Savage Autumn, page 36
Windhawk touched her face lovingly. “I hope the seed has been planted that will put my child in your body. Then I will know you really are Windhawk’s woman.”
Joanna clamped her hands behind his neck and laughed playfully. “Perhaps we should make sure the deed is done.”
He rolled her over on her back. “How will we do this thing,” he said, smiling.
“If you don’t know, perhaps I can show you. I had a very good teacher.”
He laughed deeply. “I still have many things to teach you.”
“Am I docile like the horse you once compared me to?” she asked lightly.
“No, my flaming-haired one, nor do I want you to be.”
Outside, the wind howled and blew the snow into great snowdrifts. Inside the tent Joanna was warm and cozy, locked in the arms of her tall, dark husband. There were still many unanswered questions between them and Joanna knew that they must each answer to the other before they could find complete happiness.
“Windhawk, when I aimed the rifle at you, I would never have been able to pull the trigger.”
“I know this.”
“When I ran away from you I didn’t really want to go, but felt I had to at the time.”
“I know this also.”
“Do you forgive me?”
“Joanna, as many times as you would come to me and ask forgiveness, that is how many times I would forgive you.”
“I thought when you sent me away you no longer loved me.”
He kissed her forehead. “I could easier stop breathing, than I could stop loving you, Joanna. The reason I sent you away was because I thought you never loved me. I was sorry for how cruelly I had treated you and I thought it was only right that I let you go. Had I known you wanted to stay with me, I would never have let you go.”
She laid her head against his shoulder and traced the scar where the panther had clawed him. “I think we will hold our love all the more precious, since we almost lost it.”
Windhawk buried his face in the thick curtain of red-gold hair. He was unable to speak past the lump in his throat.
“Windhawk, are you sure you never looked at another woman while I was away?”
“I could never be satisfied with the stars once I had touched the sun, Joanna.”
She cupped his face in her hands and laid her cheek next to his. There were no more explanations that were needed between them. There was only one thing that puzzled Joanna.
“Windhawk, how did the bear-claw necklace get in my trunk?”
He smiled. “I put it there.”
“But when? It wasn’t in my mother’s jewel case when I first went to the fort.”
He raised her hand to his lips. “I came to the fort with the intention of finding out if you might still love me.”
“Did you see me?”
“Yes, you were walking with that long knife. I wanted to kill him for touching you, but I did not.”
“When was this?”
“Does it matter?”
“No, I suppose not.”
“Joanna, what did the long knife mean to you?”
Joanna could hear the jealousy in Windhawk’s voice. “Harland was no more than a friend. At one point he did ask me to marry him but I refused, telling him I was married to you.”
“Did he ever touch you as I do?”
“I will be honest with you. I did allow him to kiss me, but the kiss meant nothing. I was too filled with loving you.”
“I don’t like it that he touched his lips to yours, Joanna,” Windhawk said, rubbing his lips against hers, as if to erase any trace or memory left by the long knife.
“Windhawk, there will never be any cause for you to be jealous. I have never loved anyone but you.”
His arms tightened about Joanna, and they both drifted off to sleep, knowing they had found a pure and lasting love.
The next afternoon when Joanna rode into the village beside her husband, she was quickly surrounded by happy, smiling faces.
Windhawk helped her dismount, and before she could turn around, Morning Song grabbed her and hugged her tightly.
“Joanna, I could not believe it when we heard you had returned,” she beamed.
“I am home to stay, little sister,” Joanna told her. Joanna’s eyes moved to Sun Woman, who was studying her quietly. Everyone seemed to be waiting for Windhawk’s mother’s reaction to Joanna’s return.
Joanna looked for some sign of welcome from Windhawk’s mother. Suddenly, the old woman’s face eased into a smile and she took Joanna’s hand.
“It is good to have you home, my daughter.”
Joanna slid her arm around Sun Woman’s shoulder. “It is good to be home, my mother,” she said, as happiness flooded her soul.
Amanda was overjoyed and her face declared her happiness at Joanna’s return. Joanna noticed Tag was receiving the same warm welcome that she was. It was wonderful to see the genuine love reflected on the faces that surrounded them.
Suddenly Joanna could feel other eyes watching her. She looked over the head of Gray Fox’s wife, White Dove, and saw an old Indian woman staring at her. The old woman had not come forward with the others to welcome her. The crowd opened up as Joanna approached the old woman. She looked at a face which was wrinkled with age, and hair that had long been gray. She noticed the gnarled hands that had so tenderly treated her when she had been so ill.
“She Who Heals, I would know you anywhere.” Joanna reached out and lovingly touched the wrinkled face. She felt tears in her eyes when she saw the old woman’s eyes moisten.
“Flaming-haired-one, my eyes tell me that you are no longer blind,” She Who Heals said in a choked voice.
“That is true, my friend. I was told that it was because of your care, that I am able to see.”
Windhawk came up and stood beside Joanna. She was his woman and they would start their new life together on a firm foundation. At last their love had breached the gap between their two worlds. There might be times in the future when they would have different views, but Windhawk welcomed that. Joanna would stand up for whatever she believed in, and he knew he would not want her to be any other way. She would walk beside him as his woman!
Joanna looked up into his face and could almost read what he was thinking. His midnight-black eyes caressed her face lovingly.
She Who Heals laughed. “I think it will not be long until there will be a little one around the chief’s lodge.”
Joanna’s face flushed, and Windhawk’s eyes flashed. Taking Joanna’s hand, he led her to their tipi where they could be alone.
Inside the tipi, she went readily into his arms. Her heart was soaring as she saw the gleam in her husband’s eyes. She had no regrets. She had tested fate and come out the winner. She had touched the wind and had been caught up in a whirlwind.
She would always be sad over the loss of her father, mother and Franny. There was a part of her that would always feel grief at their passing. They had each played a part in molding her into the woman she was today, and for that, she would always be grateful.
“I love you, Windhawk,” she whispered. “I will always love you.rd;
Windhawk’s eyes flamed and he caught her close to him. He was a man who held the world in his arms. The tiny flaming-haired girl belonged to him. He no longer felt the restlessness within her. Today there would be a council meeting and Joanna’s name would be changed to Flaming Hair, but in private he would continue to call her Joanna, as he was sure many of his people would.
Tag looked toward the eastern horizon. There was a restlessness deep inside him. He was not unhappy, but this unrest kept gnawing at his insides. He would tarry for a while with his sister and her husband, but someday he would return to Philadelphia.
He had an old score to settle. He wasn’t impatient to grow up. What he had to do would wait until he became a man.
Tag heard Windhawk’s voice calling out to him, and he returned to the present. Seeing Joanna and Windhawk were going for a ride, his face brightened.
“Can I go too?” he asked eagerly.
“Yes, come little brother,” Windhawk told him.
Tag bounded onto his horse and rode beside his sister and her husband. He knew Windhawk could each him many things. He could feel Joanna’s and Windhawk’s love reach out to him. The time to live was now; tomorrow would wait.
Joanna smiled as she rode beside her tall, handsome husband. Never had the future shone brighter. She felt his eyes on her and glanced up at him. The look he gave her spoke of his deep love for her. Her skin might be white, but inside she felt like an Indian. She was Windhawk’s woman.
Other Leisure books by Constance O’Banyon:
SAVAGE SUMMER
SAVAGE SPRING
SAVAGE WINTER
WOLF RUNNER
WIND WARRIOR
ENCHANTRESS
COMANCHE MOON RISING
DESERT PRINCE
DAUGHTER OF EGYPT
SWORD OF ROME
LORD OF THE NILE
HAWK’S PURSUIT
HAWK’S PLEDGE
THE MOON AND THE STARS
HEART OF TEXAS
MOON RACER
THE AGREEMENT (SECRET FIRES)
RIDE THE WIND
SOMETHING BORROWED, SOMETHING BLUE (Anthology)
TYKOTAS WOMAN
FIVE GOLD RINGS (Anthology)
SAN ANTONIO ROSE
TEXAS PROUD
CELEBRATIONS (Anthology)
Copyright
A LEISURE BOOK®
September 2010
Published by
Dorchester Publishing Co., Inc.
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Copyright © 1984 by Constance O’Banyon
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Constance O'Banyon, Savage Autumn
