Meet the New Dawn (46 page)

Men stared but did not move as a guard took her through the gate, watching all of them warily. “Wolf’s Blood!” the man called out harshly. “Front and center, wherever you are!”

A moment later a man appeared from behind an outhouse. He was tall, still handsome, but as dirty as the others, his hair nearly to his waist and dusty. Abbie felt an awful pain in her stomach. So thin! He was so thin! The hard muscle was still there, but there seemed to be no extra flesh around it. His face was thin, but the eyes! Everything about him was Zeke, and it took her breath away. It had been so long since she had seen him—so long since she was so cruelly awakened to the memory.

He stared at her in near shock, walking closer to study her. “Mother?” he asked, obvious surprise in his voice. The dark eyes were suddenly angry. “What in God’s name are you doing in this stinking place?”

Her eyes teared. “Wolf’s Blood!” she whispered. She stepped closer, touching his arm, while the guard watched in near shock himself. He had been told this lovely white woman had a son here, but found it difficult to believe that this wild-looking Indian could be related to her at all.

Wolf’s Blood jerked back. “Go away!” he hissed.

Her eyes widened. “What are you saying? I’ve … come to take you out of here, Wolf’s Blood.”

“And I cannot go!”

Her heart pounded with dread. “Of course you can go! I have papers—”

He stepped closer. “You would have me singled out, just because I carry white blood? No! I will not use my white blood to be treated more special than my friends here! I will not leave them!”

She sucked in her breath, scrambling to think fast. She had not expected this. Wolf’s Blood! Her son! He turned to walk away, and she strutted up behind him, grasping his arm and jerking on it, making him turn back to face her.

“How dare you!” she declared, her anger and stubbornness rising then. “Do you know what I’ve been through trying to find you? Do you know how strenuous this trip was? And have you forgotten your promise to me? You said you would come back! You promised!”

His eyes teared. “That was before Sonora was murdered in front of my eyes, and my son and daughter dragged from our home! I have not seen them in years! For all I know they are dead.”

“They are alive!” she retorted. “I have seen them! They are waiting right now at Bosque Redondo, and I will get them when I return and take them north with me—and their father!”

He swallowed. “Kicking Boy—and Iris? They are alive? Well?”

“Yes, my son. Please come home.”

His eyes hardened again. “I cannot. I would feel like a traitor using my white blood that way.”

“Damn you!” she blurted out in desperate pleading. “You’re acting just like your father those times when he suddenly thought I would be better off without him. Why do you have to be so damned much like him?” Tears began slipping down her cheeks. “Look at me, Wolf’s Blood! I am your mother. I’m not getting any younger. Don’t think of it as being singled out or treated special because of your blood. Think of it as doing something for your mother before she dies. I’ve spent most of my life always wondering about you—my firstborn, my son, my precious Wolf’s Blood! You’re the replica of your father, and now he is gone. I need you. I’ve let you wander and fight and do what you thought was right all these years. All I am asking now is for a few years back—a little time to have my son with me! I’ve lost so much. I don’t think I could bear going back without you! I can’t go on losing and losing, Wolf’s Blood! Please come back with me, son. Help me pick up the pieces.”

He waved his arm around the circle of destitute men. “All of
the pieces are here—right here in this prison. Look at them! Helpless! Lost! Alone! Their families murdered, raped, imprisoned, separated! Once these were men—fighting men—strong and brave and powerful! Now they are treated like pigs! They have no strength to go on. And worse than that, they have no pride left!”

“My God, Wolf’s Blood, do you think I don’t know what’s happened? Do you think for one minute I don’t understand and sympathize? For much of my life I lived among them! Cheyenne, Apache, what does it matter? The same thing has happened to all of them. And I was married to one! I watched a great part of him die when the People were brought to their knees. When that happened, I knew he would die too. Don’t you stand there and preach to me, my son! I already know! And I am tired and beaten. I need you. Please, do this one thing for your mother! If you don’t leave with me, I swear to God I’ll stay right here! I’ll live in the same filth, eat the same slop, and die of disease right beside you! I swear by my God!”

His heart ached for her. He saw a desperate panic in her eyes, and her words were spoken in near hysterics. Mother. His precious mother, whom he had always loved so deeply, in spite of the fact that she was a white woman. This was his father’s chosen woman. He knew how she had suffered at the hands of Garvey and his men, knew her strength, knew all she had been through over the years. Perhaps there was not much time left for her, for although she was beautiful and well-preserved, she was still getting on in years. After all, wasn’t he forty himself?

He grabbed hold of her, for she looked like she might pass out. The guard shoved a rifle barrel into his side and told him to get his hands off the white woman. Wolf’s Blood, always quick to anger, pulled her aside, clenching his fists. “She is my mother!” he growled. “I only thought she might faint!”

The guard’s eyes squinted. “Mother or not, she’s white, and it’s been a long time since you or any of these other bucks have seen a pretty woman!”

The horrible suggestion in the remark brought fury to Abbie’s soul, and Wolf’s Blood himself had never felt so much anger and hatred. But Abbie’s motherly instincts made her act
more quickly, for if her son made one move toward the guard he would surely be shot. She darted in front of Wolf’s Blood and pushed up on the rifle, then kicked the guard hard in the leg. He let out a yelp of surprise, and Abbie yanked the rifle from his hands while he was momentarily stunned. She walked over to a large rock, holding the rifle by the barrel, and she hit the stock over and over on the rock until the rifle broke. Her anger had brought on a strength and fury she had never felt before.

Abbie turned to face the stunned guard, who just gaped at her. She walked back up to him, her eyes flashing, and handed him the broken rifle.

“If I were not so desirous of getting my son out of here and getting back to my grandchildren, I would have used that rifle on you, you filthy scum!” she growled at him. “How dare you utter such garbage from that foul, stinking mouth! You are not worth all the men sitting here inside this fence, and I highly doubt you have ever come near being the brave and fearless men they once were, you smelly, fat-bellied bastard!”

The man swallowed and stepped back. He didn’t take the rifle so she threw it on the ground. A few of the Indian men grinned, making comments among themselves about the spunky white woman who showed no fear.

“Why don’t you just leave!” Abbie hissed at the guard. “I’m not afraid of one man here! I would rather stay locked up with all these Indians than be caught alone in a room with you. Don’t you touch my son again, and don’t you dare touch me!”

The man’s eyes moved over her, and he scratched his chin. He had no rifle now, and he did not like the way the Indians stared at him. He could feel them laughing at the fat white man who had been kicked by a woman. He wanted very much to insult her severely, for surely she had slept with an Indian or her son would not be one. But he could tell by the eyes that were on him now that he dare not call her a dirty name or touch her. He turned and stalked out, grumbling something about sending in more guards and that she had better get herself out of there. He closed and locked the gate, and Abbie turned back to Wolf’s Blood, who stood there grinning. Oh, how he looked
like Zeke when he smiled! The same handsome, provocative grin that had won her heart so many years ago.

“So, you have not changed at all,” he told her. “I think what Father liked about you was the challenge of conquering you at all, of winning one argument with you.”

Her eyes teared again. “How wonderful to see you smile, Wolf’s Blood.” She stepped closer again. “Please come home. Surely you want to see Kicking Boy and Iris, and they want to be with their father again. You owe it to your son and daughter to come home. And you made me that promise, Wolf’s Blood.”

He sighed deeply. That he could not deny. His son, and his precious Iris! They had been taken from him so long ago he had long given up ever seeing them again, doubting they even lived. And they were the product of his love for Sonora—precious, beautiful, devoted Sonora, who had died trying to protect her children. Would he ever love a woman again? He placed a hand on her shoulder. No. One did not argue with this mother of his.

“What about the ranch?” he asked. “Is that where you will go?”

She wiped at her eyes. “I don’t think so. I visited there, on the way down to New Mexico, and we can stop there so you can see Margaret and Ellen before we go to Montana. But now that I have been away, Wolf’s Blood, I know that I cannot go back there to stay. It’s still … too painful. Too much of him is there, and my life there can never be as it once was. I am certain one day we will all gather there for a nice reunion, in your father’s memory. But I can’t live there anymore. It’s Margaret’s and Morgan’s now. But you may live there if you wish.”

He shook his head. “No. I cannot go back either. There are many things I cannot go back to. I will go with you, Mother, to Montana, closer to the place where once I rode in war with my uncle Swift Arrow. Is he well?”

She blushed slightly. “The last I saw him he was. He visited me only once, after I had been up there several years. For some reason he stays away.”

He sighed. “And you do not know why?”

She raised her eyes to meet his. “I’m … afraid to know.”

He studied her eyes and nodded. “But you do know, don’t you?”

She looked away. “I don’t want to talk about that. Please. Come with me now, Wolf’s Blood.”

He led her to the gate. “You go and wait at the guardhouse. Who brought you here?”

“Your uncle Dan. Bonnie is dead now, Wolf’s Blood. I think this trip has been good for Dan. If not for him, I could not have accomplished any of this. I have him to thank. And his daughter came also.”

Wolf’s Blood felt a rush of blood to his brain and he actually tingled. “Jennifer?” he asked carefully. “She is … here?”

Abbie caught the look and was surprised. “Yes. She lives with Dan now—she and her little girl. She’s been widowed for quite some time. When we told her we were coming to get you, she—” She stopped short, seeing the eagerness in his eyes. She was astounded. She had never thought her son had given Jennifer a second thought after meeting her all those years ago at Fort Laramie. He put a hand to his hair.

“Will you do me a favor, Mother? Take her away from here—to the hotel or wherever you are staying. Have Dan stay—with some clothes. He can help me find a place to wash. I … I do not want anyone to see me this way. And give me a little time here, with my friends, to say good-bye.”

She touched his face. “Thank you, Wolf’s Blood.” She choked back tears as she turned and quickly left, her heart full of love and gratefullness—and her mind raging with curiosity at his reaction to Jennifer’s name. She was well aware that it was only for Jennifer that he wanted to clean up before meeting them.

The trip home found all of them quiet. Much was behind them now, and somehow they must all pick up the shattered pieces of their lives and finish out their years. Wolf’s Blood’s sullen, silent mood was soon broken by unending questions from Jennifer, who babbled as though she were twelve years old again, her eyes alight whenever they fell on the handsome
Wolf’s Blood. He in turn found her amusing, refreshing, beautiful—disturbingly beautiful. Did he dare give in to his amorous thoughts of her—thoughts he had had for years, thoughts that had emerged every once in a while? After all, she was not only a cousin—although not as direct as most cousins—but she was also a white woman. Perhaps because their fathers had had different mothers, there was a way.… He shook off the thought and answered her endless questions about Indians, watching her full lips as she spoke, studying the provocative green eyes, taking in her fine shape and seeing in her a woman of substance and devotion.

But he could not help thinking of Sonora, beautiful Sonora. So much was gone. He had hated the railroads as much as any Indian, yet now he rode on a train. At least he was a passenger, rather than riding in the cattle car he had been shoved into when shipped to Florida. He wondered if he could ever be happy again, after seeing what had happened to the Apaches, remembering Sonora’s savage killing at the hands of soldiers. How twisted and confused his life had been, moving in and out of his white and Indian worlds. At least he would see his son and daughter again. Somehow he must pick up the pieces, as his mother had said, and at least be a father to his children, although they were already half grown. The first thing he would do was start going for rides with Kicking Boy, as they had done when the child was small, and as Wolf’s Blood had done with his own father so many years ago. Riding! Riding on the free wind. Yes, at least the wind was still free.

Jennifer interrupted his thoughts again with still another question, her green eyes dancing. He wondered if she knew how much she disturbed him.

Across from them Abbie sat resting, her eyes closed. Her brief nap was disturbed when she felt a hand close around her own, and she opened her eyes and turned to face Dan, who was watching her closely. “I want to talk to you, Abbie,” he told her, “about something I’ve been putting off.”

She felt her face flushing and she looked at her lap. “Yes?”

“Maybe we should get married,” he said quietly.

She looked at him in surprise. “Married?” He was so
handsome—a good man, strong and sure like Zeke. But still … she looked back at her lap. “Dan, I know you have feelings for Rebecca Moon. I’ve watched how you look at her, seen your eyes light up when you talk to her. I … don’t want you marrying me … out of some kind of duty. Nor could I marry you just because you’re lonely and want a wife again.”