” Lavinia said, relishing the touch of Wolf Dancer’s hand in hers. It seemed that suddenly everything in her and her daughter’s world was being righted.
Even Joshua and Twila’s lives held much morepromise than they ever could have at the plantation. They were now as free as anyone could ever want to be. They were among people who did not scorn them because of the color of their skin. They were treated as equals by the Seminole.
Joshua had sat quietly by, watching and listening to everything, glad to see that Wolf Dancer and Lavinia seemed so happy.
Joshua had noticed the undercurrents between Wolf Dancer and Lavinia from the first moment they had come together. Surely something more than friendship was developing between them. Both were widowed, and they were very obviously attracted to one another.
Sensing that these two people wanted to be alone, Joshua rose to his feet and walked to the door. “I’se needed in the cornfield,” he said, opening the door. “It is harvesttime back at the plantation. It is harvest-time here as well. I will go and help harvest de corn.” “Joshua, that is kind, but not necessary,” Wolf Dancer said, smiling up at him, and understanding what was behind Joshua’s planned exit. Joshua was a wise man and had seen how Wolf Dancer and Lavinia felt about one another. He sought to give them privacy.
“I’se good in de fields,” Joshua said, nodding and smiling. “Jest you two sit there and enjoy one another’s company.”
Joshua hurried outside, closing the door behind him.
Suddenly there was silence in the room as Lavinia and Wolf Dancer gazed into one another’s eyes.
Lavinia felt so much for Wolf Dancer, yet she was a little afraid of those feelings.
Although she thought he was falling in love with her, too, it seemed too soon after her husband’s death to admit to such passion. How could she explain that she and her husband had never truly been in love? They had loved, but only in a gentle, caring way.
“I am surprised that corn is grown in the Everglades,” she blurted out, wanting something, anything, to talk about. She needed some time before acting on her feelings for Wolf Dancer, and she felt that he needed the same thing. They both wanted to be sure of what they felt for one another.
But she knew that if he so much as kissed her, she would be truly lost to him.
“The ground of this island is very fertile. Many crops are grown here,” Wolf Dancer said.
He understood Lavinia’s need to talk.
If it was up to him, though, he would take her in his arms at this very moment and kiss her; his body cried out for hers. But he wanted her to be certain before she gave in to her feelings.
“And I’ve noticed that you have various kinds of meat which are cooked by your women,” Lavinia said softly. “Among them…is turtle meat, which I never thought was good to eat.”
“Turtle meat is a very good food source for my people, as is the tender meat of young alligator tails,” Wolf Dancer said, and noted how the latter made Lavinia shudder.
“I imagine you need to raise your own crops and catch your own meat because you do not feel safe togo beyond the Everglades to trade,” Lavinia said. She saw a sudden hardness enter his eyes.