Savage Summer Page 5

  Tag was reading a newspaper, and he laid it aside. “There is a special bloom to your cheeks this morning, Danielle. Did you sleep well?”

  “Yes, Papa. When do we leave for the picnic?”

  “When Joanna and Sky Dancer are ready,” he answered. Pulling her down into his lap, he held her close for a moment. “I’m going to miss you, honey. Tell me, how did you get along with Sky Dancer?”

  “I liked her very well,” Sky Dancer answered, hiding a smile behind her hand.

  “Didn’t I tell you Sky Dancer was wonderful? If you were of a mind to, you could learn some manners from your cousin. She’s special.”

  “Well, I can tell you I was charmed by Sky Dancer,” Alexandria added her views to the conversation.

  “Don’t you think she’s a little savage?” Sky Dancer said offhandedly.

  Tag turned her to face him. “Don’t you ever let me hear you say th—” His eyes widened in shocked surprise as he recognized Sky Dancer. A smile eased his lips into a smile. “Well, perhaps she has a few rough edges,” he said, winking.

  Sky Dancer knew her uncle had recognized her, but he seemed willing to play along with the little game.

  “Tag, how can you say such a thing?” Alexandria cried. “I think she’s lovely.”

  “Yep, I can’t argue with that, can you, Danielle?”

  Sky Dancer’s eyes danced merrily. “I think she is breathtaking.”

  Danielle watched her aunt go about the room gathering up scattered clothing and placing them in the trunk. Lifting a sparkling pink ball gown, she held it against Danielle. “This is lovely. I wish I could be in Philadelphia when you wear it.”

  “I would rather wear my buckskins, Mother. Will you not take me back home with you?”

  “We have already discussed this, Sky Dancer. Besides, I’m looking forward to getting to know Danielle better.”

  “Do you like her?”

  “I love her.”

  “But do you like her?”

  “I’m sure when I get to know her better, I will like her very much. I suspect she can be a very charming young lady.” Joanna folded the pink gown, and carefully placed it in the trunk.

  “Come, it’s time to go. Your uncle will be wondering what’s keeping us.”

  The picnic was being held in the woods so Windhawk could be with them. Joanna and Alexandria had hoped a picnic would break the tension and allow the two young girls a chance to become better acquainted. It would also allow Tag time to visit with Windhawk. Tag had always looked up to his brother-in-law. He would never forget that Windhawk had saved his life many times. Windhawk had taken him in and raised him, instilling a sense of values in him that Tag still lived by today.

  The girls continued to play their roles. Sky Dancer had told Danielle that her Uncle Tag knew about the switch, but no one else seemed to catch on.

  Danielle stood beside Joanna as Windhawk arrived. This was the most frightening moment of all for her. When he walked up to her, she cringed inside. His dark eyes moved over her face, and he smiled. Glancing at Sky Dancer he shook his head. “Which one of you is my daughter, and which is my niece?” To Danielle’s surprise, his English was perfect.

  “Father, do you not know me?” Danielle said, feeling that no one could fool this man with the probing black eyes.

  “I am glad to see you, my daughter.” He made no attempt to draw her into his arms, but went over to Tag. The two men clasped arms in Blackfoot fashion. Anyone could see they were happy to see one another. “Do our daughters try to play a trick?” he said under his breath so only Tag could hear.

  “Play along with them for a while. It seems they have fooled everyone but you and I.”

  Windhawk moved over to Alexandria. “It has been many years since I have seen you, my sister. It is good to look upon your face.”

  Alexandria had always been a bit intimidated by the Blackfoot chief. She could never completely forget that he was Tag’s first wife’s brother. “It’s always good to see you, Windhawk.”

  He smiled, putting her at ease. “Today we are blessed, because we are all together.”

  “All but our two sons,” she reminded him.

  “This is true.” He turned to Sky Dancer and knew he must pretend she was his niece Danielle. “I have long looked forward to seeing you, Danielle. You are as pretty as my own Sky Dancer.”

  She smiled. “I am glad to see you, Uncle. I have heard many things about you.”

  He took her hand and pulled her into his arms. “Have you also heard it is not nice to try and fool your father?” he whispered against her ear.

  “How could you tell?” she whispered back.

  He chuckled. “It’s a wise father who knows his own flesh.”

  He moved away, and held his hand out to Joanna. “Let us give thanks for this day. We are with the people that we love,” Windhawk announced.

  Farley chose that moment to amble into the family circle. Without a word to anyone, he walked right up to Sky Dancer. “Why are you wearing your hair up like that, Sky Dancer? I like it better hanging down.”

  Joanna and Alexandria looked at the two girls in surprise, then they burst out laughing. “It took you to point out our own daughters, Farley.” Joanna was laughing so hard, she had to stop to catch her breath.

  “Farley, you spoiled everything,” Danielle cried. “Why did you have to do that?”

  Farley looked at the smiles on everyone’s face. He couldn’t understand what was so funny.

  “We did fool you for a time,” Sky Dancer said. “Of course our fathers knew from the start who was who.”

  The broad, muddy Mississippi River flowed lazily toward the sea, oblivious to the green slopes and dense forest that grew along its banks.

  Sky Dancer stood on a hill overlooking the place where the Missouri and Mississippi rivers joined in the endless flow to the sea. These rivers with the strange-sounding names might be larger and wider than the Milk River of her homeland, but they couldn’t compare with its life-giving water.

  The young girl wore a gray and white pin-striped gown, with its cumbersome steel hoop swaying with the warm breeze. How she longed for her soft buckskins and moccasins.

  “What are you thinking,” her look-alike asked, coming up beside her and following Sky Dancer’s eyes down to the river.

  “I suppose I am homesick. Like you, I wish I didn’t have to venture so far from home.”

  Danielle sat down on the green grass and motioned for Sky Dancer to join her. “Perhaps, if we were to band together and present a united front, our parents would listen to us and relent.”

  Sky Dancer shook her head. “I have given my word and cannot break it. Would it not be better to go forward with a happy heart and make the best of a bad situation, suffering only in silence?”

  Danielle sighed heavily. “I suppose,” she declared ruefully. “Tell me about your life in the Indian village. Somehow I cannot fathom you living with savages and enjoying it. You seem so civilized.”

  Sky Dancer didn’t take offense at her cousin’s words. At the moment she felt years older than Danielle, even though they were only a few weeks apart in age. “I have known no life other than the one I was born into. I love the people of the Blackfoot tribe. Both you and I are what others less kind might call half-breeds. Yet if I were to resent anything in life, it would be the white blood that flows in my veins. It seems you resent the Indian that is a part of you.”

  “I suppose you are right,” Danielle admitted. “I didn’t intend to like you or my Aunt Joanna, but I find that I do. Wouldn’t it be fun if we could spend the summer together? La, I can just see the ladies of Philadelphia turning green with envy when the two of us walk into a room. We are both beautiful, you know.”

  Sky Dancer couldn’t help but laugh at her cousin’s observation. “Are we? I suppose I never thought much about how I looked until I met you. You are very lovely.”

  Danielle chewed on a long stem of grass. “If I am beautiful, then you are too. Have
you never had a young man tell you that you are pleasant to look upon?”

  “No, they wouldn’t dare say such a thing to me. I am daughter to the chief.”

  “How very dull. I love all the attention I am showered with when I go to balls and parties. Is there no one special whom you like in the Blackfoot village?”

  “No, not really, although…I do think Wolfrunner is very handsome. He has not looked at me as a woman though. We are no more than good friends. You will meet him since he is traveling with my father and mother.”

  “Tell me about him,” Danielle said with interest.

  “Wolfrunner is the son of a powerful war chief, Gray Fox. He is five summers older than I, and very handsome. He is a very brave warrior. Many of the maidens of my tribe wish he would look at them, but he does not.”

  “I know someone like him. His name is Morgan Prescott. Actually, he’s a doctor and is serving in the Cavalry. His family lives on the estate down the road from ours. He is very handsome and dashing. All the girls make fools of themselves over him, but he hardly notices them.”

  “Is he interested in you, Danielle?” Sky Dancer wanted to know.

  Danielle tossed aside the blade of grass she had been chewing. “Not in the way you think. He has always treated me like a child. I declare he can be the most irritating man sometimes. He is a colonel in the Cavalry and doesn’t come home very often. I haven’t seen him in over a year. How dashing he looked in his uniform the last time I saw him. He did kiss me once, but it was all in fun.”

  “The war is very bad, isn’t it?”

  “Didn’t you know the war is over—we won. General Lee surrendered to General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse. But to answer your question, yes, the war was awful and for more reasons than one. There are never enough handsome dancing partners at a ball. I am ofttimes forced to dance with bearded old men. It will be wonderful when our men come home again. Of course, if they come home while I am away, all the most eligible ones will be snapped up before I return.”

  “Do you love this Morgan Prescott?”

  “Goodness, no.”

  “You said he kissed you.”

  “That was nothing. Morgan kisses all the young ladies. He is the most sought-after bachelor in Philadelphia, but he isn’t marriage minded. I was very angry with him the last time we met. I believe I damned him to the enemy.”

  “I have never kissed a man other than my father and brother, with the exception of Farley.”

  Danielle giggled. “Isn’t it strange. That crusty old trapper is a big part of both our lives. I just adore him, don’t you?”

  “Yes, he lives in my village. Farley is like one of the family.”

  Danielle frowned. “Just think, your brother and mine are traveling in Europe this summer with our Grandfather James. Men have all the advantages, don’t you agree?”

  “I have never thought about it. I know Little Hawk was very excited about going abroad with Grandfather.”

  “I would settle for a party or a ball at the moment. I like excitement in my life,” Danielle admitted.

  Sky Dancer laughed. “My mother has taught me how to dance, but I wouldn’t want to dance with one of your young gentlemen. I would be too frightened.”

  “Father told me that your mother taught you to speak English as soon as you could talk. I suppose she was preparing you for this summer.”

  “Yes, she taught me what she calls all the niceties of society. I hope I can put them into practice when we reach Philadelphia. I would not wish to shame your father and mother.”

  “I don’t think you have anything to worry about. You realize, of course, they aren’t going to tell anyone that you have an Indian father. They will guard the truth as they have for me all these years.”

  “Yes, I have been told this. I wonder why I cannot be honest about myself. I feel only pride for the Indian blood that came to me through my father.”

  Danielle’s eyes turned cold, and she frowned at Sky Dancer. “The one thing you must not do is let anyone find out that you are half Indian. You may not care, but I would be humiliated if they were to find out about me. I will hate you forever if you betray me!”

  Sky Dancer blinked her eyes. “I will not betray you, but neither will I feel shame for who I am. You are a fool if you shun the noble race that your mother belonged to.”

  “I don’t want to talk about my real mother. As far as I’m concerned, Alexandria is my mother. All of Philadelphia believe this to be true.”

  Sky Dancer stood up and brushed away the grass that clung to her skirt. She was deeply disturbed by her cousin’s views. Today was the first time in her life that she had come up against prejudice and it left a bitter taste in her mouth. She realized more than ever that she would not like this white world she was going into.

  As her cousin walked away, Danielle watched her with a troubled expression on her face. She had come to realize that even though the two of them looked alike, they were nothing alike on the inside. She felt again bitter resentment burning deep inside because she was being forced to leave her home and live among the Indians.

  Joanna and Alexandria spread the colorful cotton cloth on the grass, then set out the food that had been provided for them by the hotel. Farley was stationed nearby with his hat pulled over his eyes, pretending to be asleep, but knowing everything that was going on around him.

  Alexandria bit her lip and gazed at her sister-in-law. “Joanna, sometimes I fear this exchange was a mistake. Danielle is very unhappy about the arrangement. Tag and I should have eased her into this. If we had brought her to the village when she was younger, perhaps she wouldn’t be feeling this hostility. We tried so hard to keep people from finding out about her Indian blood, not realizing we were causing her to resent that she is only half white.”

  “You did what you thought was right at the time. Sky Dancer isn’t all that happy about the thought of leaving home, either. Perhaps in the end, this will all turn out for the best.”

  “Let us hope so. I suppose Tag and I have spoiled Danielle terribly, but deep down she is a loving girl. Have patience with her, and give her a chance. She will soon show you her better side, Joanna.”

  “Have no fear, Alexandria. You forget that when Danielle’s mother was killed, it was I who nursed her at my breast. I love her very much.”

  Alexandria closed the lid of the picnic basket and looked directly into Joanna’s blue eyes. “Please put your fear aside for Sky Dancer. Your brother and I will take the best care of her.”

  “I know you will. In truth I will be happy when the summer has passed and each girl is back where she belongs.”

  “Joanna, you are concerned that Danielle will hurt Sun Woman again, aren’t you?”

  “Yes, I confess I am. Sun Woman is getting old, and her one wish is to spend some time with her dead daughter’s daughter.”

  Tag came out of the woods and joined the two ladies. Sitting down, he picked up an apple and bit into it. “I just left Windhawk, and he is most anxious for you and Danielle to meet him at his camp early tomorrow morning. He says he wants to get an early start, Joanna. I think what he really meant was that he misses you,” he teased.

  Farley stood up and stretched his arms over his head. “I ’spect I’ll be getting back to camp now.” He ambled off without another word to anyone.

  Joanna and Alexandria turned their attention to the two girls who were making their way across the glen. Joanna looked at Tag and sent him a quizzical glance. He smiled at her reassuringly.

  “Don’t worry about either of them,” he said lazily. “They both come from good stock.”

  The afternoon passed slowly as the two girls found out about each other’s lives. They talked of their homes and many of the customs.

  Danielle faced the coming day with a heavy heart. She was trapped into a situation over which she had no control. Her father had no sympathy for her plight, and if Alexandria felt pity for her, she didn’t show it.

  Sky Dancer watched h
er mother laughing with her uncle. She tried to picture her mother living in the white man’s world. How easily she wore the silk gowns and strange-looking shoes, but then she had been born into that world.

  “Will I be facing any kind of danger in your village?” Danielle asked, breaking into Sky Dancer’s thoughts.

  “No, none that I can think of. You will be well protected by the warriors.” Sky Dancer paused and looked into eyes not unlike her own. “I would ask you to be particularly kind to our grandmother. She is a frail old woman and she loves you a great deal.”

  “I don’t think of her as my grandmother. But…I will not be unkind to her.”

  “You will like my father, Danielle. He is very wonderful.”

  “My father is not at all wonderful at the moment. If he were, he would take me back home,” Danielle said with a pout on her pretty lips.

  “Let us not think about tomorrow or the day after.” Sky Dancer smiled and lay back on the grass. “Let us both pretend that tomorrow is years away.”

  Danielle lay back on the grass and stared at her cousin. “You may be able to fool yourself, but I can’t. Tomorrow will come, and we will both be taken far from our homes.”

  Sky Dancer had the strongest urge to run to her mother and throw herself into her arms. Instead, she closed her eyes and willed herself to be strong. There would be many tomorrows before she was back home in the Blackfoot village.

  Danielle reached for Sky Dancer’s hand. “I truly believe I will miss you. It was fun today, wasn’t it?”

  Sky Dancer nodded. “Yes, it was fun trying to fool everyone.” She felt a sense of loss. She hardly had time to get to know her cousin, and now they would be parted.

  As the two girls gazed into each other’s eyes, they knew they shared a common bond. They had more in common than just their looks. They would each have to come to terms with the white and Indian blood that flowed in their veins.