Agnes and the Renegade (Men of Defiance) (14 page)

“No.”

“Will you come back soon?”

“Yes.”

His daughter studied him, assessing the truth of his statement. “Then I will go.”

He called after her, stopping her before she left the hall. “White Bird, you have made me proud.”
 

She smiled, then ran back to give him a brief, tight hug.

Sarah wrapped an arm around her shoulders and led her away. “Why don’t you take Chayton to the den?” she said to Logan. “I’ll see White Bird started with her reading, then bring you some coffee.”

“Right.” Logan led him toward the office. “My father, Sid, is visiting my brother, Sager. I would have liked for him to meet you. You’ve been out this way for close to a year now, and never visited. I’ve spoken to you more in the last month than in all of the last year.” He indicated a chair in front of the big desk. “Please, have a seat.” Logan sat in the companion chair, facing him.

“All is well for you here?” Chayton asked, remembering the long years Logan had been separated from his own family. For many years, Chayton’s band had become Logan’s surrogate family.

“Very well. I was angry and confused when I left here, way back when. I built the problem up in my mind until I thought it was unresolvable. Because of Sarah, I found my way home, and my family set things straight for me—much as your daughter just did for you.” Logan smiled.
 

Chayton wondered if he would still be smiling once he heard what Chayton had come to tell him. “Where are your children, my brother? Your house is silent.”

“We haven’t been able to have any yet. Sarah was damaged from her time with Swift Elk. It’s taken a long time to heal her emotional scars, but her physical ones are permanent. We will not have children of our own.”

A tension deepened within Chayton. It was no wonder Logan wished to take another wife. He was not going to like what Chayton was going to ask. “It saddens me to hear that news.”

“I’m just happy to have Sarah in life, whole and healthy. She loves White Bird. We both do.”

“I can see that. And I am grateful for the care you’ve given her.”

“So tell me, why have you come here today? I’ve sought you out many times, and you rarely came forward.”

Chayton thought back to all the times he’d hidden from his friend, listened to the news he reported without ever responding or greeting him. And still Logan brought him news, traded goods with him when asked, and cared for his daughter.

“I have been no friend to you at all, Logan. I’m surprised you accept me into your home.”
 

“Chayton, if I was only a friend when the sun shines, I’d be no friend at all. You are always welcome in my home.”
 

Sarah entered then with a tray of cups and a pot of coffee. The rich scent of it filled the room. He considered starting a pipe for the two of them to smoke, but he wasn’t sure about the white customs for such things and preferred to follow Logan’s lead. He looked at Sarah, waiting for her to finish serving them and leave. Logan looked at him expectantly, ignoring his wife’s presence. Sarah was pouring their coffee. Chayton loved that drink. It was a special treat for him.

“I would like to make a trade with you,” he began, deciding to ignore Logan’s wife, too. Logan had long been a welcome trader among the people. He made fair bargains and always kept his word.

“What kind of trade did you have in mind?”

Sarah handed him a cup of the dark liquid. She’d added sugar and milk to it so that it was a murky brown color. He sipped the hot drink. “I would like to buy your second wife.”

Logan’s wife made a loud clattering with the dishes on the tray. Chayton glared at her.

Logan frowned. “I don’t understand. I don’t have a second wife.”

“The woman who lives in your cabin and makes the paintings. Your guest.”

“Miss Hamilton? She’s not my wife.”

“You provide her with food. You’ve given her a home and a tent.”

Logan smiled, genuine humor in his eyes. Chayton narrowed his eyes as he watched the trader, waiting for the trick. The man was fair, true, but he was also savvy. Why would he pretend the woman didn’t belong to him if he weren’t up to something?

“She’s a tenant. She paid me for the use of that cabin. I am sending her food and supplies so that I can have my pick of the work she is doing.” He smiled up at Sarah, who had not left the room. Logan reached for her hand and threaded his fingers with hers. “I’m trading with her. The supplies and tent for first choice of her work. She’s not my wife.”

Chayton looked from Logan to Sarah. While it was common among Chayton’s people for a man to have multiple wives, he knew white men rarely practiced the same—something Agkhee herself had confirmed. Still, he couldn’t account for Agkhee’s situation in any other way than that she’d been Logan’s second wife.

“So you have no claim to Agkhee?”

“None to the woman, but to her work, I do.”

“Her paintings.”

“Yes.”

“Then you will agree to stop sending her food and supplies?”

“No. I have made an agreement with her that I cannot undo for you.”

“When she becomes my wife, I will see to her needs.”

“Chayton,” Sarah interrupted, “are you courting Aggie?”

“I have decided to take her as my wife.”

Sarah’s face grew even more pale than usual. She blinked, then looked over at Logan. She leaned against the edge of the desk and gave him a solemn look. “I hope you know that I am your friend, and I don’t mean to offend you with what I am about to say. It’s difficult for people of two different ethnicities to marry. It makes life very hard. Being your wife would limit her choices in her white world. And being white, she would not fit in your world.”

Chayton knew that Sarah spoke the truth. Before Logan, Sarah had been the wife of a
Lakȟóta
chief—not by choice, and not for long, but it had not been a good experience for her. Had Chayton’s world not collapsed, his choice of Agkhee for a wife would have meant he’d have to leave his little band. Now that he had no people, he was free to go with his heart. But she was not. She still belonged in a bigger world that he wanted no part of and in which there was no place for him.

“Sarah,” Logan countered, “there is more at stake here than the fabric of society. There are two hearts calling to each other. Let them explore their options and make their own decisions.” To Chayton, he said, “The world is open to you, Chayton, in ways you don’t yet even know. If Aggie has taken your heart, then there is no reason, none at all, that you should not be married. Sarah and I will stand beside you, whatever your decision.”

He looked at Logan. “I am not certain what is expected of a man when courting white women.”

Logan grinned. “Whatever you try, it won’t be sufficient. They’re impossible.”

Sarah swatted her husband’s shoulder. “Nonsense. If we don’t make you work for our hearts, how will we know you truly value us?” Sarah grumbled. “Perhaps if you brought her a gift?”

“I have brought her small game. I have drawn for her the story of my life in the manner of a winter count. I have stood with her in my blanket.” He pressed his lips shut in a thin line. “It is not enough. She does not understand my intentions.”

“Remember that it wasn’t even two months ago that you tried to kill her,” Sarah said. “She may need time to become comfortable with you. In our world, usually”—she smiled at Logan—“men and women decide on marriage after an extended period of courting.”

Chayton looked at Logan. “You did not court Sarah for a long time.”

“No, but there were extenuating circumstances. She was in danger and needed my protection.”

“Agkhee needs my protection. When she paints, she becomes lost in a vision. She cannot exist alone. Someone must care for her.”

“She mentioned her father recently passed away in her correspondence with us,” Logan told him. “She may not be used to being alone and may not realize the dangers.”

“It is not safe for her.”

“Then give her the gift of time and your attention,” Sarah suggested.

“Take her to the Valley of Painted Walls. Show her your herd, your world. Let her get to know you,” Logan said. “But don’t mention marriage too soon or you will frighten her away.”
 

Sarah frowned at Logan. Did she disagree with his suggestion? “It is disrespectful for a man to travel alone with a woman who is not his wife,” he said, voicing what she did not.

“True,” Logan conceded. “It is so in your world and in ours. But we know you will not disrespect her. And who will judge? Not Sarah and I. We only want to see you happy.”

Chayton looked between Logan and Sarah. “I will consider making the trip with her.”

“Consider this as well,” Logan said. “If you meet your grandmother and accept her into your life, you will have a far greater chance of being able to have a full and joyful life with Aggie in her world. Doing so will give you options you don’t have in your present circumstances.”

* * *

Logan watched Chayton ride away a short while later. He became aware of Sarah standing silently next to him. He leaned against a porch support and drew her into his arms. “You seem worried. I thought Chayton looked good,” he said.

“Do you think he and Aggie are a good match?” she asked as she looked up at him.

Logan nodded. “Yes. They are both so alone. She’s an artist, like Laughs-Like-Water; he understands the creative mind. I think she’s perfect for him. Especially with what we know he’s going to have to face soon.”

“True. Why didn’t you tell him you’d invited his grandmother out to see us?”

Logan frowned. He’d learned about Chayton’s grandmother from the officers at the reservation. When he hadn’t been able to find Chayton for their annual summer trade last year, he’d found out his friend had been kicked out after some trouble brought on by a visit from his grandmother’s men. Logan had been corresponding with her since then. Finally, she’d decided to come up to Defiance from Denver, where she lived. Her husband, who had passed away a few years back, had founded a wholesale business by supplying goods to forts, trading posts, and grocery stores in the ever-expanding west. That business had grown into a dynasty, making Chayton’s family American nobility. There was no way the Agency could have allowed Chayton to stay once such powerful people wanted him out.

The woman was in a fever to meet her grandson; she’d made it clear that at her advanced age of seventy-four, she wasn’t looking at a limitless future, and demanded that the man passing himself off as her grandson present himself immediately.
 

Logan hadn’t yet responded to her latest missive. It was yet another order for him to produce the impostor who called himself her grandson. He hadn’t given her any details about Chayton because he didn’t want to corner his friend—he had no doubt she would send up her own men. In fact, he was surprised she hadn’t done that yet. Something of this magnitude needed to be eased into with a man like Chayton, whose entire identity was rooted in his Lakota foundation.

Sighing, Logan eased a wisp of his wife’s hair from her cheek. “I couldn’t tell him yet. He has only now decided to rejoin the living. I will, though—soon. He has enough on his mind courting Aggie.”

“Did you send him off to his valley so that he wouldn’t be here when she arrived?”

Logan couldn’t hold back a sheepish grin. “Maybe…”

Sarah sighed. “You know he’s going to be furious, absolutely raging mad. And Chayton mad is not a fun sight.”

“I know. It’s true, and you’re right, but better ask for forgiveness than permission, no?”

“Not with him.” Sarah watched the horizon. “Do you think” —she paused— “if he and Aggie do get married that they’ll take White Bird from us?”

Logan tightened his arms around her. “I think that if they want White Bird to go live with them, we have to let her go. And if she wants to live with them, we have to let her go. But if she wants to stay here, we’ll make that happen.” He waited a minute, then added, “I spoke to Audrey when we were last down at her and Julian’s place, about adopting.”

“She used to run Defiance’s orphanage, didn’t she?”

“Nothing so organized as an orphanage, no. She took in strays and foundlings during and after the war. But as soon as she did, the little waifs became hers. She’s still active with orphanages, however, and knows of several children who need a home. She could help us select a child or two, or however many you’d like, if you’re interested.”

Sarah looked up at him. “Are you?”

He smiled. “I am if you are. All I’ve ever wanted was your happiness. In my heart, White Bird is our daughter. But if you want a larger family, we can make it happen.”

“I want a larger family.”

“Then that’s what we’ll do.” He stroked her cheek. “Do you mind if we let the dust settle around Chayton and Aggie first? I don’t want White Bird to have too many changes to deal with at once. And I don’t want her to think any changes we’re making in our family have anything to do with the changes happening with Chayton and Aggie.”

“I don’t mind. Families take time. And White Bird is our first priority. I hope she decides to stay with us. And I hope they let us keep her, Logan.”

“I do, too, but we have to let that play out as it will.”
 

Logan thought of all the trouble that had come about when his stepbrother, Sager, was taken from the Shoshone family that had raised him and was brought home to live with them. All the misplaced anger and hatred and lost years that followed. He didn’t want the same thing to happen to White Bird and Chayton.

CHAPTER TWELVE

Aggie took several breaks several days later, hoping to see Chayton waiting for her somewhere around her cabin. He wasn’t there at noon. He wasn’t there mid-afternoon. He wasn’t there in the evening.
 

He’d said he was going to hunt, so perhaps his efforts had taken him farther than he’d expected. Maybe hunting wasn’t as easy as he made it sound. Maybe he’d hurt himself and was stranded someplace. She stepped to her door, looked west toward the mountains. If he didn’t come back in a few days, she would ride over to Logan’s. He could send someone out after Chayton.