“I want to go with you,” Brian Brave Walker blurted out to Susan Sweet Bird, grabbing her free hand. He clung to it almost desperately. “Please take me with you.”
He gazed spitefully up at Lauralee, then turned softer eyes to Dancing Cloud. “Susan Sweet Bird tells good stories,” he murmured. “And she would be lonely without me. May I go and spend the night with Susan Sweet Bird? May I?”
Those words came like a stab wound in Lauralee’s heart. She had so badly wanted to be accepted by this young boy. And not only because it was obvious that Dancing Cloud adored the child. She also adored him. She wanted to be the one who reached inside the child and discovered what had caused him to be wandering on the mountainside alone. She wanted to heal those inward wounds, as she had his physical self.
If she discovered that he had no parents, then she wanted to take on the duties of mothering him. She knew so deeply how it felt to be orphaned.
She would bring every orphan in the world under her protective wing if it were possible.
At least here was one child who she could help, if he would only allow it.
Torn with what to say, or do, knowing how desperately Lauralee wanted this child’s acceptance, Dancing Cloud inhaled a shaky breath. The only way the boy would learn to accept Lauralee into his life was to be around her, to learn by watching her and being with her, that she was everything good on this earth. The color of her skin blinded the child of the truth now. But soon it would be as though he had never noticed that she was white and that he was copper.
“Tonight, you may go with Susan Sweet Bird,” Dancing Cloud said, rearranging his thoughts for the betterment of Lauralee and himself for the moment. They had not been alone since they had arrived at his village. Tonight he would reacquaint her with why she had chosen his world over her own. Tonight he would give her a loving she would never forget.
“Only tonight,” Dancing Cloud hurriedly added. “Then we will spend time together under my roof the rest of our nights so that we can all learn to love and trust one another.”
Brian Brave Walker clung to Susan Sweet Bird, his dark eyes sullen. “How can you love and trust her?” he said, nodding toward Lauralee. “She is white. All whites are evil.”
Lauralee gasped as she turned her eyes from Brian Brave Walker. She wanted to cry out at him that, yes, some white people were evil. She knew one man in particular who Brian Brave Walker would definitely hate should they ever come face to face!
But how could she convince the child that just because one white person may have placed this hate for all white people into his heart, it did not mean that all were of the same character.
She said nothing. She knew that whatever she chose to say would fall on the boy’s ears as though he were deaf. She had a long way to go to convince him that he had no cause to hate her.
She slipped an arm through Dancing Cloud’s. She leaned up closer to his ear. “It’s all right,” she whispered. “Please say nothing more to him. Let him go and spend the night with Susan Sweet Bird. Perhaps tomorrow we can talk with him some more. But for tonight, let’s not say any more to him.”
“Tomorrow I must leave again,” Dancing Cloud said matter-of-factly.
Lauralee paled. “What?” she said, her voice weak. “Again, so soon, you will leave me?”
“If you wish to go with me, you are welcome,” he said, seeing how distraught she was over possibly being left behind.
“Where? Where are you going?”
“To the trading post on the Soho River.”
They heard Brian Brave Walker emit a low, sudden gasp. As they looked at him they saw the fear in his eyes.
“I not go with you,” Brian Brave Walker said in a rush of words. “I will stay here.”
Neither one questioned him why. His fear was too real to ask.
“You can stay with Susan Sweet Bird,” Dancing Cloud said, patting the boy on the shoulder. “But one day your fears must be faced and lost.”
Brian Brave Walker nodded and lowered his eyes.
Dancing Cloud slipped a hand over Lauralee’s fingers that layover the flesh of his arm. He squeezed them affectionately, smiled down at her, then turned back to the child. “Go,” he said thickly. “Listen to stories. Be happy. When Lauralee and I return from our journey to the trading post, then you will be expected to spend the night here with us. Is that understood?”
Brian Brave Walker hesitated, then again nodded.
Susan Sweet Bird took Brian Brave Walker by the hand and walked away with him, already busy with another folk tale of the Cherokee.
Lauralee turned with Dancing Cloud and walked with him toward his cabin. They were silent about Brian Brave Walker or their concerns. They had been apart for too long to allow anything to spoil these moments together.
When they reached the cabin they stopped before entering and looked heavenward. The moon was full, casting its glorious light across the village.
Lauralee looked quickly over at Dancing Cloud when he began singing a song, his voice beautiful and resonant.