“And you would give me permission to eat with her?” Wolf Hawk said in a teasing fashion, his eyes gleaming playfully.

“Cousin, go,” Little Snowbird said, taking him gently by the elbow and ushering him outside. “Enjoy the honey that I have placed with the venison to make it especially delicious.”

“And you did this for the white captive?” Wolf Hawk asked, turning and smiling again mischievously at his cousin.

“I did it for you, not her,” Little Snowbird said, lifting her chin stubbornly.

Then she laughed softly. “Go now or I shall take it away from you and eat it myself,” she said, giving him a gentle shove toward the open flap.

Wolf Hawk laughed softly, too.

He left her tepee and walked toward the larger one, wondering just where his attraction for the white woman would end.

Chapter Fourteen

Light, so low upon earth,

You send a flash to the sun,

Here is the golden close of love.

All my wooing is done.

—Alfred, Lord Tennyson

As Mia waited for Wolf Hawk’s return to the large tepee, she felt strangely anxious for his return.

Wolf Hawk was a man of much charisma and kindness, and although she was in his village as his captive, somehow she didn’t feel like a prisoner, at all. He had treated her too gently, too caringly, for that.

As she sat there on the thick, soft pallet of furs and blankets, with the fire warm on her face, she saw that this tepee was vastly different from any dwelling that she had ever seen before. But she found it delightful to relax without feeling the sway of a boat beneath her or the fishy smell that surrounded her during the weeks of traveling with her parents each year.

She would never understand why her parents had preferred those times on the river, instead of living, year-round, in their St. Louis home, where they had such comforts.

Her father had tried to explain it by saying that while they were traveling on their scow, they were not dependant on anyone but themselves and that was the way they liked it.

She knew that they had decided to give up their river travel only because of her father’s questionable health. How she wished that they had made that decision earlier. She truly believed that the hard work of steering the scow had helped weaken her father’s heart.

She forced her mind away from the sadness of their deaths and again studied the lodge that would be her home for she knew not how long. Forever?

Or would she be set free as soon as the Indians learned that she was not guilty of any crimes against them? How would she survive in a world where she would be all alone and without family?

Again she forced her mind on to other things. Everything in this tepee smelled fresh and clean. The blankets and pelts rolled up against the walls, the mats on which she sat, were all that she would need to be comfortable while staying there. She could see why an Indian woman could be content in such a dwelling as this, especially if she had her family with her.

The thought of family brought instant tears to her eyes again, for she just could not stop thinking about the loss of her parents. She still could hardly believe the terrible changes in her world. Of course she had tried to prepare herself for her father’s death since his health had been failing for some time, but the actuality of it was too much to bear.

After her mother’s death, the knowledge that her father could leave her, too, had been so painful, that oft times she would get up in the middle of the night just to check on him, to see that he was still breathing.

In truth, she should not completely blame Wolf Hawk for her father’s passing. Harry Collins had been dying long before he set eyes on the Winnebago chief. At least now he was no longer in pain.

She truly had no idea just how much he had suffered, but she knew he suffered no more. He lay with his eyes peacefully closed.

She would not think about him being in that shallow grave. In truth, he was with her mother, his precious wife. They were now together for eternity.

Her papa was with his beloved Glenna!

Mia had been caught up in such deep thoughts, she had not heard Wolf Hawk enter the lodge.

He stepped just inside the tepee and saw that she was lost in thought, gazing into the dancing flames of the fire.

Tags: Cassie Edwards Romance
Source: readsnovelonline.net