Savage Courage (14 page)

Hand in hand, they walked to the pond and sat down beside it. They started talking, Fawn’s words tumbling over each other as she poured out her story.

“I was shot by the white man’s bullet, but it was not a mortal wound,” Fawn said, reaching a quivering hand to Shoshana’s face and slowly running it over her beautiful features. “After the pony soldiers left, I became conscious. I looked around and you were gone. My heart broken, but not my spirit, I managed to get to my feet. I . . . I . . . checked to see if anyone else was alive. I was the only one . . . apart from you . . . who survived that tragedy.”

“And then where did you go?” Shoshana asked, not able to get enough of looking at her mother. She could look beyond the wrinkles and see her mother as she had been on that day they were separated.

Beautiful.

Entrancingly beautiful.

“I wandered alone, getting weaker each day as I lost more blood from my wound,” Fawn said, her voice breaking. “And then one day a young brave found me. He brought me here, where I have made my home ever since.”

“That young brave was Storm,” Shoshana said, her voice breaking.

“Yes, it was Chief Storm,” Fawn murmured. She reached for Shoshana and hugged her. “But my voice would not come to me. I could not speak. I could not tell him about your disappearance.” She hung her head. “I did not want to think of what might have happened to you. I . . . I . . . made my home with Chief Storm and his people, but I never forgot you.”

“Mother, Mother,” Shoshana said, again embracing Fawn.

“You kept your Indian name although you lived with whites,” Fawn said. “How can that be?”

“I was allowed to keep my name because the woman who raised me thought it pretty,” Shoshana murmured. “Just as you were unable to speak, for many years I was unable to remember anything but my name. But when I did begin to remember, it became my goal to return to the home of my ancestors. I . . . I . . . had seen in my dreams that you were alive. I had to try to find you.”

“I want to know everything about where you have been, and how life has treated you in the white world,” Fawn said softly.

“I shall tell you everything,” Shoshana murmured. She took her mother’s bony hands and began the long tale that had brought her finally to this place with her beloved mother.

“
Ina
, I was treated like a princess,” Shoshana murmured. “But,
Ina
, this princess has come home . . . home to
you
.”

Last night, ah, yesternight,
Betwixt her lips and mine,
There fell thy shadow.

—Ernest Dowson

Storm knelt beside the bed of blankets and pelts upon which Shoshana had slept. He saw the distinct outline that she had left there before rising. In his mind’s eye, he could still see her tempting body with its lovely, delicious curves.

His heart beat faster as he slowly reached a hand out to touch the imprint. Then, feeling foolish that he had let this woman affect him so much, he quickly drew his hand away.

But his heart would not stop its fierce beating. Nor would his mind wander elsewhere.

He had watched her sleep. He had hungered to kiss her lovely, full, voluptuous lips. He had even ached to kiss her closed eyelids.

He had successfully fought off those temptations. But now?

He could not help himself. He reached his hand again to the bed and slowly ran it across the imprint, somehow feeling as though he were touching her.

“No!” he said aloud, jerking his hand away. He knew that what he was doing was foolish, yet he had feelings for Shoshana that he could not ignore.

But he also knew that succumbing to temptations like this would cause his people to lose faith in the strength they had always seen in their leader . . . their
chief
.

His jaw tight, his hands doubled into fists at his sides, he rose quickly from the blankets, and then kicked at them as frustration got the best of him.

He gazed toward the closed entrance flap. It dawned on him that Shoshana and No Name had been gone too long. What if they had met with some danger?

Grabbing his rifle, he left the tepee at a run.

He ignored the people who stopped and stared as they saw him leave in such haste with a worried look on his face.

He ignored the young brave who always stood ready to bring him his steed. The boy scurried out of
the way when Storm ran past him without even a nod of hello.

He ran on until he caught a glimpse of Shoshana through a break in the trees. To his astonishment, she and No Name were sitting beside the water, their hands clasped as they talked and smiled and even sometimes cried.

“What is this?” he whispered to himself. “What has happened?”

And No Name was talking! What had brought her voice back to her?

He moved stealthily onward, making sure that the women did not hear him. A little distance from the clearing he stopped to observe them.

He was truly puzzled by No Name’s behavior. Since the day of her rescue, she had never spoken, not even enough to say her name.

What she was saying now warmed his heart, though. She was telling Shoshana that he, Chief Storm, was kind and considerate, that he and his young friends had been so brave that day when they found her wandering alone and thirsty and hungry. They had saved her, when it would have been so much easier to leave her to die beneath the hot rays of the afternoon sun.

Then his heart skipped a beat and his eyes widened when he heard No Name call Shoshana her daughter. He heard Shoshana address No Name as Fawn in the Apache tongue.

Then he gasped quietly when he saw Shoshana suddenly embrace No Name, whom he now knew as Fawn.

He was absolutely stunned. Somehow fate had reunited mother and daughter.

His heart was warmed by the sight, and it was at this moment, as he watched the heartfelt reunion and witnessed Shoshana’s sweetness, that he knew he could no longer deny the deep loving feelings he had for her.

He wasn’t sure what to do now—turn and leave them undisturbed with their sudden happiness, or . . .

When he stepped closer and his moccassined feet broke a twig in half, Shoshana turned and discovered him standing there.

He did not have time to say anything. Shoshana leapt to her feet and ran to fling herself into his arms.

“Thank you, oh, thank you,” she cried as she clung to him. “Thank you, Storm, for allowing me to come to your stronghold.” She stepped away and gazed at him with tears streaming from her eyes. “Storm, oh, Storm, remember how I said that my dreams had told me my mother was not dead?” she said, a sob catching in her throat. “Oh, Storm, my dreams were right.” She held a hand out toward Fawn. “This is my mother. I am her daughter!”

Again she hugged him.

As she clung to him a moment longer, Storm
wrapped his arms around her. Her body felt so good against his, so
right
, and her eyes were so beautiful as she gazed into his, her voice so sweet, he was speechless for a moment.

Then he took her by the hand and led her back to her mother. He smiled at Fawn. “I heard you addressed as Fawn,” he said gently. “It is good to know your true name at last, and even better to see you with your daughter.”

Fawn rose shakily to her feet and smiled up at Storm. “For many moons I dreamed and prayed to
Maheo
that this moment could be possible,” she said, her voice breaking with emotion. With tears shining in her eyes, she turned to Shoshana. “My dreams told me that I would see and hold my Shoshana again. Today those dreams became reality.”

“I am glad to have had a part in this reunion of the heart,” Storm said, stepping between Fawn and Shoshana, placing an arm around each of their waists. “It is a good day.”

“It is a day I shall never forget,” Fawn said, wiping tears from her eyes. “I knew that
Maheo
would not let me down. I knew that, somehow, this day had to happen. I . . . could . . . not die without first seeing and holding my daughter once again.”

“
Ina
, my dreams kept me close to you always,” Shoshana murmured as she gazed past Storm, her eyes holding her mother’s. “You came to me, ah, so vividly. It was as though we were never parted.”

They sat down and talked and talked as Storm enjoyed seeing the happiness in both women’s eyes.

But then a disquieting thought intruded. He remembered his sister’s premonition . . . her warning about a woman becoming involved with him and his people.

That woman had to be Shoshana! Should he still be wary?

Should he mistrust these feelings he had for her, and those she seemed to have for him?

And what of his plans for vengeance? If she asked to go back to her white world for any reason, and he refused to allow it, she would discover his ulterior motive for bringing her here. How would she feel about him then?

His only hope was that now that Shoshana would wish to remain in his stronghold now that she had found her mother. He knew Fawn would never want to leave the people she had grown to love.

He hoped that Shoshana would gladly live among his people, too. That would mean that he and she would be free to love one another; to eventually marry.

Ho
, he did want a wife after all. But only if he could have Shoshana.

I love your eyes when the
lovelight lies lit with
a passionate fire.

—Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Still in a state of awe that she had found her mother, Shoshana sat beside Fawn’s bed of blankets and pelts and watched her sleep.

It was only now that Shoshana realized her mother was not well. She was frail. She was weak.

The excitement of having found her daughter had drained her of what little strength she seemed to have had.

After arriving at her tepee, Fawn had fallen asleep almost immediately.

Sitting on beautifully dressed deer, bear, and beaver skins, Shoshana realized that her dream had come true almost exactly as she’d envisioned it.

Except for the most mystical part of the dream. No eagle with golden talons had brought her mother back to her. Yet an eagle
had
shown itself in the sky at the very moment of mother and daughter realizing they had found one another.

“It is a miracle,
Ina
,” Shoshana whispered softly as she reached a hand to her sleeping mother’s frail cheek and gently touched it. “Mother, Mother. How I have missed you.” Tears welled up in her eyes. “Yes, it is a miracle,” she said, her voice breaking. “A miracle created by Storm.”

If he had not brought her to his stronghold, Shoshana would never have known the blessing of being with her mother again.

“Thank you, Storm,” she whispered, seeing in her mind’s eye his handsomeness, the gentle look in his midnight-dark eyes. “I love you. I did from the moment I first saw you. And I shall always love you.”

“As I will you,” Storm said from behind her, startling Shoshana so much she leapt to her feet.

She turned to him. “I . . . I . . . didn’t hear you come in,” she said, blushing as she remembered exactly what she had just said.

Ah, but he had heard; he knew now how she felt about him.

And had she heard right? Had he just confessed to loving her?

Could it be true? Did . . . he . . . love her?

“I wanted to come and see how your mother was faring after the excitement of finding her daughter,” Storm said.

He gazed down at Fawn and saw how soundly, how peacefully, she slept. He could even see a slight smile on her lips.

The reason she had lived this long, despite her weakness and illness these past months, was there. Her daughter had come to her!

He turned back to Shoshana and took her hands. “
Nuest-chee-shee
, come with me,” he said thickly. “Your
Ina
will be asleep for a while. Come to my lodge and sit with me beside my fire as you wait for her to awaken.”

“Yes, I would love to,” Shoshana murmured, the touch of his flesh against hers so warm, so wonderful.

She thought over what he had heard her confess, and again recalled how he had responded.

Had he really said he would always love her? Could any of this truly be happening?

She felt as though she were floating on clouds as, hand in hand, she walked with Storm from her mother’s lodge to his. And once they were inside and out of the view of his people, it seemed almost magical to Shoshana how they were drawn into one another’s arms.

When he brought his lips down to hers and gave her a soft, yet passionate kiss, everything within Shoshana melted. She was scarcely aware as he swept her fully into his arms and carried her to his bed of plush pelts and laid her there.

As he knelt down beside her, the look in his eyes awakening a need she had never known before, she reached her hands out for him.

Boldly she spoke what was in her heart.

“I need you,” she murmured, her eyes searching his. “I . . . want . . . you.”

She had never wanted a man before.

She had never met a man like him before.

She had never made love before.

Did he want her as much?

He swept his arms around her and drew her against his muscled chest. His powerful kiss was his response to her question.

As they kissed, they hurriedly undressed each other.

His heart throbbing, the heat in his loins intense, Storm spread himself over Shoshana.

As they continued to kiss, and to touch, and to feel the wonder of each other’s bodies, Shoshana’s head spun with a rapture she knew she would never be able to describe. She clung to him as for a moment his dark, stormy eyes gazed into hers. It was as though he still questioned whether this was what
she truly wanted. He seemed to know that she was a virgin.

“Yes, yes,” she murmured, without his actually saying anything. “I can hardly stand the waiting, Storm. Please, oh, please do make love to me.”

“
With
, not to,” he said huskily. “When we make love, it will be both of us who will enjoy it.”

She smiled, nodded, then drew a ragged breath and closed her eyes when she felt the strength of his manhood against her thigh, and then at her private place where no man had ever been before.