Brave Beginnings (10 page)

After a brief moment, he collapsed on top of
her. She clung to him, burying her face in the side of his neck.
She inhaled the scent of him. She recalled it from when he stood
close to her when she hunted for rabbits. How she missed his
nearness in the time they’d been apart. Never again. From now on,
they were together. One unit. Complete. Whole.

He shifted off of her and rolled to his side
so that he could cuddle with her. His long body wrapped
protectively around hers, and she felt more loved and cared for
than she had ever felt in her entire life.

“You and me,” he whispered. “It is good.”

She smiled and snuggled against him. “Yes. It
is good.” And, her exhaustion returning, she promptly fell back to
sleep.

~~********~~

Chogan realized it would take time before he
felt comfortable in his new clothes, but for the time being, it
took a lot of shifting when he was sitting to find a position that
didn’t make his legs feel as if his blood flow was being
constricted. How did the white men wear these things? How did white
women wear their mass of restrictive clothing?

He saw all the layers of clothes Julia wore
under her dress. She mentioned the words chemise and petticoat, but
other than that, the mass of unfamiliar words turned into one big
blur. The whole business of making sure every inch from the neck to
the ankle was covered was unnecessary. It was a wonder the white
women could manage any work with the weight of their clothing
suffocating them. But Julia and her aunt didn’t seem to notice how
uncomfortable their clothes had to be. Chogan reasoned that they
were used to it, so they were probably comfortable. He decided he’d
ask Julia about it later when they were alone.

For the moment, he and Julia sat across from
Gary and Woape at the dining room table. Woape held Penelope in her
lap and fed her small bites of her breakfast. Erin sat at the head
of the table and looked as happy as a person could possibly
get.

“I love having the whole family together,”
she gushed at one point after sipping her coffee. “I longed for a
day such as this ever since Julia and Gary were little. I remember
thinking that one day they would marry and have children of their
own.” She picked up the cloth napkin from her lap and dabbed her
eyes. “It’s a beautiful sight.”

Julia put her fork down and touched her
aunt’s arm.

The smile Julia and her aunt exchanged
indicated a private message of understanding between them, and it
was then that Chogan realized how close the two were. Such love and
respect was rare, even among his people who tried to pass on the
importance of taking care of their elders. This was reason enough
for him to live here.

Across from him, Gary made eye contact with
him and said in the Mandan tongue, “Women are sentimental,
especially those two. You may want to carry a handkerchief at all
times.”

Woape shook her head. “It is not fair to
speak another language when they can’t understand what you’re
saying.”

Gary glanced at her. “You’re speaking Mandan
right now.”

“Only to suggest you not speak it,” she
replied. “I don’t know if it’s good you caught onto the language as
fast as you did.”

Gary picked up another piece of toast and
spread jam on it. “Of course, it’s good. I had to be sure no one
was making fun of me.”

Chogan grinned. “Achai’s always had a
tendency to joke.”

“And a fine one it was,” Gary said. “If
you’re going to hand someone something that disgusting to eat, you
should tell them the proper name for it.”

“Rattlesnake is not disgusting if you season
it right.”

Gary shuddered. “It’s the idea of eating
something that can kill a man if it bites him that’s
disgusting.”

“You’re too weak. You need to toughen up. You
white men will make boots out of snakeskin but will throw out the
rest.”

Gary shot Chogan a pointed look. “Because
they’re disgusting to eat.”

“You’re wasteful. You need to find a use for
everything you hunt.”

Gary laughed. “I don’t care if it’s wasteful
or not. I’m not going to eat a snake.”

Despite the shake of his head, Chogan’s lips
turned up into a smile. A glance in Julia’s direction showed him
that she and her aunt were watching him and Gary. “He no eat
snake.”

Julia gagged. “For once, I agree with my
brother. That’s disgusting.”

Gary looked amused. “I told you so. You’re
not going to try to feed her snake are you?” he asked in
Mandan.

“She has a hunter’s spirit in her,” Chogan
replied, also reverting to Mandan. “She is tougher than you.”

“Tougher than me?” Gary asked, as if he’d
been insulted.

Woape wiped her daughter’s mouth. “Speak
English,” she said in English.

Gary put his arm around her shoulders. “I’m
sorry.” He picked up a piece of bacon and put it in Penelope’s
mouth. “She will never eat snake. I don’t care what anyone in the
tribe thinks.”

Erin let out a loud sigh. “I don’t want to
know what all that was about.”

“I agree,” Julia replied. “We don’t need to
know everything.”

“I tell him you tougher than him,” Chogan
whispered in her ear. “You look better too.”

She laughed, and Gary narrowed his eyes at
them.

Chogan chuckled. “I teach you Mandan? You
learn to understand?”

Julia nodded. “Alright. It’ll take me awhile
though. I don’t think I can learn it as fast as Gary did.”

“I be with you. You do fine,” he assured
her.

She reached under the table and placed her
hand on his thigh.

He took a good look at her and saw that she
continued to eat a forkful of eggs. She didn’t even glance in his
direction. This time when he smiled, it was for a different reason.
He knew she had fire in her, a great passion, but it didn’t occur
to him that she had a playfully mischievous side to her. He took
her hand in his and squeezed it. He noted a slight grin on her face
before she talked to her aunt about what they would make for
lunch.

After breakfast was over, Chogan waited until
Woape was alone so he could talk to her. She had just changed
Penelope and was coming down the steps, leaving Gary, Julia and
their aunt in the parlor to talk.

“Julia told me what you did for me,” Chogan
softly told Woape who held Penelope’s hand. “Thank you.”

“I know you wouldn’t have been happy with
Sarita or anyone else Citlali would have you marry,” she replied.
“And I know how you and Julia felt about each other. I’ve been
granted the blessing of loving my spouse. I cannot wish anyone
anything less than the same.”

“I’m glad Gary makes you happy. It would not
have been the same with Citlali.”

“No,” she softly acknowledged. “I’m sure he
would have been kind, but he’d never love me.”

“There is a difference. You made the right
choice.”

Penelope tugged on her mother’s arm.

Woape chuckled. “I’m coming. Children are
impatient. They cannot sit still for longer than a minute.”

Satisfied that he had the chance to thank
her, he followed her to the parlor.

***

The collar around Chogan’s neck felt
unbearably tight, and the tie didn’t help matters. But he was
determined to press through. He straightened his coat and glanced
at Julia. “Butcher?” he motioned to the building where she
stopped.

“Yes. His name is Jed Wilson.” She smiled up
at him. “You’re much better than the other men who hunt game.”

“I marry you so I hear good things,” he
slowly joked.

She laughed. The nippy air made her cheeks
rosy, though he’d like to think it was his words that made her
blush. However, there was no denying that the sparkle in her eyes
was due to the fact that they were together.

“I go.” He opened the door and waited for
her, now understanding the customs of her people in regards to who
opened the door and why. “You come?”

“No. I need to pick up a few things from the
general store. Do you know where that is?”

His gaze scanned the businesses lining the
street. “Down there. I go there before.”

“I won’t be long. Good luck.”

He waited for her to stroll away before he
directed his attention to the task at hand. Upon entering the
place, he took off his hat, finding the thing a sore substitute for
his headdress. He shook off the longing for the familiar and
stepped up to the counter and waited.

An overweight middle-aged man with thinning
brown hair sauntered in from the back of the store. He paused when
he saw Chogan. “May I help you?”

Chogan straightened to his full height and
noticed the slight wince on the man’s face. He wondered if the man
was intimidated or upset but held off on questioning him. “I come
for job. Anthony Perkins say you need hunter. I hunt.”

Jed’s eyebrows furrowed as he inched a little
closer to the counter while maintaining a good distance from it—and
Chogan. “Anthony sent you, huh?”

“He recommend.”

“Hmm...” He rubbed the stubble on his jaw.
“So he will represent you?”

Chogan blinked. “Represent?”

“He will deal with me on your behalf?”

“No. I come here.”

“But when you hunt, he’ll bring in the
animal?”

Chogan didn’t understand the logic in that.
“Anthony make clothes. He not hunt. I hunt. I bring animal
here.”

“Oh.” The man winced again.

Chogan was beginning to understand the
problem, and he chided himself on thinking just because he had
short hair and dressed like a white man, it should make any
difference. “I represent me.”

“Yes. I gathered as much.” The man glanced up
at him and swallowed. “I’m sorry, but I think Anthony has me
confused with someone else. You see...I...” He shuffled from one
foot to another. “That is to say, I have enough meat. Yes. I have
meat already. If I had more, the meat would rot. I have fresh meat
at all times.”

Chogan knew Jed Wilson was lying. He might
not have understood all of the man’s jumbled words since he spoke
too fast, but he got the gist of it. Venturing for a different
avenue, he asked, “Where can I work?”

Jed rubbed his jaw again. “Didn’t Anthony
Perkins tell you where else someone might need a worker?”

He shook his head.

Jed sighed. “I’m not sure who would hire...”
He glanced uneasily at him. “That is to say that Bismarck has
plenty of workers.”

Chogan waited, wondering if the butcher would
tell him anything useful or continue to stall. He knew he made Jed
nervous, but he didn’t appreciate being turned down from a job he
was perfectly capable of doing—one he even excelled at—just because
of his skin color. He bet he could hunt better than any of the
white men that Jed had bringing meat to him and that the quality of
game would be superior as well.

Jed shook his head. “I’m sorry. I don’t know
who’s hiring.”

He’d get nothing out of the butcher, and he
knew when to pick his battles. This was not the time for forcing
the issue or trying to prove he could do the job as well as any
white man. He stiffly nodded, muttered a “thank you” that felt like
bile in his throat, and calmly left the shop. He stood still for a
moment with eyes closed and focused on relaxing the tension in his
muscles. Not everyone was like Jed Wilson. He couldn’t assume that
every employer in this town would react to him the same way.

He longed to wrap his buffalo robe tighter
around himself as he’d done in the past when he reined in his
self-control. It was a habit he’d developed over the years, a way
he’d mentally and physically closed himself off from external
sources of aggravation. But now he wore no robe. He wore a white
man’s winter coat, and all he could do was cross his arms.

He promised Julia he’d wait for her, so he
remained outside the store, probably creating an even greater worry
for Jed Wilson. Jed stayed by the counter and kept darting frantic
glances out his window where Chogan stood. Finally, Chogan had
enough of the man’s unfounded fears and moved to the next building
along the street. Just what exactly did Jed Wilson think Chogan was
going to do? It was not the Mandan way to seek vengeance. They
desired peace. How could white men live so close to the tribe and
not understand this? The Mandans had made enough concessions to
prove themselves, hadn’t they?

Chogan took a deep breath and slowly exhaled.
He imagined himself by a campfire on one of his fasts where he’d
often sat to close his eyes and take deep breaths to gain a sense
of peace. Except, this time when he imagined the soothing campfire
in his mind, Julia was beside him and he unwittingly recalled the
scent of cooking rabbit on the fire. His anger cooled, and the
tension in his body eased.

He opened his eyes and saw Julia heading his
way. He greeted her with a smile, and when her eyes met his, she
smiled in return.

“Did it go well? Did Jed hire you?” she asked
as soon as she reached him.

“No. He not need me.”

She frowned. “But that Bernard who works for
him can’t stay off the moonshine to save his life, and Lester isn’t
much of a shot. Maybe I should tell Jed how good you are.”

She started toward the butcher shop, but he
wrapped his hand around her elbow and stopped her. “No. I not work
there.” The determined expression on her face warmed his heart. She
cared for him enough to be angry on his behalf. The last of his
anger subsided. “I work other place.”

Her eyebrows furrowed in a way that he
thought looked absolutely charming on her. “Well...” She glanced at
the shop and tapped her foot on the sidewalk for a good three
seconds. Then with a sigh, she said, “Alright. Jed Wilson isn’t
that great of a person anyway. What kind of man wants to have those
kinds of workers? They’d probably all just take advantage of you
since you work hard and they don’t.”