Feeling foolish for allowing herself to think such thoughts, she focused again on what the elderly woman was saying to High Hawk, and then anxiously awaited his response. But all that she now heard was silence. A moment later High Hawk came back inside the tepee and sat down beside Joylynn again, where he proceeded to eat without saying a word.
She knew that he had taken a scolding from his mother, but out of respect, had said nothing back to her.
The more time Joylynn spent with High Hawk, the less she saw him as someone who would enjoy taking a woman captive, yet . . . yet . . . he had!
Joylynn had also learned something else about her captor. She was in the presence of a powerful man who would one day be chief of his people. His mother had said as much.
Joylynn wasn’t sure if this knowledge should alarm her, or make her feel less threatened. It was surely up to him what her future would be now.
And what was this about a brother?
No sooner was the thought formed than the very person she was wondering about came into the tepee.
He seemed painfully shy in her presence; his eyes would not linger long with hers.
She could not help looking at his twisted body, for it was like nothing she had ever seen before. But she soon realized that he knew she was looking at his deformity, and, not wanting to embarrass him, she looked quickly away.
“This is my brother, Sleeping Wolf,” High Hawk said, rising and placing a gentle arm around his brother’s twisted shoulders.
High Hawk then stepped away from him and gestured with a hand toward Joylynn. “Brother, this woman is my captive,” he said tersely. “Her name is Joylynn.”
“You have brought a captive into your home?” Sleeping Wolf gasped, his eyes wide as he stared at Joylynn. When her eyes met his again, he saw in them compassion, not pity.
He could not help liking her immediately.
But not being used to kind treatment from strangers, and unsure how he should react to this captive, he turned and limped away, leaving the tepee almost as quickly as he had come.
High Hawk gazed down at Joylynn. “My brother was born with an affliction that keeps him from doing as others do,” he said sadly. “He cannot ride a horse. He cannot shoot arrows. He cannot do the things that he would like to do, the things that normally make parents proud. But we could not be any more proud of Sleeping Wolf if his back were straight and he could do as others do. He is someone well loved by our people. He is a man who never wants to be pitied.”
Joylynn wanted to tell him that she did not pity his brother, but he suddenly turned and left before she could speak.
She watched for him to return, and when he didn’t, she shoved the bowl of half-eaten food away and stared into the flames of the fire. She was feeling less and less threatened, except . . . for High Hawk’s mother, who seemed to detest her mere presence. She knew she must be watchful of this elderly woman.
And how would High Hawk’s father, a powerful Pawnee chief, behave toward her when he arrived home from his search for buffalo? Would he approve of her being there, or disapprove?
She looked slowly around her, at High Hawk’s personal belongings. On a pole at the far back of the lodge was hung a shield painted with scenes of fallen buffalo, with arrows lodged in their bellies.
Beside this was another pole on which hung a quiver of many arrows; the quiver seemed to be made from the hide of a cougar.
Close beside these was a huge bow, with its string loosened.
Elsewhere around the inner circle of the room lay travel bags and other items for daily life. Rolled-up blankets and pelts were stored against the wall, ready to be used for bedding.
She wondered if she would remain in High Hawk’s lodge while she was there as his captive.
If so, where . . . would . . . she sleep?
And . . . would he want to bed her?
She could only watch and wait . . . and hope that he wouldn’t try to force her. One other man had, and she was living with the results . . . the child she was carrying!
She placed her hand on her belly, wondering what High Hawk would think, or do, when he discovered that he had stolen away a pregnant woman?
More importantly, what would his mother do? She already seemed to loathe Joylynn’s presence. How would she react when she learned that her son’s captive was carrying a white child in her belly?
Joylynn gazed again at the arrows in the quiver, then at the bow. She knew not the first thing about bows and arrows, but she wondered if she could use an arrow as a weapon against High Hawk if he were to threaten her.
The thought made her cringe. She realized that she did not want to kill him.