Tonight, his prayers were not only for his father.
He found himself including a woman. He prayed to understand why he could not get Jessie off his mind.
After kneeling there for many hours, he came out of his prayers with a determined mind. He felt more able to accept his father’s death, and he’d also come to the conclusion that he must ignore the white woman at all cost. He was on this earth to lead his people, to keep them safe, to guide them once they were all reunited on the reservation.
That last thought was a bitter one. He knew he had no choice but to take the remainder of his people to the reservation after his father died. He had given his word to the white chief in Washington.
His mind drifted to the woman again; to the woman called Jessie.
His jaw tightened as he vowed to himself never to think of her again!
Chapter Eleven
Jessie was torn by many conflicting feelings as she sat before the fireplace in her bedroom. She knew that she must leave this hellhole of a prison, yet she still could not quite believe the predicament she was in. She never would have thought that her cousin, with whom she had shared such fun and camaraderie as children, could have changed so much.
She thought about the curse that Jade said had been placed upon Reginald by Indians. Had that curse changed him?
But no. That curse must have been placed on him because of his behavior. She wondered what he might have done to cause the Indians to hate him so much.
All she knew for certain was that she did have to leave, and soon. She had her child to consider if not her own self. She would do nothing to endanger this precious being growing inside her.
Yet she had done that today, hadn’t she, when she had risked her life by saving the Indian boy? It had not even occurred to her not to save him. All she knew was that she must do what no one else had done.
And she would never forget the young brave’s smile of gratitude. Yes, she had done the right thing, and as far as she knew, it had not harmed her own child.
But now?
What would her leaving do to her child? If she didn’t find a place to live, where she had good nourishment while she was pregnant, wouldn’t that be almost as harmful as staying with Reginald, at least until after the baby was born?
Oh, what should she do?
Did she truly dare leave Reginald’s house? Would he come looking for her? Or would he be glad to be done with her, especially once he heard that she was with child?
He did not seem the sort who would want a child in his home.
Her thoughts went to Chief Thunder Horse. She wondered how he might react to her being with child if he did, in fact, offer her shelter in his village.
Yes, if she did go to him, what could she truly expect from him? What if he didn’t want to be involved?
She was white, wasn’t she? And . . . hadn’t whites been inhumane in their treatment of most Indians?
“All I need is for someone to let me stay long enough so I can get my bearings,” she whispered to herself.
And then there were Jade and Lee-Lee. How could she forget their plight? They were in danger as long as they were at the mercy of her cousin.
But she had to put her child ahead of everyone. She must do what was best for her baby!
“I have no money,” she whispered, rising from the chair to pace the room. With no money, she could not even travel back to Kansas City, where she did have friends who might help her in her time of trouble.
She didn’t dare steal from Reginald. He would be out for blood if she dared to take anything of his.
“I have no choice but to try to find Thunder Horse’s village,” she said aloud, stopping.
She looked with a start toward her closed door when she heard Reginald screaming and running down the corridor. He must have had another nightmare.
But Jade had said that she’d given Reginald a potion to make him sleep more soundly than usual.
Had it, instead, intensified his nightmares?