Strong Heart embraced his friend, then stepped back and watched Four Winds mount his horse. They exchanged looks filled with deep emotion. Then Four Winds swung his horse around and rode away in a brisk gallop.
Strong Heart watched Four Winds until he was lost to the night, then turned slowly around to Elizabeth. She had drawn a blanket around her shoulders, and was staring into the dancing flames of the fire. Strong Heart’s breath caught in his throat as once again he looked on her loveliness. His loins ached for that which he would deny himself until she invited him into her blankets.
Chapter 9
Give all to love,
Obey thy heart....
—EMERSON
Now that they were alone, Strong Heart did not know what to expect from Elizabeth. Would she demand to be set free? He moved cautiously to the blanket and sat down beside her. When he looked at her, she did not follow his lead and raise her gaze to meet his. Instead, she stared into the flames of the fire, her jaw set, her eyes filled with a defiant anger.
Even when Strong Heart began talking to her, she did not budge, nor did she show any sign of even hearing him. When he called her by the Suquamish term for ‘my woman,’ he thought he noticed a flicker of reaction, but just as quickly it was gone.
“La-daila, there is much to be said between us,” Strong Heart began, his voice soft, yet measured. “Please listen while I tell you the truth about everything. Then if you condemn me, so be it.”
A dull knot ached within Elizabeth’s chest, she so wanted to be able to turn to him and tell him that she would willingly talk with him, that being with him was thrilling her through and through. But for too many reasons she did not feel free to speak her mind. Just the thought of Strong Heart being no better than the man he had set free from prison made her heart silently cry out to him in pain. For she had discovered this side of him just when she had begun to believe that she was falling in love with him!
Before the encounter at the prison, before she realized what he was capable of, she had loved the way his mere presence caused her heart to beat so erratically. Even now, while he was so close, she could not deny the wondrous, strange sweetness that seemed to be pressing in on her heart. And the more he spoke the more sense he made, giving her cause to hope that perhaps all of these wrongs could be made right between them!
But how could he? she despaired to herself. He could never deny having helped an outlaw escape from Copper Hill Prison. She could never forgive him for forcing her to participate, then abducting her, an innocent bystander.
“La-daila, for so many years Four Winds and I were the best of friends who knew all the secrets of the silent forest; who, together, heard when the bluebird sang his wildest, clearest notes; knew where the scarlet wing hung his nest in the river rushes; and knew why the yellow beak sang his most beautiful song in the springtime.”
He paused to place another log on the fire.
Although Elizabeth did not reveal to Strong Heart that she was listening, she was, intently, never offering him a nod or a glance. Her pulse raced and she was feeling more hopeful by the minute that he was that man of compassion she had first thought him to be. And perhaps she could forgive him, but only if he would escort her safely back home, she thought bitterly to herself, knowing how unlikely that was.
Strong Heart resumed his place beside her and she listened even more raptly, desperately wanting to believe him.
“As youths, Four Winds and I shared everything,” he said softly. “We shared the hunt, bringing home to our clans our prizes of the day, boasting of each other’s catch to our chieftain fathers. We are of two separate clans of Suquamish, and as we grew older and had to become more diligent in learning the ways of our fathers, we had to give up our childish friendship for the more serious side of life.”
Again he paused, his eyes melancholy as he looked into the flames of the fire.
Elizabeth was touched by the sincerity of his words, and the emotion in his voice, yet she still did not reach out to him with words, or a gesture of sympathy.
When he began talking again, and gave her a slow glance, she jerked her eyes around, not wanting him to know that she had been studying him and imagining her flesh being warmed by his touch.
She swallowed hard and concentrated on his words.
“Four Winds and I meet from time to time, sharing talk and dreams of our futures,” Strong Heart said, again turning his eyes away from Elizabeth, not sure if he was reaching her with his explanation. She was stubbornly hiding her feelings, whether they were in his favor or against him.
“But after Four Winds’s clan of Suquamish moved far to the north toward Canada, we broke all our ties,” Strong Heart continued. “Then I received word that Four Winds had been arrested for riding with criminals—something I could not, would not allow myself to believe. I decided to set my old friend free from the prison, having hoped—no, having known, without a doubt—that Four Winds had been accused unjustly, for I know the honor by which Four Winds guides his life.”
Strong Heart’s brow furrowed into a deep frown. His eyes narrowed as he spoke in almost a snarl. “Your people would imprison
mine, keeping them from the forests and rivers that our ancestors roamed. They take from us our weapons, our means of feeding and clothing our families. The white man cannot recognize innocence when he sees it, because he himself is guilty of so many crimes against nature and his fellow man. Yet he calls my people savage, just because our customs are different from his, our ways and beliefs foreign to him. Yet we have walked this land before your people ever set eyes on it.”
Elizabeth was stunned by the strength in his words, and his intense feelings against the white race, yet it did not show in how he treated her. He had risked his life more than once to save her. How could he have, when he obviously hated the white people so much?
And, oh, what he had said was so true! She had always been aware of the injustices against the plains Indians. She had never thought to consider that it was the same for those who lived elsewhere, such as here in the Pacific Northwest. Now, she realized that her father’s hopes of winning the Suquamish over to his side must surely have been dashed when he met with them about his proposals.
Strong Heart moved to his knees before Elizabeth, blocking her view of the fire. He placed a finger under her chin and elevated her eyes to meet his. “Have you listened to what I have said?” he asked, his voice filled with kindness; filled with gentleness. “The white people are wrong about the Suquamish. Among my people there are many men of vision. There is great honesty and loyalty, noble sacrifice, unselfishness, and devotion to peace. Tell me that you hear me and understand, that you believe.”
Elizabeth felt deeply touched by his words, and overwhelmed with relief that she had not been wrong about him. He was a man of compassion, of deep understanding, a man of clear vision and intelligence.
And she could not control the beating of her heart when she gazed into his steel-gray eyes, his lips so close—his voice so suddenly soft and sweet.