Savage Beloved

“I understand the meaning of unsavory,” Two Eagles said. “Do you see me as unsavory for having tattoos on my body?”

“No,” she quickly said. “Not at all. I understand now why you have them, and I find them intriguing, even honorable.”

He hesitated, then said, “The women of my tribe are also tattooed.”

Stunned at this knowledge, Candy could only gasp. “Truly?” she asked. “I . . . I . . . haven’t seen any on the women.”

“Do you think it unsavory for the Wichita women to wear tattoos on their bodies?” he asked a little guardedly.

“Heavens, no,” she rushed out, realizing that her shocked reaction had disturbed him. “Truly, I do not see any of your women as unsavory. There must be a reason for the women to be tattooed.”

She paused, then with wide eyes gazing into his, asked, “Why do they have tattoos, and . . . where?”

He slowly traced a finger around the nipple of one of her breasts. “This is where you will wear your tattoo after you become my wife,” he said, watching for her reaction.

Candy’s breath caught in her throat at the thought of being tattooed, especially on her breast.

Chapter Twenty

Her eyes as stars of twilight fair;

Like twilight’s too, her dusky hair;

But all things else about her drawn

From May-time and the cheerful dawn.

—William Wordsworth

But soon all of her concerns about being tattooed melted away as Two Eagles bent low and licked slowly around her nipple, causing reborn sensations of bliss to float in warm waves through her blood. She closed her eyes in ecstasy, only opening them again when his voice broke through her passion.

“Let me explain more about the reason why the women’s breasts receive a tattoo,” he said softly. “Three concentric circles are tattooed around one nipple of each Wichita woman. These concentric rings prevent the women’s breasts from becoming pendulous in old age.”

Candy recalled something her late grandmother had complained about more than once to her mother, when they had no idea Candy was listening. She decided to share this with Two Eagles.

“I remember my grandmother complaining to my mother, when she didn’t know that I was listening, how she hated her breasts. She said that they hung like long melons down almost to her belly.”

Candy lowered her eyes, then gazed into Two Eagles’s again. “To be truthful, I have always dreaded this happening to me,” she said softly. “Now it won’t if that myth about the tattoos is reality.”

“It is no myth. Will you accept being tattooed?” Two Eagles asked, again searching her eyes.

“If that is part of what is required of me to be your wife, yes, I will accept my tattoo,” she murmured.

“There is something about you that I have wondered about, too, but have not asked,” Two Eagles said, lifting her so that she sat on his lap facing him. They were both comfortable with their nakedness in each other’s presence.

“And that is?” she asked, twining her arms around his neck, oh, so in heaven as she fell more and more in love with him as each moment passed.

“Your name,” he said. “I have always wondered about the strangeness of it, but never voiced my curiosity aloud.”

Candy sighed. “Most people wonder about it when they hear my name,” she said softly. “My mother’s best friend, whose name was Candy, was one reason I was given this name, and then my mother said that I reminded her of the sweetness of candy when I was born. I was so tiny and always smiling, so even when my father protested against the name, my mother would not allow me to be named anything else. I have been embarrassed by my name all my life.”

She swallowed hard, then said, “When I reached school age, I began calling myself by another name, but when my mother discovered this, she went into a fit of rage and I had no choice but to resume being called by the dreadful name Candy.”

“By what name did you call yourself?” Two Eagles asked, intrigued anew by this strong-willed woman who had had the courage to give herself another name, if only for a short while.

“Nancy,” Candy said, smiling. “I called myself what I had named my first doll.”

“That is a nice name,” Two Eagles said. “Would you prefer that name now that you are no longer with your mother? Or would you like a new name? If so, I will rename you.”