Authors: Cassie Edwards
Give me a kiss and to that kiss a score.
—Robert Herrick
The morning air was suddenly filled with a woman’s scream. The sound filled Lavinia with alarm.
She looked up questioningly at Wolf Dancer. They could all hear the woman shouting that there was a stranger in the
garita,
in the food supply!
Wolf Dancer and Lavinia exchanged quick glances, both suddenly thinking the same thing, yet not saying it out loud in case
it was a false hope. Could the stranger be Dorey?
“I shall go and see,” Wolf Dancer said, leaving with Joshua.
Somehow, Lavinia found the strength to get out of bed and make her way to the door. Just as she stepped outside she saw a
warrior leading Dorey toward Wolf Dancer. Her daughter’s eyes were filled with fear, yet she appeared unharmed.
Lavinia’s eyes lit up when Dorey spotted her, and then Dorey saw Twila. She was shocked to see them there. She had spent the
night so afraid and alone,and all along, her mother and her best friend in the world had been so near!
“Mama,” Dorey cried as she ran toward her, her arms outstretched. “Oh, Mama, I’m so sorry that I didn’t listen to you.”
“It’s alright,” Lavinia murmured as Dorey flung herself into her arms and clung to her. “Everything is going to be fine now
that I know you are safe and well.”
“But you?” Dorey asked, stepping away from her mother and seeing how pale she was. She had felt the weakness of her mother’s
embrace, and knew that something was wrong. “Mama, how did you…how did Twila and Joshua get here? Mama, are you alright?”
She stopped and stared at the Indian robe her mother wore instead of her own clothes. “Mama, tell me why you are here and
whether you are alright.”
Wolf Dancer was happy for both the mother and child, that they were reunited and nothing had happened to Dorey while she was
lost and alone in the Everglades. But he noticed that Lavinia was struggling to stand. He knew it was too soon for her to
be on her feet for any length of time.
Yet he also knew she was well enough to leave the shaman’s lodge so that it would be free for others who were ill and needed
his magical touch.
“Come with me,” he said, hurrying to Lavinia’s side and sweeping an arm around her waist. He was glad to feel her relax against
him, glad to know she accepted his touch.
He wanted much more than this, and now believedthat she wanted the same. It was in her eyes when she gazed into his. It was
in her voice when she talked with him.
“You aren’t taking me back into Shining Soul’s hut?” Lavinia asked, relishing the strength of his arm around her waist as
he walked beside her.
“You are well enough to give up the shaman’s care,” Wolf Dancer said. He glanced over at Dorey, who fell into step beside
her mother, while Joshua and Twila walked behind them.
Then he looked at Lavinia again. “I am taking you to my own home. It is spacious. You will be comfortable there, as will your
daughter. There is room enough for us all there.”
Dorey was taking all of this in, realizing there was more than just respect between her mother and this handsome man. She
believed he must be Chief Wolf Dancer, for he had an air of command about him.
As they made their way through the village, people stepped aside, their eyes on him, showing affection and love. He walked
onward toward the larger two-storied home Dorey had seen from the
garita
. She had assumed that this was the chief’s home, and she had been right.
“Dorey, oh, Dorey, where have you been?” Lavinia asked as Dorey stepped closer to her side. “I was so afraid for you. Twila
and I looked for you in the swamp, but there was no sign of you or your canoe anywhere. And then…I…had the misfortune
of being bitten by a snake. If not for Twila, who sucked the poison out of my wound, and thenWolf Dancer, who rescued me and
took me to his shaman, I would be dead.”
“I’m so sorry, Mama,” Dorey said, swallowing hard. “I had not meant to travel so far, and then suddenly I was taken captive
by two young braves.”
“I know all about what they did, and I am sorry you had to go through such an experience,” Lavinia said, sliding her free
arm around Dorey’s tiny waist. “But now we are all going to be alright. Even Joshua. Did you see him, Dorey? Wolf Dancer saved
him after he was shot down by an arrow.”
Having been so excited to see her mother, Dorey had been aware of nothing else. Now she realized that Joshua was there and
that he was alive, when all along no one thought they would ever see him again.
She looked over her shoulder at Joshua and Twila. “I am so happy that you are alright, Joshua,” she murmured. “We all thought—”
“That I was dead,” Joshua finished, interrupting her. “I would be, if not for Wolf Dancer and Shining Soul. They saved me,
Dorey, just as they have saved your mammy.”
“Mama, I can’t believe that you left your room to go into the Everglades looking for me,” Dorey said, gazing up at Lavinia.
“What about Uncle Hiram? If he knows you left your room, he will expect many things of you. Mama, what are you going to do
about Hiram and his plans for you?”
“Hiram is no longer a threat to any of us,” Lavinia said, her voice a little weak. She was finding each step harder to take,
and she realized just how tired walking was making her.
“What do you mean, Mama?” Dorey asked.
“I’ll explain later,” Lavinia said, gasping in alarm when her knees began buckling.
She was so glad when Wolf Dancer realized what was happening and reached out for her. He took her quickly up into his arms
and carried her the rest of the way; everyone else followed quietly behind them.
When Wolf Dancer reached the door of his house, he turned to Joshua. “Go inside with the children, and we will eat and talk
as Lavinia rests,” he suggested. He looked at Dorey. “This will be your home as well as your mother’s for as long as you wish
to stay here in my village.”
Dorey was stunned to see that her mother had deep feelings for the Indian chief, perhaps even deeper than Dorey had first
thought. Their attraction was evident in the way her mother looked into the chief’s eyes and the way he held her so tenderly.
Dorey realized that while she’d been away from her mother, lost and afraid, Lavinia had grown close to this man who had saved
her from the horrible snakebite.
It made Dorey feel warm inside to see her mother so happy with this man. Dorey could hardly wait for Hiram to know that Lavinia
had a new protector, so he could forget about ever having her himself!
Suddenly all that had been wrong in their lives since her father’s death was righted. Knowing that her mother had never truly
loved her husband in a passionate way, Dorey could accept the idea that her mother had fallen in love so quickly after his
death.
“We be glad to come and sit for a while inside your home,” Joshua said, speaking for himself and Twila.
“And I thank you for being so kind to me and my mother,” Dorey blurted out.
Lavinia clung to Wolf Dancer’s neck, feeling a contentment that had long been foreign to her. She was especially happy that
he welcomed her daughter with open arms, because if all went well, she never wanted to return to the world she had left behind.
She was in love for the first time in her life. She felt its sweetness all through her body.
“Let us go inside now,” Wolf Dancer said. He opened the front door and stepped aside to allow the others to enter first.
And then he went inside, where his morning fire was burning in the firepit of the large, central room. The home consisted
of several rooms, including one on the second floor far to the left side, away from where the smoke spiraled up to the smoke
hole above.
As everyone stood aside and slowly admired the many comforts of his home, Wolf Dancer carried Lavinia to his bed of pelts
near the firepit. He had never felt comfortable sleeping away from his central fire and the front door. He didn’t like the
idea that someone could come in during the night and he would not be the wiser if he were sleeping far away from the door.
And soon he hoped to share this bed and room with Lavinia as his wife!
For now, it was enough that she was there withhim, away from that madman Hiram Price. He was glad that her daughter had been
found, too, safe and happy to be reunited with her mother.
He saw nothing standing in the way of his hopes. He would not have to work hard to get Lavinia’s daughter’s acceptance, for
he could see that she wanted only her mother’s happiness.
After getting Lavinia comfortable on his bed, Wolf Dancer went back to where the others still stood. They seemed to be awaiting
his permission to sit on the mats, filled with the down of cattails, that were positioned around the fire.
“Sit,” Wolf Dancer said, gesturing toward the mats. “Be comfortable. And, Joshua, know that you and your daughter are welcome
here anytime you wish to visit Lavinia.”
He turned and smiled at Dorey. “Your mother will want you here with her,” he said softly. He reached a hand out for here.
“Come and sit beside her. She has worried so much about you.”
“Thank you,” Dorey said, smiling as she went over and settled down on a pelt beside her mother, while Joshua and Twila made
themselves comfortable beside the fire.
“Mama, I was so worried about leaving you alone with…with…Uncle Hiram,” Dorey said, swallowing hard.
“You never have to worry about Hiram again,” Lavinia said, taking one of Dorey’s hands. “I’ve made a decision, Dorey. I don’t
ever want to return to that plantation, or that house where I never felt much happiness.”
“Where will we go, Mama?” Dorey asked, her eyes wide.
“For now, we’ll just leave it at that…that we aren’t going back there. We will work things out later,” Lavinia murmured.
“For now I feel at peace here with Wolf Dancer and his people. Until I am stronger, we will stay here and know that we have
nothing to fear.”
“What if Uncle Hiram hunts for us and finds us here?” Dorey asked, searching her mother’s eyes. “You know he’ll be so angry—”
“Let him be angry,” Lavinia said. She brought Dorey’s hand to her lips and gently kissed its palm. “Just be happy that we
have found each other and that we are all alright.”
“But you, Mama,” Dorey said, her eyes filling with tears. “You could have died.”
“Yes, but I didn’t,” Lavinia said, gazing over at Wolf Dancer as he came and knelt beside Dorey, a cup in his hand.
“Drink this,” he said, handing it to Lavinia. “You should drink a lot of water in order to make your body completely well
and strong again.”
“It’s only water?” Lavinia asked, easing her hand from Dorey’s and leaning on an elbow. “I remember something Shining Soul
gave me that made me sleep.”
“That was only because you needed sleep at the time,” Wolf Dancer said. “Now you want to stay awake and spend time with those
you love.”
Lavinia smiled sweetly at him, took the cup, and swallowed the water, enjoying its cold sweetness.
Then she handed the empty cup back to Wolf Dancer. “Thank you so much for all that you have done for me and my loved ones,”
she murmured.
“You do not have to keep thanking me for something I did from the heart,” Wolf Dancer said, setting the empty cup aside. He
sat down beside Dorey. “Now do you feel like talking, or do you think you should rest?” he asked Lavinia.
“At this moment I am very much awake, for I feel more alive now than I ever have in my life,” Lavinia said, smiling into his
eyes. She felt so much for him now, it almost frightened her.
She knew it was forbidden for a white woman to care for a man with red skin. She had heard of women being murdered after falling
in love with Indians.
But she truly didn’t care about going back to life as she had known it. She was finding everything about the Seminole village
fascinating. And she could never fall in love with anyone else, because she now knew she loved this handsome, wonderful Seminole
chief.
“Mama, do you think those two boys will try to bother me while I stay here?” Dorey blurted out.
Wolf Dancer responded to that question before Lavinia had a chance. “They will never cause you trouble again,” he vowed. “They
know better.”
“You can trust Wolf Dancer’s word, Dorey,” Lavinia said. “You have nothing to fear while you are here in the Seminole village.
You are even safer here than back at the plantation. As long as Hiram has breath in his lungs, he will not stop wantingeverything
for himself, and that includes me. We will not give him the chance to hurt us, Dorey.”
“But what if he finds out where we are and comes for us?” Dorey asked.
“He doesn’t have the courage to stand face-to-face with any Seminole warrior, especially Wolf Dancer, their chief,” Lavinia
said, then sighed. “I am much more tired than I thought.”
“Then you should sleep,” Wolf Dancer said. He reached a hand out for Dorey. “Come. Sit beside the fire with your friends.”
Dorey leaned over and kissed her mother’s brow, then went and sat beside Twila and began chattering about all that each had
experienced, while Wolf Dancer remained beside Lavinia until he saw she was asleep.
He could not take his eyes off her.
She was his world now.
She was a phantom of delight
When first she gleamed upon
My sight.
—William Wordsworth
The next day Lavinia was enjoying the morning meal with everyone she loved, sharing hominy corn cakes and a variety of fish.
It seemed unreal to her that Wolf Dancer should be sitting with her and her friends, talking casually with them, even though
he was a powerful Seminole chief.
But he had opened his lodge to her and her friends. He had never behaved as though he were better than anyone else, not even
Joshua or Twila, whom most whites would look down on.
Yes, Wolf Dancer was someone very special, kind and caring toward all he knew.
The more Lavinia learned about him, the more she loved him.
She had never thought such a love was possible, or that she would meet such a man as Wolf Dancer.
She felt that he cared deeply for her as well. Sometimes she would catch him looking at her withsuch intensity, and he always
treated her with great gentleness.
He was more gentle than her father had been, and he had been everything to Lavinia when she was a child.
Now? If only she knew for certain how Wolf Dancer felt about her! Did he love her too, even though they met so recently? She
felt this was a man she would be happy to share her life with forever.
“Joshua, I believe it is time for you to tell Lavinia all that you told me about her husband’s death, how he truly died…by whose hand,” Wolf Dancer said thickly as he gazed at Joshua. “She is strong enough now to hear the truth.”
Lavinia’s hand clutched a wooden cup in her hand, which held a drink called
cazina
, a bitter-tasting infusion made from a weed that the Wind Clan gathered on the island.
Wolf Dancer had told everyone as he handed them cups of
cazina
that this was a very healthy brew for all who drank it. Lavinia found that despite its bitterness, she thought it was delicious.
“Joshua, what do you know that you have not told me?” Lavinia asked, setting her half-empty cup aside. “I…I…want
to know.”
She gazed at him intently as he lowered his eyes, seemingly avoiding not only her question but also her eyes.
“Joshua, please?” she begged in a tone Joshua knew well, a voice of such sweetness that he could not help responding to it.
He slowly lifted his eyes and returned her steady gaze. “It ain’t a nice thing to tell, nor to hear, Lavinia,” he said, his
voice drawn. “But you mus’ know, and it is time for you to be told. I’se the one to tell you, Lavinia, for I witnessed it
all firsthand.” “Witnessed what?” Lavinia asked, realizing that the lodge had grown stone quiet, except for the popping and
crackling of the fire. Everyone’s eyes were on Joshua.
“I saw Hiram murder your husband,” Joshua finally blurted out. “Lavinia, I seen it with mine own two eyes. Hiram drew back
a bowstring with an arrow in it, and then shot Massa Virgil in the chest.” “Lord,” Lavinia gasped, feeling suddenly dizzy.
“No. Oh, no. Why…how…? Virgil’s own brother killed him?”
“He sho’ ’nuff did,” Joshua said, wanting to reach out and steady her when he saw how distraught she was.
“Lord, oh, Lord, how could Hiram do that?” Lavinia cried. “My Virgil. My dear, kind Virgil. I knew that Hiram was jealous
of everything Virgil had. My husband was more capable and intelligent than Hiram ever could be. But to…to…kill
him?”
“He killed him in order to take control of the plantation and the slaves, and…even…you, Lavinia,” Joshua said
softly. “Yes’m, he plans to have you all to hisself now that Massa Virgil is gone.”
Lavinia sat quietly for a few minutes, absorbing all that she had been told.
She glanced over at Wolf Dancer, whose eyes were on her, a protective softness in their depths.
She wanted to go into his arms and lose herself in the wonders of his embrace.
But she knew that this was not the time, not when she had just learned the true fate of her husband. It wouldn’t be proper
to receive solace from Wolf Dancer when she had just learned the awful fate of the man who had so recently been her husband.
Wolf Dancer saw how she gazed into his eyes. He could tell that she needed him, yet he knew she must struggle through these
horrible moments on her own. She had to prove to herself that she was strong enough to withstand this pain.
Lavinia swallowed hard, wiped tears from her eyes, then reached for Dorey’s hand.
Dorey had sat quietly as she listened to Joshua’s revelation; she hadn’t seemed all that shocked at the news of how her father
had died. Now Lavinia realized that her daughter must have been told the truth.
“Dorey, are you alright?” Lavinia asked. She was amazed that Dorey was showing such strength of character. In the past few
days her daughter’s whole world had changed, had been turned upside down.
“Mama, are you?” Dorey asked, searching her mother’s eyes. “You just learned the full horror of what happened to Papa. Are
…you…alright?”
“Dorey, I am learning day by day how things in one’s life change, and so quickly that one cannot be prepared for it,” Lavinia
said. She affectionately squeezed Dorey’s hand.
“Some of the things I’ve learned are so horrible I’ve felt that I can’t go on,” Lavinia said. “But there are other times,
when I’ve discovered there are more wonderful things than bad ones in my life, and wonderful people whom you suddenly meet
and love.”
She glanced quickly at Wolf Dancer. She blushed and lowered her eyes when she found him gazing at her.
He knew to whom she was referring when she spoke of discovering new love. He knew now without a doubt that she loved him.
But Lavinia was struggling with the guilt she felt for thinking about new love at this time, when only moments ago she had
learned the details of her husband’s death. She slowly turned her face so that when she raised her chin and looked straight
ahead, she wouldn’t be looking directly at this man who had stolen her heart.
“Joshua, did Hiram see you?” she asked softly. “Is that why he shot you with an arrow as well?”
“Dat’s de reason, a’right,” Joshua said dryly. “I came upon de killin’ and tried to get away before Hiram knew I had been
witness to his crime. But he done seen me. I didn’t get turned quick enough to run away before de evil man saw me and shot
dat poisoned arrow into my shoulder. I…fell…into de Bone River and done floated away, hanging on to life as hard
as I could. Hiram thought he had done shot me dead, for there was a lot of blood from de wound. He saw de river turning red
with my blood.
I’ll nevah in my life forget dat lunatic laugh he laughed as I floated down de river.”
“How horrible,” Lavinia said, shuddering as she imagined the events Joshua was describing. Then she looked at him again. “Joshua,
what happened after that? You are here now and well. How is that possible?”
“You knows already that Wolf Dancer saved me,” Joshua said, giving Wolf Dancer a grateful smile.
“Yes, I know that, but how…where…did he find you?” Lavinia asked.
“I found a canoe floatin’ in the river, empty,” Joshua said. “I managed to climb into it. I laid myself down on de bottom,
with dat arrow still stickin’ outta me. I falls asleep. Den when I wakes up I finds Wolf Dancer there. He had put me in his
canoe and was already on his way to his village with me. He took me to the shaman’s home, same as you. It is because of Wolf
Dancer and de shaman dat I am here today, able to tell you everythin’.”
“And we have since become fast friends,” Wolf Dancer said, drawing all eyes to him. “Lavinia, Joshua and I have been making
plans about how to make Hiram pay for what he did, but we wanted to first get you and Joshua’s family away from the plantation,
as well as any slaves who were not too afraid to leave.”
“But things happened to change your plans, didn’t they?” Lavinia murmured. “You didn’t have to go for me, Dorey, or Twila.
It seems we found our way to you, each in a different fashion.”
Wolf Dancer smiled at Lavinia. “One by one you were brought into my life,” he said thickly. “And now all of you, except for
Joshua’s wife, are safe here in my village.”
Tears came to Lavinia’s eyes. “Poor Lorna,” she murmured. “Hiram has much to answer for.”
“His days are now numbered on this earth,” Wolf Dancer replied, reaching over and taking one of Lavinia’s hands. “We will
make him pay for the crimes committed against your families.”
“But how?” Lavinia asked, looking quickly up at Wolf Dancer, savoring the touch of his hand. “Hiram has a powerful friend
in Colonel Cox. If anything happened to Hiram, surely the colonel would retaliate.”
“I wonder if Colonel Cox is really all that friendly with Hiram,” Wolf Dancer said. “I doubt Hiram has any true friends.”
“You are probably right,” Lavinia said, nodding. “I imagine the only reason the colonel puts up with Hiram’s nonsense is because
Hiram goes and plays poker with him. From what I have heard, except for a few times, the colonel always cleans him out. That
is surely the only reason he allows Hiram anywhere near him…to get his money.”
“I know you are anxious to see that man get his comeuppance, and I am willing to see that it is done, but, Lavinia, you must
grow stronger before we take action. You do wish to go with us, do you not?” Wolf Dancer asked.
“Yes, I want to be there,” Lavinia said firmly. “I only wish I had stepped in earlier and stopped hiscruelty, but I truly
didn’t realize that he was such an evil man. And…he was my husband’s brother. Virgil tried to make up for all of the
wrongs Hiram did to others. But now that his brother is no longer there to stop him, Hiram is showing his true colors.”
Lavinia got up and went to Joshua, who was now standing, preparing to leave the house with Twila. She flung herself into his
massive arms and clung to him. “I am so sorry about Lorna and what Hiram did to you,” she sobbed. “I wish I had known the
true evil of that man. He would never have been around long enough to kill my husband…and…your beloved wife. I
would have sent him away no matter how much my husband argued against my doing it. You see, the main part of our wealth came
from my side of the family, not his, but I never spoke of that to my husband. I didn’t want to make him uncomfortable over
it. I didn’t want to take his pride away.”
“You’se done right by him, Lavinia,” Joshua reassured her as he stroked her hair with his long, callused fingers. “You’se
done right by him.”
Wolf Dancer watched the emotional scene, and saw how deeply Lavinia was being comforted by Joshua. Wolf Dancer ached to have
her in his own arms.
He longed to be her protector…the one who made sure no sadness touched her life.
He wanted more than those things.
He wanted her as his wife! He wanted to have children with her.