baby made by two half breeds!”
Coltec raised an eyebrow.
"Now why would that be a
problem?" he asked. "Never mind. I think I know. I'll
have a talk with her if you like. Why don't you go
over to the cabin where Trapper is staying? Wolf is
helping him build a little barn.”
“Thanks, but I really should
check in at the
bunkhouse. Maybe Teaspoon will
send me up to
Esperanza for a few days.”
"I wouldn't stray too
far," Coltec chuckled as he
carefully wrapped a special mushroom that he had found
and dried.
“Oh?” Buck
looked a little more hopeful. “Well,
if
anyone can convince her, you can, Hoyoka. She
reveres
your words. Not mine.”
"You are the first man who
has ever touched her in
love, Buck Cross. In the end, that will make you more
special to her than any old, forgetful medicine man.
Now go. Come back in the morning. If all goes well,
she will not ask you to leave again."
Buck nodded, happier inside than
he had ever been. It
would be worth taking some ribbing from the guys over
this, if he got her – all of her – in the end. As
Buck rode off, Coltec made a few preparations, then
went to Shiloh's teepee and scratched on the door flap
before entering. "Shiloh, would you mind assisting me
in something I would like to do tonight since you are
alone?"
“Of course, Hoyoka!” she said
reverently. “I am
always at your service. What is
it you need of me?”
she asked, clearly ready to deny him nothing.
"I need for you to cleanse
yourself in the hot
springs, top to bottom, then wear the white doeskin
dress that you made. When you are ready, come into my
teepee."
“Yes Hoyoka!” Although
what he might ask her to do
could be sexual, she had not made the slightest
complaint. Clearly it was not
that she did not want
to get pregnant, then. It was the
choice of father.
This would have to be rectified.
As she gathered the homemade soap
she had made, and a
sweet smelling cleansing liquid for her hair, Shiloh
ran to the hot springs. Coltec watched her go, then
disappeared into his teepee to make sure everything
was ready. She returned fairly
quickly, not having
dawdled in the springs in case he should become angry
at being made to wait, and then she ducked into her
teepee to dress. The white
doeskin dress was lovely,
with shells decorating the bodice so she made a
pleasant noise when she walked. She
had a matching
pair of high-topped boots, also trimmed with shells,
and a white doeskin thong for her braid, which had
both shells and feathers.
As she walked towards his teepee,
she was pleased with
the tinkling sounds of the tin cones rubbing against
the shells that were fastened on alternate fringes
falling over her lower leg. It was the most beautiful
dress she had ever owned, and she was very proud of
it! Coming up to Coltec, she
bowed respectfully and
said, “I am ready for you, Hoyoka. Tell
me your
desire.”
He looked up from the furs he was
sitting on and
smiled. "You are a very lovely maiden, do you realize
that?" he said as he motioned for her to sit by him on
a white fur.
Her looks had been more of a curse than a joy to her,
but she nodded to him and said, “I am honored you
think so, Hoyoka.”
Once she was in place, he started
to chant, waving his
hands through the smoke rising from the small fire in
the middle of his teepee, sending the tendrils of it
over and around Shiloh's body. After a moment, he
stopped and picked up a cup of steaming hot tea.
"Here. Drink this all down," he said with a soft
smile.
She nodded without hesitation,
taking the cup. Stranger things than this had been done to her as foreplay;
she was not going to refuse him anything. Though,
to be honest, she had not always liked the things men had asked her to drink! They
tended to make one see strange things and wake up with a headache.
This tea tasted of strong herbs
and raspberries, with just a tinge of honey to sweeten it. It was quite good!
A lot better than the white man's whiskey, that was for sure. By the time she
had finished the cup, she was feeling a little odd, like she was watching
everything that went on from a far away distance, a distance that seemed to be
growing steadily. "Don't be afraid," Coltec reassured her. And when
she turned, she saw him by her side, dressed in an outfit of gleaming white
buckskin that seemed to shine in the misty fog that was now surrounding them.
"I'm going to take you on a very special journey."
“I am not afraid,” she said,
though she wondered if he knew she was lying.
The fog seemed to clear a little,
and they were now in a flower filled meadow with tall, majestic mountain peaks
all around them. A feeling of deep peace and calm seemed to overcome her.
Coltec chuckled. "This, little one, is what our people have long termed
the *happy hunting grounds*."
Her eyes were wide as she looked
around. Inside she was wondering,
“Will I ever go back?” but at the same time she was completely at ease
with it, and quite prepared to stay if he asked her to. The
only regret she had was that Buck was not there with her.
"Do not worry," he said.
"It is not your time yet. I
brought you here so that you could finally know in
your heart that the spirits consider you just as much
one of us as any one that is full blood." In response,
a soft chorus seemed to echo off the mountains, and as a warm feeling
seemed to wash over her entire body,
she indeed knew she was not only accepted, but also
loved as a very important part of an immense family.
“Then I am worthy?” she said. “I
am honored, Hoyoka!”
She fell to her knees at his feet,
clearly thinking
she was somehow “okay’d” to have a child of a
full-blooded Indian Brave!
Coltec chuckled. "You are looking in the wrong
direction, little one. Don't look at me, look over
there!" When she turned to see what he was pointing
at, she saw some ancient women bouncing some of the
most beautiful babies she had ever seen on their
knees. "Those can be your children," Coltec whispered
in her ear. "Now tell me, are they full Indian, three
quarters, or half like yourself? Can you tell just by
looking at them?"
She lowered her eyes. “If
they are mine, they can
never be full. Which is why I
have never wanted . . .
I have been lucky that I have not bred before.”
“I would say unlucky,” Coltec
noted. “Your young are
beautiful. Look on them!”
“But they will never be all one
thing. If the father
be white, they will still be part red. If
the father
red . . .”
“Then accept yourself, child. There
is no shame in
it, or you would not belong here. Or
they would not
belong.” He laughed again and
hugged her. "These are
the children you and Buck could have together. Are
they not lovely? And are they not already dearly loved
by the old ones of this place?"
She looked up again. There
were several babies there,
but the largest, a boy, was an inquisitive and lovely
child who was constantly making the old ones smile and
clap their hands. He brought them
frogs, and feathers
from birds, climbing up on this lap, or that, to
explain the treasures he had found. Shiloh
loved him
immediately. “That is our son?”
"Yes," Coltec said.
"A son that you and Buck may bring
to life if you would only allow it." The nut brown
little boy was clad only in a loincloth and moccasins,
and his long black hair was done up in braids. Looking
at him, she would have never been able to tell he had
white blood in him. And yet he
also had signs of both
tribes in him; she could see that with no trouble.
Perhaps it was a mother’s eye. Still,
what she saw,
she liked. He was a perfect
blending of the two
*Indian* parts of she and Buck.
“A combination of both tribes,” she said softly.
"Same, but different. A
Blackfooted Kiowa!”
Coltec laughed. "Both tribes
came from the same place,
you know. A place now called Montana. I have spent
many a pleasant season there."
“Yes! Buck
and I said that, when we met. His
tribe
moved long before he was born, but their origins were
reportedly in the same area as my own!”
As the little boy laid his head
again one woman's
breasts, Shiloh felt an odd stirring inside of her.
She wanted to run to him, to take him in her arms, but
the mists were started to form again. "It's time to
return," Coltec's voice called out of the mists. But
there was also another voice, calling from far away,
and she seemed drawn to it.
“Shi? Are
you okay? Sorry I came back but
the Hoyoka
said . . .” Shiloh opened her
eyes and saw the
beloved face of her lover. The
father of that darling
boy. At least, he would be, if
she let him be! Smiling up at him, she put her arms around his neck
and hugged him to her tightly. Buck
was startled, but
at the taste of her kisses he relaxed into her arms,
and from that moment they never looked back.