T'on Ma (30 page)

When they returned to their camp, Two Hawks' band was smaller than when they left. The soldiers had killed four. There were no horses, either. With nothing to celebrate, the band entered camp quietly. Two Hawks stopped in front of his mother's tipi and dismounted.

"You're back!" Gray Dove exclaimed, smiling up at him. "Come in. Your father will want to talk with you."

Two Hawks went in and sat beside his father.

"You missed a buffalo hunt," Many Deer told him. "We could have used your arrows."

"I'm sorry. I'll be there for the next one."

"I don't see any new horses."

"No. We had some, but they were taken."

"By who? Osage? Kickapoo?"

"Soldiers."

"Soldiers? What do they want with your horses?"

"They didn't want our horses. They wanted us."

Two Hawks related his capture and imprisonment. "They were going to hang all of us. They even built the stand."

"What happened?" Gray Dove couldn't help but interrupt.

"Water Woman helped us escape by giving us a key to the jail."

"What?
Water Woman?"
Gray Dove scowled. Just when she thought she'd heard the last of her, T'on Ma showed up again.

"Yes. She was very brave. It was her husband who caught us."

Many Deer shook his head. "Her husband catches you and takes your horses. He plans to hang you, but she helps you escape?"

"Yes."

"Why? If he is her husband?" Many Deer truly did not understand. He would be well within his rights to beat a wife for such a thing.

"Because she loves me. She has always loved me."

"No. If she loves you, she wouldn't have married another."

"I don't care what you say. She loves me. I know it."

"White people are crazy!" Many Deer exclaimed. "I already knew they were crazy, but this…?"

"It doesn't matter if she loves you or not," Gray Dove reasoned. "She is married to someone else, so you need to find a nice Kiowa girl and get married, too."

Two Hawks smiled at his mother, knowing full well who that 'nice Kiowa girl' was.

"Four of us didn't return," he said to change the subject. "I need to speak with their families."

"Of course. I'll go with you." Many Deer stepped outside with his son and headed to the first family, bearing the sad news.

It was late, the moon already high in the sky. Two Hawks walked away from the camp, knowing he would have to leave early in the morning to protect his village from the soldiers who would inevitably come looking for him. But tonight, he had a few hours of rest, time to himself. As he stood there, he heard someone approach from the camp. Turning, he recognized Corn Flower, even in the night.

"I need to ask you something," she said. "Before you leave again."

"All right." He looked down at her, waiting.

She took his hand, holding it in both of hers, before she spoke. "Iron Crow has asked me to marry him. Before I answer him, I need to be sure of one thing."

"Me?"

"Yes."

"Corn Flower, I have told you before not to wait for me."

"I know. But are you sure? Absolutely sure? Things change."

"I am very sure. I already have a woman. She's not here with me yet. But she will be. So marry Iron Crow. Be happy."

Releasing his hand, Corn Flower stepped closer to him, held his face in both hands and kissed him.

"That is as close to happy as I will ever be, but I won't trouble you about this any more." Taking a few steps back toward the camp, she stopped and turned for a moment. "Be safe." With that, she was gone.

Two Hawks stood beside the river, looking across it to the western horizon. He let his mind return to T'on Ma. Seeing her the first time at the fort exhilarated him, although he wouldn't admit it to her or to anyone. Just the sight of her made his heart jump. And then, to hear that she was still his caused all the anger in him to drain away. All he wanted to do was hold her.

But to have her risk everything to save his life brought a fierceness that he thought he'd lost for good. This fierceness was an unshakable faith, a pre-knowing, that he would find a way to be with her. He must pray and listen to the spirit guides to find the path. But he knew it was there.

"I've got my orders," Liam announced at the supper table one late August night. Since Two Hawks' escape a few months earlier, neither had spoken of him. Lana tried her best to love her husband with all of her heart and Liam tried his best to be content with that.

"Oh, really? Where to?" Lana set his plate down in front of him and put her hand on his shoulder, waiting for the news.

"Boston."

"Boston! That's so far away." Getting her own plate, she sat beside him. "When do you have to be there?"

"In six weeks."

"All right. We'll be ready by then."

"I'll
be ready by then," he corrected her.

"What do you mean?" she asked, her fork paused halfway to her mouth.

"I want you to leave for Atlanta in a few days and go ahead of me. I think Mother had a good idea about you seeing where I lived and meeting my friends. It will help whenever you meet the officers I'll be working with and reporting to in Boston."

"Oh." Lana put her fork down, suddenly not hungry. "It will help
what
exactly?"

"You'll be more familiar with how things are done back east. It's much different than here in Texas."

"I see." Lana looked down at the table, frowning.

"What?"

"I don't want to leave you," she admitted. "I don't know anyone back east."

"You know my family. Well, most of them, anyway."

"But Liam, you
know
how they feel about me."

"This will give them a chance to get to know you better. Plus, they can introduce you to so many important people."

"Oh," she said again, not quite sure who the important people were.

"Lana, you have to realize that when I get out of the Army, I will go into politics. My family has groomed me for this all of my life. You need to know what to do, how to speak and dress, what the current topics are, how to entertain. My mother will be more than happy to teach you all of that."

"When do I have to leave?"

"There's a supply wagon going east to Shreveport day after tomorrow. From there, you can catch a stage to the nearest train, and that will take you to Georgia."

"Day after tomorrow?" Her eyes flashed. "But I need to see my family before I go!"

"Lana, honey, I don't have enough leave coming to take you there for a visit and back."

"Then I'll go by myself!"

"No! Absolutely not!" Liam's voice rose. "There are too many hostiles between here and your family."

"Liam!" She jumped to her feet. "I'm not going
anywhere
without saying goodbye to my family! I may never see them again!"

"There isn't enough time!" Liam stood up as well.

"There would be if I didn't have to go to
Georgia!"
she retorted.

"I
need
you to go to Georgia!"

"And I need to see my family!!" Lana had never been angrier with anyone in her life.

Trying to calm down, Liam lowered his voice. "I'm sorry, sweetheart. But if you're going to have enough time in Georgia to learn all that you need to, you have to leave for Shreveport day after tomorrow."

"I WON'T GO!"
Lana stamped her foot, stomped across the living room, and slammed the bedroom door so hard the windows rattled. Neighbors on either side of the triplex listened in fascination from the comfort of their own kitchens.

Liam stared at the bedroom door in disbelief. Remembering his father-in-law's words on the eve of his wedding, Liam went out in search of a barn. He needed to cuss something awful.

When he returned a few hours later, their uneaten meal had been put away and the kitchen cleaned. The house was dark except for a line of yellow coming from underneath the closed bedroom door.

Liam tapped once and then slowly opened the door. Lana sat propped up in bed, her arms defiantly folded across her chest, her face tear-streaked. She looked at him with sad, resentful eyes.

"Please, Lana. It will mean the world to me if you'll do this. It's for us, for our future." He sat down beside her on the bed.

"But, Liam, my family…!" She burst into fresh tears. Liam pulled her to him, grateful that she let him hold her.

"I know, honey. I know. But that's the way the military works. Everything is on its time, not ours." After a few minutes, she sat up and dried her eyes.

"I tell you what," he smiled and laid his hand on his heart. "I
promise
that I will get your letter to your parents before I leave for Boston, even if I have to pay someone to take it. Will that be all right? Will you go to Shreveport?"

Lana studied his face while she considered his offer. "I suppose," she reluctantly agreed, knowing neither one of them had any choice in the matter.

"All right, then. That's what I'll do." Liam walked to his side of the bed and began to undress. Later, when he reached for her, she turned her back. "Please, no, Liam. I don't feel like it."

Scowling, he slowly withdrew his hand and then, reluctantly, blew out the lamp. There had been more and more of this lately, and he hoped the move would lessen this distance between them.

Lana sat in the back of the wagon, under the canvas, her two suitcases by her feet. Two soldiers sat on the drivers' seat, one holding the reins and the other with his rifle at the ready.

Liam stood behind the wagon, saying goodbye to his wife. "I'll miss you so much, honey," he said, reaching for her. "I already do."

"I don't have to go," she reminded him.

"Yes, you do. But it will pass quicker than you know." He was trying to encourage himself as much as her. "Let me kiss you before you have to leave."

She offered her lips and returned his kiss with real tenderness. "Take care of yourself," she whispered. "I love you."

"I love you!" The wagon jolted into motion, and carried her away from the fort and toward Shreveport. Liam stood there and watched until she was out of sight. It took all he had to keep from running after the wagon and pulling her off. It was going to be a long, lonely, distracted six weeks.

As Lana sat in the back of the wagon, watching the fort grow smaller and smaller in the distance, she couldn't help it. She burst into tears. Why did she have to leave? And, especially, why did she have to go to a place where no one liked her?

It was bad enough when her family left after the weddings to go back to the homestead. But this? There had been no time for her to tell them goodbye, to explain what was happening to her. As she sat in that bumpy, uncomfortable wagon between boxes, crates and her suitcases, her tears turned to anger.

What was she
doing?
Moving clear across the country to a place she'd never been for a husband she shouldn't have married! Would she ever see Texas again? Or her family? And politics? What did she know of politics? How on earth was she supposed to help Liam further
that
career?

With every step the horses took, with every mile that rolled beneath the wagon wheels, she became more and more convinced she was making the mistake of her life. But what could she do? Nothing - at least nothing that she knew of.

The wagon had been on the trail for three days, passing a small, new settlement and a few homesteads along the way. Many places offered them meals in exchange for the rare commodity of cash money. They had just left the settlement when they passed a young woman walking in the same direction along the trail.

As Lana saw her, Lana spoke to her from the back of the wagon. "Where are you going?"

"Anywhere. Just away from here," the woman told her.

Lana looked up at the sky where storm clouds were brewing. "And you're walking?"

"Have to. Don't have a horse."

"Well, we're going to Shreveport. Do you want to ride with us?"

"You and two soldiers?"

"Yes. My husband is an officer for the Army."

"Oh, I see." The woman continued walking alongside the wagon as she considered this offer. "Shreveport, huh? That's a far piece."

"Yes. It is," Lana agreed.

"Think I could find work in Shreveport?"

"I'd imagine if you could find work anywhere, it would be Shreveport."

"All right, then. Thanks!" Without waiting for the wagon to stop, the woman climbed up the back and settled in beside Lana.

"My name is Nan." No sooner had she made this announcement than raindrops began to pound the side of the canvas and raise little bursts of dust on the road.

"Nan. I'm Lana." Lana looked at her new friend. Her dress had been mended several times and was now nothing more than rags held together by patches. The women looked to be about her age. "Hungry?"

"I could eat," Nan admitted.

Once Lana had given Nan food, she broached another subject.

"I have some extra dresses in here," she patted one of her suitcases. "You're more than welcome to change into one. That one looks - well…"

"Looks like it was rode hard and put up sweaty," Nan laughed. "But thanks. I'm all right." A violent jag of lightning lit up the western sky.

Lana pulled out a sweet, light blue dress and shook out the wrinkles. "Are you sure? I bet this would fit you perfectly."

Nan reached out and touched the dress admiringly. "It sure is pretty."

"Well, try it on."

Looking over her shoulder at the soldiers in the front and then back at Lana, she asked, "Do you think they'll peek?"

"No. I'll sit between you and them. How about that?"

Nan nodded and, within a few minutes, sat across from Lana, feeling like a princess in her borrowed dress. "Goodness," Nan smiled, studying Lana, "We could be sisters."

"We do look a lot alike," Lana agreed. "I've got one sister-in-law and three brothers, but no sisters." Thunder clashed and boomed, making them both jump.

"Shouldn't we stop or something?" Nan asked fretfully.