Leonida bolted from the sleeping platform. She looked around her for her clothes, and then she remembered having come to this bedroom naked. The skirt and blouse that had been brought to her were still in the outer room.
Sage awakened and gazed up at Leonida, his eyes feasting on her nakedness, instantly desiring her. Then he tensed as he heard the soft sobbing coming from the other bedroom. “Trevor?” he said, moving quickly from the bed. “He cries?”
Leonida turned away, blushing over being nude in a man’s presence. Then she forgot her inhibitions, knowing that this was not just any man. No one could know her body any better than Sage, perhaps not even herself.
“Sage, it is Trevor,” she said, her voice anxious. “He’s missing his mother. And he’s probably frightened after waking up in strange surroundings. I must go to him.”
She gestured with a hand toward the door. “But my clothes are in the other room,” she said, watching Sage step quickly into his velveteen breeches. “I can’t go out there naked. I’m afraid Trevor would see me from his room.”
His breeches secured at his waist, Sage rushed from the room and soon returned with the skirt and blouse, and also soft moccasins that Pure Blossom had brought.
“I will go to him,” he said. “Come when you are dressed.”
Leonida nodded and began hurrying into the clothes. She admired Sage’s attentiveness to Trevor, yet could see that it was partially because he was feeling guilty over Carole’s death. Perhaps he felt more responsible for Trevor now than even Leonida did. If so, they could come together to make a wonderful life for Trevor, if . . .
“If Kit Carson and Harold don’t find Sage’s stronghold and ruin everything,” she said, frowning as she tied the drawstrings of the brightly colored blouse together in front. She recalled the steep climb to get to the stronghold. That made it almost unaccessible. Yet Sage had worried about the Navaho crops way down below in a valley, quite accessible to outsiders. Those crops were the lifeblood of the Navaho. Kit Carson was clever enough to realize that if he burned the crops, he would starve those who depended on them.
Hers and Trevor’s future with Sage might become questionable if they were all forced to flee the stronghold. And even though Sage’s intentions were pure toward the captive women and children, if he was enraged enough, he might have cause to forget his promises.
Leonida suddenly realized that Trevor had stopped sobbing. Weaving her fingers through her hair to straighten its tangles, Leonida hurried into Trevor’s bedroom, stopping, breathless at the sight that she came upon. Trevor was in Sage’s arms. Sage was rocking the child back and forth, singing to him the song of his horse again. Trevor now emitted only an occasional sob, resting his fat cheek against Sage’s chest.
Touched by the tender scene, Leonida felt tears coming to her eyes. She watched a moment longer, then went to stand beside Sage. The only light in the room was the soft glow from the dying embers in the fire pit in the outer room, but it was enough to see that Trevor’s
cheeks and nose were rosy from crying. And when he held his arms out to her, she gladly took him and cuddled him close.
“I want my mommy,” he said, again softly crying. A deep sob wracked his tiny body. “Take me to my mommy.”
Leonida and Sage exchanged quick glances. Sage then walked gingerly from the room, leaving Leonida with Trevor to explain.
After a lengthy discussion, with Trevor listening intently, he reached up and gave Leonida a big hug.
“You will be my mommy now,” he said, a delayed sob causing his body to shudder, then grow still. “Sage will be my father. That will make my real mommy happy?”
“As she looks down from heaven, I am sure she approves of what she has seen this morning,” Leonida said, caressing his tiny back through his white cotton shirt. “She has seen not only me loving you, but also Sage. I’m sure she is smiling down at you even now, Trevor. Can you give her a smile back?”
Wiping a desultory tear from one of his eyes, Trevor looked heavenward and smiled, then looked at Leonida for approval. “Was that smile big enough?” he asked softly. “Did she see it, do you think?”
“She saw it and she liked it,” Leonida said, carrying him to the outer room. As she set him on his feet, she noticed that Sage had put fresh wood on the fire and was gone. She had to wonder why he had left without telling her first. And where had he gone so early in the morning? She did not hear any commotion outside. And as she peered at the smoke hole in the ceiling, she realized why. She could see that it was just barely daylight.
Trevor had gone to the copper tub, where the suds still floated atop the water. She smiled to herself as he started picking at the bubbles with his fingers, giggling as they burst and splashed onto his hand. She was recalling how much she had enjoyed the bath and thought that perhaps Trevor might enjoy one as well. She went to the tub and studied the water. It seemed clean enough, with only her having bathed in it.
She then eyed Trevor. She became suddenly bashful at the thought of undressing the little man and bathing him. Perhaps she might wait and see if Sage would do the honors.
But Trevor was taking care of the chore himself. He was undressing eagerly and was soon standing naked before her.
“Water?” he said, holding his arms out to her. “Will you put me in the water? I want to play with the bubbles.”
Laughing softly, seeing that she had worried for naught about this little boy feeling uncomfortable in her presence with his clothes off, Leonida put her hands beneath his armpits and lifted him up into the tub. He squealed as he settled down into the water, which was cold to his tender flesh.
A noise behind her drew Leonida quickly around. Sage came up to her and smiled devilishly down at her, then went and knelt down beside the tub of water and playfully sprinkled some water over Trevor’s head.
“My son, there is something special for you outside the hogan,” Sage said, caressing Trevor’s back. “Let us get you out of the water so that you can see what Sage has brought for you.”
Leonida glanced toward the hogan door, then down at Sage. She was dying to know what he was talking about, so grateful that he was finding time for her and Trevor at this time when his mind was surely filled with worries of his stronghold being discovered and concern for the future of his people.
Sage lifted Trevor out of the water and stood him beside the fire, which was now blazing. Sage dried Trevor off with a towel made from soft doeskin and helped him into his clothes. “You will soon wear only clothes of the Navaho,” Sage said. “Though your skin is white, in your heart and actions, you will be Navaho.”
Twining her fingers together behind her, Leonida watched Sage pampering this child as though he were his own. Sage brushed Trevor’s shoulder-length hair with the short, tight end of a brush made from a sheaf of straw and dry grass. She stepped closer, watching Sage pull Trevor’s hair back and tie it in a chongo, a bundle of hair at the nape of the neck.