Filled with sadness and regret, Mariah turned to Echohawk. “We must travel to Fort Snelling soon to clear your name,” she said. “And I want to face my father with the truth. Surely he will be as happy as I to know this. There has been a bond between us from the very beginning. Now I know why. Somehow we surely sensed our blood ties.”
“It may be best to keep this truth hidden within your heart,” Echohawk suggested.
“I doubt that I can,” Mariah said, thinking of William Joseph, and that he was her half-brother. How grand to know that she actually had a brother. And Colonel Snelling had fathered seven children by Abigail! That meant that Mariah had seven brothers and sisters, if even only half kin to her.
“Let us leave this sorrowful place,” Echohawk said softly.
Mariah glanced back down at Victor Temple. “After I see to his burial,” she murmured. “It can’t be as I had at first wanted it. He would not want to be buried beside my mother’s grave, after all.”
A deep sadness came into her eyes as she thought about her mother and how she had always worshiped her in her memories.
She did not know how she should feel now.
Chapter 22
A merry heart goes all the day,
A sad tires in a mile.
—Shakespeare
The sound of singing and throbbing drums marked a victory celebration at Chief Silver Wing’s newly established village—a village bordering a serene lake, very pretty with its encircling of majestic pine and maple trees.
Mariah was taking comfort in Echohawk’s arms as she sat beside him before a roaring fire in the dance lodge, venison steaks simmering and dripping tantalizing juices into the flames.
As the drumbeats quickened, Mariah tried to enjoy the merriment. But she was unable to shake her sadness over Victor Temple’s death and his last confessions. She snuggled closer to Echohawk and concentrated her thoughts on the celebration. Brightly dressed men and women had formed a large circle around seven drummers, who beat out a steady rhythm on a single huge drum. All the participants sang and danced to the drumbeat, and Mariah tried to make sense of the steps and words.
Then a young girl entered the circle, shaking a rattle and singing a new song. “Her rattle is called a she-she-qua,” Echohawk whispered. Soon other young girls joined in her chant and began to dance.
“Is it not a beautiful performance by the young Chippewa maidens?” Echohawk said, taking Mariah’s hand, clasping it. “They would welcome you if you wish to join them.”
Recalling her clumsiness at Abigail’s ball, Mariah gazed over at Echohawk, smiling. “I don’t believe I would be welcome for long,” she said. “I am not a skilled dancer, Echohawk, I seem to have four feet instead of two when I try to dance.”
He laughed heartily, then turned and nodded a hello to Nee-kah as she came and sat down beside Mariah. “And how are you faring, Nee-kah?” he asked, eyeing her abdomen, which was developing rapidly with child. His eyes softened with affection as he reached around Mariah and placed a gentle hand on Nee-kah. “Soon you will have a child to join the dancing and singing. Of course the child will be a son.”
“Ay-uh, a son,” Nee-kah said, in her heart praying that it would be so. For her husband she must bear a son! And for herself—for she did not want to be cast away so that he could take another wife who might have more luck at birthing sons than she.
Echohawk’s gaze returned to Mariah. “No-din and I will have many sons and daughters,” he said, his eyes twinkling into Mariah’s. “Is not that so, No-din?”
Mariah’s face reddened with a blush; then she looked at Nee-kah. “Ay-uh, many,” she murmured. “Just like Josiah and Abigail Snelling. It is not fair to a child to be raised without brothers and sisters.” She smiled radiantly at Echohawk. “For so long I was without brothers and sisters. But now I have many!”
The sound of horses arriving outside the dance lodge caused all merriment to cease. Everything became so quiet, only harsh, frightened breaths could be heard.
A brave, one who had been guarding the approach of the village, entered the lodge and went to stand before Chief Silver Wing, who sat opposite the fire from Echohawk.
Chief Silver Wing rose slowly to his feet, frowning. He tried to hide the alarm in his eyes that had sprung there upon hearing so many horses, when he knew that almost all the braves were in the dance lodge attending the celebration. Only a few had been outside in strategic places to keep watch for intruders.
“What is it?” Chief Silver Wing grunted as Echohawk came to his side, as stern and as quiet as the elder chief. “Whom have you escorted into the village of Chippewa?”
“William Joseph Snelling and soldiers from Fort Snelling,” the brave said, his gaze moving from Chief Silver Wing to Chief Echohawk. “He comes in peace. He wishes council with the two chiefs of this village. Do I escort him to the council house? Should I say that you will be there soon to smoke the pipe of peace with him?”
Mariah’s heart was thundering wildly, torn over how to feel. She was anxious to see William Joseph, now knowing that he was her blood kin. Yet she was apprehensive of him being here, for Chief Silver Wing had moved his village far from Fort Snelling and all white people because he felt safer in isolation.
Also, she feared for Echohawk. Although his innocence had been proved, they had not yet gone to Fort Snelling to clear his name.
“Tell him we will share a smoke with him,” Chief Silver Wing said after getting a nod of consent from Echohawk. “Take him there. We will soon follow.”
As quickly as the people had gathered for the celebration, they were gone, leaving the dance lodge eerily quiet.