Savage Flames

She felt that he cared deeply for her as well. Sometimes she would catch him looking at her withsuch intensity, and he always treated her with great gentleness.

He was more gentle than her father had been, and he had been everything to Lavinia when she was a child.

Now? If only she knew for certain how Wolf Dancer felt about her! Did he love her too, even though they met so recently? She felt this was a man she would be happy to share her life with forever.

“Joshua, I believe it is time for you to tell Lavinia all that you told me about her husband’s death, how he truly died…by whose hand,” Wolf Dancer said thickly as he gazed at Joshua. “She is strong enough now to hear the truth.”

Lavinia’s hand clutched a wooden cup in her hand, which held a drink called cazina, a bitter-tasting infusion made from a weed that the Wind Clan gathered on the island.

Wolf Dancer had told everyone as he handed them cups of cazina that this was a very healthy brew for all who drank it. Lavinia found that despite its bitterness, she thought it was delicious.

“Joshua, what do you know that you have not told me?” Lavinia asked, setting her half-empty cup aside. “I…I…want to know.”

She gazed at him intently as he lowered his eyes, seemingly avoiding not only her question but also her eyes.

“Joshua, please?” she begged in a tone Joshua knew well, a voice of such sweetness that he could not help responding to it.

He slowly lifted his eyes and returned her steady gaze. “It ain’t a nice thing to tell, nor to hear, Lavinia,” he said, his voice drawn. “But you mus’ know, and it is time for you to be told. I’se the one to tell you, Lavinia, for I witnessed it all firsthand.” “Witnessed what?” Lavinia asked, realizing that the lodge had grown stone quiet, except for the popping and crackling of the fire. Everyone’s eyes were on Joshua.

“I saw Hiram murder your husband,” Joshua finally blurted out. “Lavinia, I seen it with mine own two eyes. Hiram drew back a bowstring with an arrow in it, and then shot Massa Virgil in the chest.” “Lord,” Lavinia gasped, feeling suddenly dizzy. “No. Oh, no. Why…how…? Virgil’s own brother killed him?”

“He sho’ ’nuff did,” Joshua said, wanting to reach out and steady her when he saw how distraught she was.

“Lord, oh, Lord, how could Hiram do that?” Lavinia cried. “My Virgil. My dear, kind Virgil. I knew that Hiram was jealous of everything Virgil had. My husband was more capable and intelligent than Hiram ever could be. But to…to…kill him?”

“He killed him in order to take control of the plantation and the slaves, and…even…you, Lavinia,” Joshua said softly. “Yes’m, he plans to have you all to hisself now that Massa Virgil is gone.”

Lavinia sat quietly for a few minutes, absorbing all that she had been told.

She glanced over at Wolf Dancer, whose eyes were on her, a protective softness in their depths.

She wanted to go into his arms and lose herself in the wonders of his embrace.

But she knew that this was not the time, not when she had just learned the true fate of her husband. It wouldn’t be proper to receive solace from Wolf Dancer when she had just learned the awful fate of the man who had so recently been her husband.

Wolf Dancer saw how she gazed into his eyes. He could tell that she needed him, yet he knew she must struggle through these horrible moments on her own. She had to prove to herself that she was strong enough to withstand this pain.

Lavinia swallowed hard, wiped tears from her eyes, then reached for Dorey’s hand.

Dorey had sat quietly as she listened to Joshua’s revelation; she hadn’t seemed all that shocked at the news of how her father had died. Now Lavinia realized that her daughter must have been told the truth.

“Dorey, are you alright?” Lavinia asked. She was amazed that Dorey was showing such strength of character. In the past few days her daughter’s whole world had changed, had been turned upside down.

“Mama, are you?” Dorey asked, searching her mother’s eyes. “You just learned the full horror of what happened to Papa. Are …you…alright?”

“Dorey, I am learning day by day how things in one’s life change, and so quickly that one cannot be prepared for it,” Lavinia said. She affectionately squeezed Dorey’s hand.

“Some of the things I’ve learned are so horrible I’ve felt that I can’t go on,” Lavinia said. “But there are other times, when I’ve discovered there are more wonderful things than bad ones in my life, and wonderful people whom you suddenly meet and love.”

She glanced quickly at Wolf Dancer. She blushed and lowered her eyes when she found him gazing at her.

He knew to whom she was referring when she spoke of discovering new love. He knew now without a doubt that she loved him.

But Lavinia was struggling with the guilt she felt for thinking about new love at this time, when only moments ago she had learned the details of her husband’s death. She slowly turned her face so that when she raised her chin and looked straight ahead, she wouldn’t be looking directly at this man who had stolen her heart.

“Joshua, did Hiram see you?” she asked softly. “Is that why he shot you with an arrow as well?”

“Dat’s de reason, a’right,” Joshua said dryly. “I came upon de killin’ and tried to get away before Hiram knew I had been witness to his crime. But he done seen me. I didn’t get turned quick enough to run away before de evil man saw me and shot dat poisoned arrow into my shoulder. I…fell…into de Bone River and done floated away, hanging on to life as hard as I could. Hiram thought he had done shot me dead, for there was a lot of blood from de wound. He saw de river turning red with my blood.