Savage Skies (14 page)

“That is because my
ahte
is
gauche
, chief,” Little Bee said proudly. She leaned a little away from him so that she could give him a wide smile as she gazed into his eyes.

Blue Thunder laughed softly as he returned her loving gaze.

A voice speaking his name from beyond the entrance flap drew Blue Thunder's attention from this special moment with his daughter. He regretted that it had been brought to an end all too soon.

He recognized the voice.

It was Two Moons, one of his most favored warriors.

“Little Bee, I must go and see what brings Two Moons in search of me,” Blue Thunder said, gently placing her on her feet.

He bent low and kissed her cheek. “Play with your new doll while I am gone,” he encouraged as he stepped away from her. “She needs a big hug, do you not think so?”

Little Bee giggled and nodded her head, then hurriedly picked the doll up and gave it a hug.

Blue Thunder stepped outside. “Two Moons, what brings you to my aunt's lodge?” he asked, concerned when he saw his warrior's serious expression.

“One of our scouts has come to have council with you, my chief,” Two Moons said. “He says that he might have news of the child. He is waiting for you in the council house.”

Blue Thunder's pulse raced at the thought of possibly hearing something that might lead him to Shirleen's daughter.

He would enjoy seeing Shirleen's reaction when he put the child into her loving arms.

“
Pila-maye
, thank you, Two Moons,” Blue Thunder said, walking away from him. He could not arrive quickly enough at the council house, where the scout awaited his arrival.

When he stepped inside, he hurried over to where his scout Proud Horse stood beside the lodge fire. Proud Horse turned quickly to receive Blue Thunder's manly embrace.

Blue Thunder stepped away from Proud
Horse and gestured with a hand toward the pelts beside the fire. “Sit,” he said, sitting down himself as Proud Horse made himself comfortable. “Now tell me what news you have brought to me about the child.”

“My chief, when I was at Fort Dennison this morning, questioning the people there, I saw a white man with his daughter, who is four winters of age, the same age the white woman said her daughter was,” he explained. “He was bragging about how he had duped his wife by stealing the child from her. He said that he was now waiting for the next riverboat so that he could take his daughter far away from her mother. That riverboat should arrive after one more sunrise.”

“Was the name of the child spoken?” Blue Thunder asked, trying to hold down his eagerness to leave and see if the child truly was Shirleen's daughter. If so, he would not return to this village without her!

“
Ho
, the
ahte
spoke the name Megan to his white friends,” Proud Horse said, drawing a quiet gasp and then a broad smile from Blue Thunder.

He knew now that everything was going to happen as he had prayed it would.

He would rescue the
micinski
.

He would then pursue a way to make Shirleen his
mitawin
, his wife!

He would not allow the husband to stand in the way of his need for this woman. He wanted her so badly, his heart ached for her to be in
his arms, their lips touching tenderly as they shared that first, wondrous kiss.

Ho
, he would find a way, for when he wanted something as much as he wanted this woman, nothing would stand in his way!

Up until now he had been a patient man.

Well, his patience had just left him!

Oh! Who would inhabit
This black world alone?

—Moore

Knowing just how anxious Shirleen was about her daughter's welfare, Blue Thunder hurried from the council house to his tepee. He stopped just outside the entrance flap.

He suddenly realized that Shirleen might not be completely happy about his news. Yes, she would be jubilant that her
micinski
was alive, and not held by the murderous renegades.

But she could also be filled with dread that Megan might not be rescued soon enough and her husband could get on the riverboat and disappear with Megan for the rest of her life.

Shirleen would also surely be filled with more hate for her husband than she felt already. It would be awful to learn that he had been planning to abduct his daughter for some time, just waiting for the right opportunity, and had finally found it.

Surely he had somehow discovered Shirleen's
plan to leave him and to take his daughter away from him.

From all that Blue Thunder now knew about the man, he had not abducted Megan out of love for her, but out of spite for the woman who was her mother. He had taken the child to retaliate against Shirleen's plan to leave him.

Blue Thunder urged Proud Horse to finish his story quickly. He wanted to leave soon for the fort, to rescue the child before the man could board the riverboat.

From what Proud Horse told him, there was still time to get to the fort, because the riverboat was not expected to arrive until after one more sunrise.

Blue Thunder knew the spot where the riverboat landed, because he had been curious about this large canoe that traveled from place to place. He had gone more than once to watch it from a hidden place, where no whites would see him.

The riverboat had what were called “paddlewheels.” He'd been fascinated by how they turned constantly in the river, water dripping from them, churning and splashing into the huge wake that was left behind by the boat.

He had studied the people aboard the boats. He had seen that most were white pony soldiers, because he recognized their attire.

He had often also seen women and children with white men who wore no soldier attire. He knew that these were more settlers coming to
this land that had once belonged solely to the red man.

At that time, Blue Thunder had resented them all.

But now?

He had found one white-skinned person that he would never resent, only love.

He looked over his shoulder at his warriors, who were already in their personal corrals behind their tepees, readying themselves for the journey to Fort Dennison.

Having waited long enough, perhaps even too long, since he knew Shirleen would want the news quickly, he brushed the entrance flap aside.

He stepped inside his lodge and found Speckled Fawn there talking to Shirleen.

Realizing that Speckled Fawn cared for Shirleen, he decided to include her in what he was about to reveal to the woman he now loved with every beat of his heart.

Soon he would reveal his feelings to Shirleen, just as soon as the child was rescued and brought to her mother.

He would not think otherwise.

Both Shirleen and Speckled Fawn looked up at Blue Thunder at the same moment. He continued to stand in the entrance, without coming farther into the lodge.

Shirleen's heart skipped a beat, for she saw something in Blue Thunder's expression that told her he had come there with news, and . . . surely it was news of her daughter.

As somber as he was, her heart now sank. Oh, surely, dear Lord, the news
was
about her beloved Megan and surely it was not good!

She rushed to her feet and went to stand directly before Blue Thunder.

She looked pleadingly into his eyes, yet she was now truly afraid to hear what he had to say.

If it was bad news about her daughter, if he was going to tell her that Megan was dead, she would want to die, too!

Seeing how distraught his silence was making Shirleen, realizing that he should not have hesitated before telling her the news, Blue Thunder gripped her softly by her shoulders and returned her steady gaze.

He did not smile, for he was not sure how Shirleen would receive the news.

She would be most definitely torn between conflicting feelings.

“News has been brought to me about a child,” Blue Thunder said, stiffening when Shirleen gasped and went suddenly pale.

“She is alive,” he rushed out, knowing that was the most important part of this news he had brought her.

He realized he had gone about telling her in the wrong way. He should have told her that Megan was alive the moment he stepped into the lodge.

But now he had to tell her the rest of it, and as he did this, he watched her eyes take on a different hue. And her cheeks suddenly bloomed with
a flush that was surely caused by anger toward her husband.

“How could he have done this?” Shirleen cried as she gazed into Blue Thunder's dark eyes. “Why didn't I see signs that he was planning to take Megan away?”

She hung her head. “Oh, dear Lord,” she said in a much lower tone. “Oh, surely he found the bags and supplies beneath the bed. He knew from that what I had planned, and beat me to it. He took Megan away before I could leave, myself, with her. He was never even planning to go to the fort to trade!”

A sudden hot rage filled her very being.

She stepped away from Blue Thunder so that his hands were no longer on her shoulders. She had been keenly aware of the warmth of his hands, which had penetrated the doeskin fabric of her dress right into her flesh.

She had loved that tingling warmth, reveling in the gentleness of his hands. But now she had something very different on her mind. She had to find a way to rescue her daughter from a father whose heart was cold toward Shirleen, and who might have taken revenge for what she had been planning to do by stealing her precious child!

She doubled her hands into tight fists at her sides. “The fiend,” she said, her voice catching. “He doesn't love Megan enough to care for her as she should be cared for! How dare he! No . . . child . . . should be without her mother!”

Speckled Fawn rose to her feet and went to Shirleen. She placed a gentle hand on her arm and turned Shirleen to face her. “No matter why he did this, Shirleen, we must waste no more time talking about it,” she said, her eyes filled with hatred for a man who could be so cruel to a sweet woman like Shirleen.

Beating a defenseless woman was a crime that God would never forgive!

And then there was the child.

Oh, surely she was scared to death being away from her mother, especially after having witnessed her papa beat her mother so often. Megan surely expected to be beaten, herself, whenever the man had a mind to do it.

Speckled Fawn looked more intently into Shirleen's eyes. “Dear, you know that your daughter is with a demon,” she said. “Show Blue Thunder what he did to you. Your back, Shirleen. Turn and show him . . . your back.”

Her emotions were so raw that tears stung her eyes as Shirleen gazed at Speckled Fawn. Then she turned slowly to Blue Thunder, whose eyes were filled with questions about what Speckled Fawn had just asked Shirleen to do.

Remembering how gentle Blue Thunder had been to her from the very moment of her rescue, Shirleen turned her back to him and slowly lowered the bodice of her doeskin dress, so that the scars on her back were revealed to him.

She did not even feel awkward at exposing so much of her body to this man, for soon she hoped to be with him fully unclothed. She longed to discover what true lovemaking was all about.

Always when Earl had gone to bed with her, she had clenched her teeth and trembled until he was done with her. She had grown to hate those nightly duties.

But now she looked forward to the time when she would discover the wonders of joining her body with a man.

With Blue Thunder.

Shirleen heard Blue Thunder gasp and knew that he was horrified by what he saw, as horrified as she always was to know that she was scarred like that for life.

Blue Thunder could hardly hold his rage when he saw what that heartless man had done to this woman, a woman who was so tiny, so fragile and defenseless. She could never have fought back, or she would have died trying.

His heart ached for Shirleen. Now he knew something else he must do besides finding her daughter. He would punish the white man who had dared to raise a hand to her. Blue Thunder reached out for Shirleen, gently pulled her dress back up on her shoulders, then turned her to face him.

He framed her beautiful face between his hands as he gazed into eyes the color of grass. “My woman, my woman,” he said thickly. “I
will go for your daughter. I will bring her home to you.”

Then with overflowing emotion, he brought Shirleen into his gentle, loving embrace.

Shirleen felt a warmth, a passion, rush through her that she had never before felt. She was elated to hear him call her his woman, and to know that he was going to bring Megan “home.” Already he saw Megan and Shirleen as a part of his life.

And then there was the way he was lovingly holding her in his arms.

She leaned her cheek against his powerful, bare chest, inhaling the smell of him that was now so familiar to her.

It was a mixture of clean, sweet, river water and the outdoors, the kind of wondrous aroma that she had scented on a beautiful spring morning in Boston.

For a moment, she was lost in his embrace. She was not even thinking of the cruelties of life, but only how happy she was that this wonderful man cared about her, and in turn, her daughter!

If he did succeed in bringing Megan back to her, oh, what a wonderful father he would be to her daughter. She knew that she was going to marry this man, even though by law she was still married to a demon.

She knew that God was a good, understanding God, and he would understand that she must break the vows she had spoken with Earl, a man she'd truly never known.

After that first beating, she had learned the truth, that he was the sort of man who saw women as nothing more than punching bags.

She believed that God would bless her union with this man, Blue Thunder, who truly did seem to cherish her.

So, too, would he cherish her daughter, for who could not? Megan was the sweetest, loveliest child on the earth!

But thinking of Megan again and where she now was, Shirleen's eyes filled with tears.