Now wistful roads depart,
For I must hurry after
To overtake my heart.
—CHARLES DEVINE
At first Kaylene and Fire Thunder followed a creek in the tall woods. The path was so narrow, sometimes they snapped off the branches on either side of them.
When Kaylene saw a lone cabin through a break in the trees, only a short distance away, she scarcely breathed. Could it be? she wondered, her pulse racing.
As she and Fire Thunder rode closer, her heart did a flip-flop and her fingers tightened around the horse’s reins as she saw an old bent woman sitting on a chair outside the door of the cabin.
A soft spray of sunshine broke through the umbrella of trees overhead, giving Kaylene a better view of the elderly lady.
Yet to her disappointment, she could not see the woman’s face. She was bending low over an animal that lay dutifully at her right side on the ground, gently stroking its gray fur.
“My mother,” Kaylene said in a timorous whisper. “That has to be my mother.”
Her gaze shifted. She studied the animal, gasping when she discovered that it was a wolf. This choked Kaylene up with emotion, knowing that her mother had the same sort of bond with animals as herself. Kaylene now knew where she got the deep feelings she had for animals. From her mother.
Kaylene looked quickly at Fire Thunder. “Surely that’s her,” she said, her voice anxious. “Don’t you believe so, Fire Thunder? This is the only cabin we’ve seen. It is so isolated. Don’t you believe that’s my mother?”
Fire Thunder’s gaze moved slowly over the elderly woman who wore a faded cotton dress and whose gray hair was wrapped in a tight bun atop her head.
“Yes, I believe it is your mother. But until we see her face, and see whether or not she is a leper, we shall not be certain,” Fire Thunder said, drawing a tight rein. “Let us leave our horses here and go the rest of the way on foot. We do not want to alarm the woman. And thus far I do not think she has heard the approach of our horses.” His gaze shifted. “Nor has the wolf.”
Kaylene drew a tight rein and slid out of the saddle. “Do you think the wolf could be a threat?” she asked. “What if he attacks us as we approach?”
“Most wolves are not as prone to attack as a dog might be when strangers approach,” Fire Thunder said, tying his reins to a low tree limb. “Although most people think of wolves as vicious and mean, for the most part, they are gentle. They tend to cower from strangers, not pursue them.”
Kaylene laughed nervously. “I hope you’re right,” she said, but doubted he was so sure of what he said when he grabbed his rifle from the gunboot on his saddle.
“Come,” Fire Thunder said, nodding toward her. “Let us go now and introduce ourselves to the woman. My main concern is that she will flee back inside her lodge when she sees us. Surely she has grown to fear strangers since those who know she is a leper would not go near her. She would have to believe that those who do approach her cabin would only do so out of ignorance and might be someone with evil on their minds.”
“Oh, how I hope she will give us a chance to speak with her,” Kaylene said, falling into step beside Fire Thunder as they slowly walked toward the cabin. “I have to tell her who I am. I must ask her who my father was. Surely he is someone I can go to without the fear of such a dreaded disease as leprosy.”
“Do not count on too much, Kaylene,” Fire Thunder said, giving her an uneasy glance. “If you do, you might be disappointed.”
When they got close enough to the cabin for the wolf to sense their presence, his steely-gray eyes raised and he saw them. He immediately showed his fangs and growled, causing the elderly woman to lift her head in a panic.
Kaylene’s insides swam with emotion when she saw the lady’s face, now for certain that she was gazing upon her mother’s. She was shocked and saddened by her appearance. Pain for her mother shot through Kaylene’s heart when she saw the layer after layer of scales, like those of a fish, on her face. Her eyes were sunk deeply into the scaly flesh, allowing her only to see in a squint.
She wanted so badly to reach out to her, to explain who she was. Yet she feared the wolf as it crept closer with a steady, low growl in the depth of its throat. Kaylene looked at her mother, then at the approaching wolf, then at her mother again.
Her heart leaped with panic when the woman picked up a cane from the ground and leaned against it as she rose slowly to her feet and started backing away, the door only inches behind her.
Kaylene raised a hand and gestured toward her. “Please don’t go inside,” she cried. “We haven’t come to harm you. I need to speak with you. Please listen to what I have to say. I have waited a lifetime to know you. Please, oh, please allow it.”
The old woman stopped and stared at Kaylene. “Who are you?” she asked in a raspy voice. She gazed sharply at Fire Thunder. “What do you and that Indian want of me? I’ve got nothing of value here. I’m a leper. Don’t you know that? No one comes close to a leper. No one cares about a leper. What brings you here?”
“Long ago you gave a child up to carnival people,” Kaylene said, half watching the wolf as it slunk closer. Kaylene could feel Fire Thunder’s readiness beside her. Should the wolf leap toward them, Fire Thunder would get a shot off quickly to stop it.
Kaylene’s eyes widened in surprise when the wolf, instead, crept up to her and knelt, its teeth no longer bared, its gray eyes looking trustingly up at her. Her heart went out to him, for he was treating her as though they were long-lost friends.
“How would you know about me giving up my baby?” Eloisa asked, her voice breaking. She took a shaky step forward, peering more intently at Kaylene through her small eyes.
“How would I know?” Kaylene said, choking back a sob that was threatening to surface. “I am that child.”