Cheyenne Moon (16 page)

Abby nursed both babies and did a good job for a new mother. She was worn out, so Polly made a bed for the babies in the cradle that had belonged to their grandmother. Joshua had gotten to see them for a short while before he went to sleep.  Everyone was sleeping and Polly just realized that she hadn’t eaten since breakfast and not much then. She fixed herself a bowl of milk and bread, and sat by the babies and ate, then went promptly to sleep with a hand on each baby.

Polly woke to the soft crying of a baby and Abby calling to her. “I’m coming I think your little mister is hungry. Are you feeling better?”  She asked as she entered the room to find Abby sitting on the chamber pot.  “I think you have completely gone loco, why would you try to get up just hours after having twins?”  She helped Abby to stand and get back in bed all the while fusing up a storm.

“I’m fine Polly the bleeding is not as bad as before. How long before we can travel with the children?”

“Are you saying that you want to start off into the mountains with two newborn babies?  Well let me tell you, you won’t feel like riding a horse for several weeks and those children need to get a whole lot stronger before we go gallivanting over dangerous territory.” 

“I know we can’t go for awhile Polly I just wanted your opinion. I want so badly for Shadow Spirit to meet his children. He will be so happy to see that he has two children.” Abby was crying, thinking that Polly was angry with her.

“I’m sorry dear I am just tired and excited and I think you are going to be a wonderful mother, but you have to take care of yourself. I am also anxious to go to your village. I have not seen my daughter for over twenty-five years. I don’t believe that we should try a trip like that for some time.”

“I know that the babies won’t be ready for a journey for several weeks I am just so afraid that I will never see Shadow Spirit again.” Abby said.

Polly placed the babies in the bed with Abby, one on each arm.  After a while she drifted off to sleep.

Shadow Spirit and Jacob arrived at the Cheyenne camp in the month of the Spring Moon or April in the white man’s language. The snow was gone in the valleys and wild flowers were up in an array of colors, but it still clung to the tops of the mountains a reminder of what a terrible winter it had just passed. The journey home had been long and weary for Shadow Spirit for he had not found one sign that his beloved Abby had ever walked on mother earth. It was if their time together had been a cruel trick his mind had played on him. 

“Hey Shadow Spirit this is great, I ain’t never seen anything like this.” Jacob remarked as they rode into the village.

“Come I have to check with my mother, maybe Abby has come back while I was searching for her.”

He found his mother in front of her lodge holding a baby and slowly stirring a pot of simmering stew. His heart raced as he bent to look at the child. “Is Abby here, is this our child?” He asked gently taking the sleeping infant in his embrace.

“No my son this is your nephew. I am so sorry but Abby has not returned.”

“Is Yellow Dove well Mother?”  Shadow Spirit asked with sadness in his voice like she had never heard before.

“She is fine. I see the disappointment on your face. I was praying that when you returned Abby would be by your side.” Green Eyes rose with the grace only she possessed and took the baby and placed him in a cradle that had been carved for Yellow Dove by her father when she was a tiny baby.

Shadow Spirit remembered that Jacob stood near-by and was waiting to be told where he should be or what he should do. 

“Mother this is Jacob we have traveled together for several weeks and have become friends. He is on his way to Kentucky.”

“Hello, it is nice to have you here. You will be welcome by the entire village because you are a friend of my son who is also our chief.”

“Thank you ma’am,”

“You seem to be taking a very out of the way route to Kentucky young man. Would it not have been a much shorter trip if you had not come by way of the Black Hills?”

“Oh I know I just wanted to help Shadow Spirit find his wife, I just wish we’d a found her.”

“Well you may stay here as long as you want.” Green Eyes got the impression that the young man had come to respect her son and maybe was just a little bit in awe of him.

“Mother I am going to call a meeting of the council I need to find out what all has happened in my absence. Jacob you are free to look around no one will harm you.”

“Thanks Shadow Spirit,” he said as he walked away looking every which way.

“Where is Yellow Dove, Mother?”

“She is with Gray Wolf down by the creek I was giving them a little time alone, but I am sure she would be glad to see her brother.”

Shadow Spirit announced himself before he reached the creek as a courtesy. His sister came running to him flinging herself into his arms.

“Oh Shadow Spirit I have waited so long for your return!” Yellow Dove exclaimed. “Is Abby in your lodge? I cannot wait for her to see Little Wolf. He is the most wonderful child.”

“I have held your son and he is truly handsome. I am glad that you are so happy and I do not want to dampen your spirits but Abby is not her. I have searched everywhere that I can think of and cannot find her.”

“Oh, I was so hoping you would bring her home in time for the baby to be born among everyone who loves her.” Yellow Dove cried.

“I am going to call a council meeting, Gray Wolf we will go and gather the others we have much to discuss. I am going to take a small group of warriors and search for my wife I will not give up until I know what has happened to her.”

Yellow Dove returned to Green Eyes lodge to get her son but when she entered to lodge, he was sleeping. Her mother sat close by working on a pair of moccasins. She looked up as Yellow Dove came in. 

“Hello darling,” Green Eyes said when she looked up and saw Yellow Dove come in. “You look so very worried I assume you have spoken to your brother.   

“Yes Mother I have and he is the most exhausted that I have ever seen him. I admire him for not giving up on finding Abby. He said he has looked everywhere and it is as if Mother Earth just swallowed her up.”

“He has not found any sign of her since he found the bead and I am beginning to think that it may be hopeless. She has been gone for such a long time. The time for her baby to make its way into this world has come and gone. Abby and Shadow Spirit child should be only a couple of a week or so younger than Little Wolf and he will soon be a month old.”

“Oh please Mother, do not say anything negative about this where Shadow Spirit could hear you. He still has hope.”

“Do you think that he truly is still hopeful or is it too painful to acknowledge that she could be lost to him forever?” Green Eyes said with a sigh.

“I refuse to believe that my beautiful friend will not return to us, I feel it in my heart that she is somewhere safe and cared for. I dreamed of her last night and in my dream, she was smiling. I think that is a sign that she is alright.”

“I do hope you are right dear, I have grown to love Abby also.” 

“Mother, I have met Shadow Spirit friend, he is a strange man.”

In the council lodge, Shadow Spirit sat with several of his warriors he was telling them of the destruction he had seen during his search for Abby. He told them of the family that had been murdered and their home burned.  He suspected that Black Heart was to blame. 

“There were signs of the encroachment of the whites along the trail. A toppled wagon lay at the bottom of a ravine split into pieces as it tumbled down the ragged side of the hill. A lost doll or a small hand- carved horse that had been dropped as the children walked beside a wagon. It is a heart rendering sight to find the bones of a child that an animal has dug from a shallow grave. I know that these are white children but in my eyes a child is a precious gift of any race.”

“Chief Shadow Spirit, how can you feel anything for these people after what they have done to us and others of our kind?” Moon Rising a warrior of eighteen summers said with resentment.

“I have seen all that has been done on both sides, I would like for our tribe to remain a people of peace for as long as we can. I know that that will not always be possible and that other tribes are already talking of war, but for the safety of my people I will always vote for peace.”

“Well some of us might not want peace.” Moon Rising spoke up again.

“Do as you like but once you leave this tribe for a renegade war party you are no longer welcome here. That is all I have to say on the matter.”  

Shadow Spirit stared at Moon Rising for several seconds before the warrior sit back down. He would not be pressured to go to war by anyone especially a few rouge braves.

“As you all know my wife was taken from this village some months ago and I have searched for her without success. In two suns I will resume my search. In my absence, Gray Wolf will continue to be acting chief as he has been. I will take only a three other warriors with me for I cannot leave our people unguarded.”

“Who are you taking?” someone asked from the back of the lodge.

“I have not decided, I will let the ones I have chosen know with the new sun. This council is no more,”  Shadow Spirit stated.

As the others were leaving he called to Gray Wolf.  “I hope you do not mind that I did not talk to you about still acting as chief.”

“No, I do not mind I only hope that you are not disappointed.”

“I have no fear that you cannot fill in during my absence. Come let us go and have our evening meal and talk about which men I will take to find my wife. 

Shadow Spirit decided to take his two most trusted warriors, other than Gray Wolf, and he also choose Moon Rising. He felt that by taking Moon Rising it would give him a better chance to watch the warrior. 

Green Eyes watched as her son prepared to once again leave their village to search for Abby. She wanted to believe that Abby was still alive but it was hard after all the time that had passed. Her son was such a strong, powerful man and a wonderful chief. He would not give up until he knew one way or another what had become of his beloved wife. The love that Shadow Spirit had for Abby was a love that would weather all time and trials that would come their way, and nothing would stop him from looking for her.

“Mother, I will be leaving now the village is in good hand with Gray Wolf.” He hugged his mother and sister.

“I know that the village will be well protected under the leadership of Gray Wolf, it is Abby that I worry about.”

“Do not worry mother I will find her and bring her home where she is destined to be,” Shadow Spirit said with conviction. 

He looked at Jacob who stood talking with a young maiden and smiled. The young man had developed an attraction for a young maiden in the village and had asked if he would be allowed to remain here for a while. “Mother, Jacob has asked if he may stay with our people for now. I wanted to know if that would be alright with you since it would be you who must cook for him?”

“I would welcome having someone else to feed. I have enough food for the both of us. Perhaps one of the young warriors will teach him to hunt.”

“I believe that he hunted when he lived in Kentucky with his family.”

“That is good.” Green Eyes remarked. “Who has he become smitten with in our village?”

“It is Snow Bird the daughter of Short Nose. I thought that you could possibly explain our courting customs to him in my absence.”

“I will but I had better do it soon before Short Nose catches them.” 

Yellow Dove walked up to them carrying her son in a cradleboard. “I have come to tell you goodbye and wish you a safe and prosperous journey. Please bring Abby home.”

“If it is in my power I will do so little sister.” He hugged her and gave the baby a pat on his behind. “I must go now. The sun is climbing in the eastern sky and I am going to travel as far as I can before nightfall. I would like to retrace the route that I took home when I was alone. One morning when I woke, I could swear that I smelled food cooking but when I searched, I could find no campsites. The only thing I found was an old half burned barn. I will examine it a little closer.”

By the time Shadow Spirit and the warriors left, it was mid morning. He had a feeling as he rode from his village, that this time he would find his adored wife and their child.

Summer was truly here the sun shined brightly in the afternoon sky as Abby returned to the cave for the last time. She was here to let the goats and hogs free. She hoped that they would be alright running free in the wilderness.  They were going to attempt taking the nanny goat with them in the morning when they sat out for the Cheyenne summer camp. The twins needed the extra milk the goat provided. She didn’t seem to be able to supply enough on her own to keep them satisfied. They were growing so fast, it had been hard at first. 

Shadow Eagle who had been bigger than Morning Sky at birth, had not grown as much at first was now thriving.  He had colic almost from the beginning but was finally able to eat all he wanted. 

She had given her babies both Indian names and white man names. Shadow Eagle was named for his father and his white name was Isaiah for her father. When Polly had first handed him to her Abby had heard an eagle cry on the mountain, so she had considered that a sign that she include eagle in his name. She had not even recalled hearing the eagle until her son was a few days old.

Morning Sky had gotten her name from something that Polly said. She said that just as the little girl made her presence know, the sun peaked over the mountain, thus Morning Sky seemed appropriate. Polly and Abby had decided that her white name should be Sarah Judith for both grandmothers. She was dainty and smiled all the time and she had never had a problem eating. Her cheeks had filled out and she had little dimples in her knees.

Abby hoped that she could remember where the summer camp had been, it had been a long time since she had been there. She had a horrible thought, what if they decided not to camp in the same spot that they had last year. Maybe they should stay put and hope that Shadow Spirit would find them before Black Heart figured out where she was hiding. She was sure that he had not given up on finding her. At least she did not have to worry about Lone Raven anymore. Abby decided not to turn the animals lose just yet.

She found Polly sitting out in the sunshine with the babies in the cradle that she had made just for them. Out of the corner of her eye Abby saw the wolf hiding by the bush, she knew it was Storm but worried for a minute that he would not recognize her. She kept him in her sight as she slowly walked closer to where her family sat, oblivious to the possible danger.

“Polly, don’t move, I don’t think there is any danger but I want to be sure.”

“Danger….danger from what?”  Polly asked just as the wolf strolled nearer to Abby. “Abby move a little to the left I think I can get a clear shot.”  She was holding a rifle, pointed at Storm.

“No! Don’t shoot unless he seems aggressive.”

“Aggressive, have you lost your mind? It is a big wolf not a puppy.

Polly watched as Abby squatted and held out her hand to the wolf. He walked to with-in a few feet of her and lay down. Stunned Polly lowered the gun and stared in amazement as Abby spoke tenderly and sat down on the ground beside the animal. He rolled over on his back and she began to rub his belly. 

“Hi there old friend where have you been?” She asked as he laid his head in her lap. 

“Abby I’m still afraid even if you’re  not. I want to get these babies in the house.”

“Go on and take them in, I will be in shortly.”

Polly took Morning Sky and Shadow Eagle inside just huffin and puffin as she shut the old barn door tight to keep out the wolf.

Abby sat beside Storm thinking of the months that she had spent with Shadow Spirit, and how happy she had been during that time. Now she had to consider her children’s safety above everything else. She was coming to believe that they were much safer right here in this little cabin hidden by the old barn. They had worked on the inside of the barn when the weather was not bitterly cold this winter. It was as strong as a fort in the interior even thought it looked ready to collapse on the outside. She couldn’t protect them along a trail as well as she could here and as much as she longed to see her husband her babies had to come first.

Suddenly Storm stood and crept to the edge of the threes that ran along the path to the cabin, the bristles the length of his back stood on end and his lip curled. He took off at a dash down the path. Abby ran to the cabin.

“Polly! Someone is coming we have to hide now”

They gathered up what they could carry and headed for the caves. The babies were quiet as they were carried the short distance to the cave. Inside they moved the animals and all to the back cave and prepared to wait for the intruder to either leave or to advance close to where Polly and Abby were prepared to fight if necessary.

Abby rocked back and forth with Morning Sky in her arms trying to keep the baby quiet. She was a little fretful after being awakened from her nap, she was becoming a creature of habit, and any form of change upset her.

Polly and Abby along with the babies and the animals huddled in the back of the cave, waiting for whatever was to come.