Wild Embrace

She began to move against him, her hands clinging to his sinewy shoulders, until once again they found that precious moment of bliss, which passed much too quickly, but was never, never forgotten.

Strong Heart rolled away from Elizabeth. Then he drew a blanket over her up to her neck. He lay down beside her, sharing the blanket. “Tomorrow we travel to Seattle,” he said, causing Elizabeth’s eyebrows to lift.

She raised up on an elbow, staring disbelievingly at him. “I would think that would be the last place you would want to be,” she said. “Let us not tempt fate, darling. We have finally found peace. I don’t trust leaving your village so soon after what happened in Seattle.”

She leaned closer to him. “And why on earth are we going?” she asked, seeing an amused glint come into his eyes.

“You will see,” he said, with a low chuckle. “You will see.”

“Does that mean that you aren’t going to tell me?” Elizabeth said, annoyed by his laughter.

“That is so,” Strong Heart said, turning so that their bodies met beneath the blankets. He combed his fingers through her hair. “Ah-hah, my la-daila, that is so.”

“Just tell me whether or not it is something that will add to our happiness, not take away from it,” Elizabeth said, pouting.

“It is something wonderful,” Strong Heart said, piquing her curiosity even more.

But her frustration did not last long, because his lips and body were sending her into another world of joyful bliss.

Tomorrow?

Who cares, she thought to herself? Right now was all that mattered. Tomorrow? Surely nothing could be as wonderful as tonight.

Chapter 37

I love thee with the breath,

Smiles, tears, of all my life!

—ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING

It was not as amazing to Elizabeth that she would be nearing the outskirts of Seattle with Strong Heart, but that many of his people had accompanied them in their large, beautiful canoes up the serene river with the trees bent above it like lovers. And still Strong Heart would not tell her why they were making the journey.

It seemed everyone knew, but her.

But she had quit asking and watched as Strong Heart, sitting before her in their canoe, drew his oar through the water with his muscular arms, an elk skin coat snug against his lithe body. He made the chore of manning the canoe look effortless, as did the other braves accompanying him in his great vessel, each man’s oar moving in cadence with the other.

Elizabeth turned and looked at the other canoes following Strong Heart’s down the long avenue of river. She saw Many Stars, Strong Heart’s grandfather, Proud Beaver, and Strong Heart’s parents. His father’s leg had healed. Many braves had been left behind to guard the village, but many were here today on this puzzling venture to Seattle.

When Many Stars saw Elizabeth looking her way, she waved, her bearskin pelt drawn snugly around her own shoulders.

Elizabeth returned the wave, then turned her eyes ahead, forcing herself not to become impatient. Soon they would arrive, and then she would know. She hoped that Strong Heart would understand when she asked to go and see her parents. It was wonderful to have a true family again, even though she was no longer a part of their world. She had prayed since their separation that they would come together again and make up for the long years lost to them and her.

And God had heard her prayers.

Oh, so often he had heard her prayers, and she was thankful!

The air, rich with the scent of cedar, had turned colder and brisker halfway from the Suquamish village. The wind whisked the leaves overhead, their rustlings similar to the sound of softly falling rain. A deer drinking thirstily at the riverbank, where the shallower water bubbled over white pebbles, was startled by the appearance of the canoes and darted to safety in the cedar’s gloom. A woodpecker lightly beat a tattoo on a hollow tree.

Huddled beneath a warm bear pelt, the fur turned inside to give her more warmth, Elizabeth gazed up at the leaves of the trees, drinking in the beauty as if she were partaking of a vintage wine. She had never witnessed such breathtaking colors before as were displayed on these trees of late autumn.

There were orange-hued leaves, and purple and red. The most magnificent of all were the birches with their golden leaves clinging to the snow-white bark of the trees. The water was golden with the reflection of the trees.

A wind brought down a flotilla of leaves and they sailed off downstream in disarray, like a convoy without a commander.

It was so beautiful, Elizabeth almost forgot why she was there. Watching the seasons parade past filled her with peace.

She drew the fur more closely around her shoulders, lifting her nose to inhale the sweet, fresh fragrance of the air. Then she grew tense when she saw what appeared to be a snowflake fluttering slowly from the sky, sparkling like a miniature diamond against the gray gloomy clouds that were battling the sun for space, soon erasing it from the sky.