And she would.
For now, she just smiled sweetly up at him.
When they sat down on the blanket near the fire and he fed her that first grape, she looked adoringly into his eyes, wondering what tonight might bring.
Could she fight off the tormenting memory of the blue-eyed, red-haired Yankee and allow herself to love this wonderful man without reservations? Or would that hideous creature always be there, raping her, instead of her mother?
“I wonder what the city of Mattoon is like?” she said quickly, to stop her torturous thoughts.
“Nothing like the Great Smoky Mountains where I make my residence,” Dancing Cloud said, picking up another grape. He looked inten
sely into her eyes. “I would much rather be taking you there, instead of Mattoon. I have for so long been looking for that special woman to bring laughter into my lodge.”
“How can you want me as that woman?” Lauralee asked softly, casting her eyes downward. “Too often you have seen my tears instead of laughter.”
Dancing Cloud placed a finger beneath her chin and lifted her eyes to his. “I will do everything within my power to make that change,” he said thickly. “One day I hope you will never have cause to cry again. Your face is like the sunshine when you laugh. It fills my very soul with its warmth.”
Moved deeply by his words, and the sincerity in which they were spoken, Lauralee felt closer to him now than she would have ever thought possible. She so badly wanted to move into his arms and kiss him.
But she feared disappointing him again. If that damnable Yankee appeared in her mind’s eye again and she behaved like a crazy fool, Dancing Cloud might soon take back his wonderful loving words, thinking that she was too undeserving of them.
“Perhaps I will go with you to your beautiful mountain some day,” she said, instead. “But for now I must make things right in my life in Mattoon.”
He nodded, yet doubted that she could ever make things right in her life while living among the white people. Thus far her life bordered on tragedy. He blamed the white community for this. He felt that the only place that she could possibly find peace was among his people. For however long it took, he would see that she became as one with his people, as his wife.
He would erase all fears from her life and her heart.
And she would allow it.
He would not take no for an answer.
Chapter 7
Will, when speaking well can’t win her,
Saying nothing do?
Pr’y thee, why so mute?
—JOHN SUCKLING
The day had passed uneventfully along the trail. Night had come with its black umbrella sky, sequins of stars sparkling like small fires in the heavens.
The campfire built, and their private rituals seen to, Lauralee lifted a picnic basket from the back of her buggy.
Dancing Cloud became comfortable as he reclined on a blanket beside the campfire, one long leg stretched out before him. With a quiet wonder he watched Lauralee spread a checkered cloth on the ground, then placed sparkling china, as well as fancy cloth napkins and silverware on the cloth, all of which she had purchased with her inheritance.
Lauralee was being particular with how she prepared the cloth for the picnic. She had read many novels during her teen years, in which she had discovered ways to make a picnic pleasant, especially if one wanted to please a man.
While she purchased these special things for her picnic with Dancing Cloud she had not allowed her troubled thoughts to get in the way of how she wished it could be between herself and the handsome Cherokee.
She had recently discovered, however, that it was easy to fantasize.
It was another matter to actually live it.
Now with Dancing Cloud so close, watching her, she wondered if she should have not gone this far to make this picnic so alluring. With the delicious cheeses, breads, and fruits that the cooks at the orphanage had placed in her basket, and with the bottle of wine that she had purchased for this occasion, she knew that she had created an atmosphere for lovers.
“You call this that we are going to share a picnic?” Dancing Cloud said, unfamiliar with the word, or the ritual.