Authors: Linda Bridey
Black Fox put a hand up and signaled that the braves were not to harm the brothers.
“Has anyone seen Mikey? Speak now and do not lie!” Black Fox yelled.
Brown Snake said, “He did not come down the trail my way. Sentries, have you seen the boy?”
None of the other sentries had seen him.
Black Fox said, “There is your answer. Even if we had seen him, no harm would come to him. We would simply send him back home.”
“That’s a good thing,” Dean said dismounting. He walked right over to Black Fox and looked up at him. “What’s with disowning Marcus? He didn’t do anything wrong.”
Black Fox gave Dean a warning look. “That is what the council has decided.”
“I know that’s what they decided. It’s bull crap,” Dean said.
He Who Runs appeared and said, “That’s funny coming from you. Isn’t that what you did?”
Dean gave him a malicious smile. “Yep. I did. You’re right. But it wasn’t for the reasons you think. It had nothing to do with his Lakota blood. He kept you all secret from us for years. I felt like he should have been able to tell me anything and I would have understood. That was my problem. I may have disowned him, but I never said I’d kill him if he came around. I never threatened any of you over it, either. I never forbid any of our other family from seeing him.”
Dean turned to the rest of them and glared at them defiantly. “I also never would have threatened his children and wife, people you say you supposedly love. You don’t just stop loving someone who you were so close to. I learned that lesson and Marcus and I have worked things out. But in this case, you’ve disowned an innocent man and his wife and children. Little kids who don’t understand why they can’t come see their family.
My
children who can’t come see their family. It’s disgusting what you’ve done.” He looked at Black Fox again. “You may have turned your backs on Marcus, but I won’t turn my back on Owl just because he’s Lakota. I’m standing by him. Too bad you couldn’t do the same for Marcus. C’mon, Seth. Let’s get out of here.”
Dean mounted and he and Seth turned their horses around and galloped from camp.
Mikey had gone in town to see his Uncle Owl, not to the camp. Jack had admonished his little brother fiercely, but had ended up letting him see Owl. Mikey had tried not to cry when he saw him, but he couldn’t help it. Owl had comforted the boy the best he could and told him to try not to worry. He told Mikey his favorite Lakota story and then Jack had taken him back to the ranch while Sammi stayed at the office.
The boy had been alternately hugged and scolded by his parents and then put to bed. Jack had gone back to the sheriff’s office. He’d just sat down when Mitch and Joe walked in. They went back to see Owl.
“Hey, how’s my favorite prisoner?” Joe said with a smile.
“Bored. Worried. Missing Hannah. Take your pick,” Owl said as he joined the mayor and sheriff at the cell door.
“Well, you got your way. The council agreed that it would be in the best interests of the town for your case to be decided by a special trial by the townspeople. They want this over with as quickly as you do, apparently. The trial will be in one week. Owl, you have to know that whatever they decide, it’ll be binding. If they find you guilty, I won’t be able to stop an execution,” Joe said.
Owl sighed and nodded. “I understand and I’ll accept whatever decision they make. Thank you for helping me.”
“You’re welcome,” Joe said. “It’s going to be decided by vote. People will have a chance to speak either on your behalf or against you, so be prepared for a lot of insults. Whatever is said, do not react. You can’t show any signs of anger. Understand?”
“Yes, I understand,” Owl said.
Joe nodded. “Good. I admire you for how calm you are about this. I sure wouldn’t be. Hang in there, Owl.”
The two men left him for the night and Owl lay down on his cot. He might appear calm on the outside, but inside, his stomach churned and his heartbeat ran fast as he thought about the possibility of never being able to see Hannah’s face or hold her again if they found him guilty.
He closed his eyes and thought about giving Hannah her first riding lesson. The joy on her face as she’d closed her eyes and held her arms out while her horse had cantered along had enchanted him. She was a courageous woman, his Hannah. She’d come to Dawson expecting one kind of future, but fate had intervened and left her stranded instead.
Not to be deterred, she had turned those unfortunate events into something positive. She’d found work and made friends. He smiled as he thought,
she wasn’t afraid to become involved with me despite my being Lakota, either.
As he looked back on all of this, Owl knew that he wanted to marry her, but now there were so many obstacles in the way that he didn’t know if that would be possible even if he were set free.
Silent tears leaked from the corners of his eyes as he lay in the dark thinking about all that could have been.
During the next week, preparations for the trial were made. It was an unusual situation for the town. Joe and the council decided that they wanted it to be an orderly affair and were taking every precaution to ensure that it would be. Each side would have three speakers who would have no more than ten minutes to talk. After that, the votes would be cast and counted by Pastor John so that no one could say the vote was rigged. The trial would be held at the community center so there was plenty of room.
Elliot Bradbury was the only other witness besides Hannah who had actually seen the act itself. Both of them were to testify. Hannah was eager to tell her story and Elliot promised to be truthful about the event. George Levine, the president of the council would direct the proceedings to keep things on track. He knew neither Owl nor Clive very well and would be able to stay impartial.
Joe was pleased with how things were coming together, but still wasn’t hopeful that this would be better than a trial in front of a judge. He did feel that it was better than vigilante justice and had been worried that Clive’s family was going to amass a posse to attack the jail and kill Owl outright along with a lot of other people before the case would get to trial.
Those kinds of things had happened not so long ago in and around Dawson and it seemed that no one on the council wanted that kind of violence in their town again. While unusual, all agreed that this was the best course of action. Once the event was set up, Joe had ceased to go to see Owl and he didn’t confer with anyone on either side about anything more. He would attend the trial as a bystander and not interfere.
Hannah spent as much time with Owl as possible and when Sammi was working, she usually let Hannah into the cell with Owl. Jack set up a checker board outside Owl’s cell and taught him how to play the game. If Owl was bored before, he wasn’t any more. There seemed to be one visitor or another to see him.
Owl missed his Lakota family, though. He wanted to see his brothers again in case the vote didn’t go his way and he was put to death. Owl had wanted to speak for himself, but Seth didn’t think that was a good idea.
“What would you say?” Seth had asked.
Owl had replied, “That he was going to kill Hannah so I killed him. Why does it have to be so complicated?”
“Do you want to live?” Seth had asked.
“Yes.”
“Then you keep your mouth shut.”
Therefore he’d chosen Marcus, Jake, and Tessa to speak for him. Dean had questioned the decision for his wife to speak, but Seth thought it was a great idea.
“You know what kind of speeches Tessa writes. Just think what she’ll come up with. Plus, it doesn’t hurt that she’s a woman. I don’t think Clive’s family has a woman speaking for them. We gotta keep this under wraps. No one tells who his speakers are gonna be,” Seth said.
Dean would not be sitting on the council the day of the trial since he was close with the defendant. Everyone was trying to keep it fair and Dean felt that he should recuse himself for that exact purpose. He could vote, but that was it. He and Marcus had had a long talk about what had happened with his Lakota family.
He’d confronted Marcus about why he’d had to hear about it from Owl. Marcus had said that he hadn’t told anyone but Owl and Claire. He hadn’t been able to talk about it yet because it had still been too raw. Dean had understood and his anger had quickly dissipated.
The night before the trial, Sammi and Mitch guarded the jail. Hannah was allowed to stay as long as she wanted. She and Owl were given a lot of privacy since this might be the last evening they would get to spend together. Sammi would have let Hannah into Owl’s cell, but she knew Mitch would never go for that. However, when Mitch left to stretch his legs a little, she ran back to Owl’s cell and opened the door.
“Make it quick,” she said and kept watch on the door.
Owl and Hannah needed no further urging. They quickly embraced and Owl kissed her long and hard. Hannah’s hands had fisted in his shirt as desire swept through her. When Sammi whispered for Hannah to get out of the cell, Owl let her go and Hannah saw the same hunger in his dark eyes. Sammi yanked her from the cell and closed it quietly. There wasn’t time to lock it properly before Mitch poked his head around the corner.
“Hannah, it’s time to leave. I’m sorry,” he said. His brown eyes held genuine regret. “It’s getting late. Jake’s gonna take you home since he closed the bar early.”
Hannah nodded. “All right. Thank you.”
Mitch looked at his wife. “Lock it, Sammi,” he said.
“What?” Sammi said.
“Lock the cell door,” Mitch said.
“How did you know?” Sammi said as she followed his order.
“Because I know you and if I wasn’t the sheriff, I would have done the same thing,” he said with a wink and then went to his desk.
The three of them looked at each other and laughed. Sammi left them alone for a few more moments. Owl and Hannah didn’t speak. Their eyes said all they needed to say to each other. Then Hannah turned and left quickly. She followed Jake to their horses and mounted her horse. As Jake escorted her home, Hannah tried not to cry, but it was a losing battle and by the time they got to her house, her shoulders shook with sobs.
Jake got her off her horse and he helped her inside. He got her situated on her sofa and then tended to her horse. By the time that Jake came back inside Hannah had composed herself. Jake made sure she would be all right before leaving again.
Elliot Bradbury testified first the next morning. The quiet store manager was very nervous about talking in front of so many people, but he did his duty like the good citizen he was.
“I was in the men’s room when I heard Clive yelling at Hannah Fairbanks. Then I heard Clive say that he was going to cut her throat if someone tried anything. I didn’t know who he was talking to. I was going to come to her defense but when I came out of the bathroom behind Clive, he turned to look at me and that’s when I saw Owl throw his knife and kill Clive. Then Sammi arrested Owl. That’s it.”
Hannah settled in the witness chair next and said, “I had gone to the ladies’ room and when I came out, Clive was waiting for me. He made rude remarks to me about me not marrying him even though I was supposed to have. I’m sure everyone knows what happened when I first came here, so I won’t go into that, except to say that Clive was a manipulative and deceitful person.”
“Anyway, we exchanged words and he wouldn’t let me pass to rejoin my friends and Owl. He grabbed me and slapped me. Then he shook me, hurting my arms, and when I fought back, he punched me and began to strangle me.”
Hannah had to stop there to compose herself as the memories came back to her then. She’d been suppressing them and now that she was actually talking about the attack again, they surfaced.
“I couldn’t breathe and my face hurt so badly. I couldn’t see right out of my left eye and I felt as if he were crushing my windpipe. Then he was behind me and put a knife against my throat and threatened to kill me. I didn’t know why, but I felt him turn around, and I saw Owl throw his knife. If Owl hadn’t, I would be dead now. It wouldn’t have mattered to me, who threw the knife, I would be grateful to them for saving my life.”
Owl watched her go back to sit with Jamie and Lacey and longed to go to her. The whole time she’d been testifying about the detestable and cowardly things Clive had done to her, he’d clamped one hand around the other to prevent making fists. Marcus had also warned him against showing any sign of aggression. He stopped looking at Hannah as the first speaker took the floor.
Clive’s side had requested to speak first after the witnesses and since Owl’s side didn’t have any objection to that, they were allowed. Clive’s brother Reggie spoke about what a good brother Clive had always been and what a hard worker Clive was.
Marcus made notes as Reggie spoke, which seemed to unnerve the man. Claire had told Marcus that lawyers did this during trials she had gone to see while she still lived in Pittsburgh. Reggie kept looking at Marcus and getting off track, which ate up some of the man’s time. Marcus’ tactic didn’t work with Morris Albertson, Clive’s best friend. Morris was a good speaker and made an impassioned plea for justice for his friend who didn’t deserve to be killed, especially by a vicious Indian like Owl.
Owl sat looking straight ahead. He was handcuffed and Jack and Sammi flanked him during the trial. He listened to the many insults hurled at him by Reggie and never flinched. He’d been adamant about wearing his own clothing and Hannah thought he looked incredibly handsome and proud. It didn’t help his case, though, because he looked like what Reggie was trying to make him out to be.
When Reggie finished, there was a general outcry from the crowd to just hang Owl right then. Mitch and his deputies had to quiet things down before the trial could go on. Vince Cooper was the last speaker for Clive’s side.
“I’ve been friends with Clive since we were kids,” Vince said, “and I know that he had faults. I wasn’t blind to them, but he was there for me a lot when I had rough times. Nobody’s perfect. But Clive worked hard to make a living and he was lonely, which was why he put an ad in the paper for a bride.”
“When Hannah got her, he was so happy. Yeah, he shouldn’t have done so much lying to her, but he was gonna make it up to her. She wouldn’t listen, though. Clive got mad but left her alone after that one time. The next thing anyone knew, she was takin’ up with him,” he said pointing a finger at Owl. “It drove Clive crazy, but he didn’t say anything. That Indian did, though. He told Clive to stay away from Hannah or there’d be big trouble.”
Marcus looked at Owl in shock and saw from the small muscle that twitched in Owl’s jaw that Vince spoke the truth. Owl didn’t give any other outward sign that anyone else would have picked up on, but Marcus did.
Owl had forgotten about his threat to Clive and now saw how it hurt his case. He made no reaction, however.
The crowd reacted to Vince’s accusation and Mitch and the other officers had to settle them down again.
“So I think he was just waiting for his chance to attack Clive and when he saw it, he killed Clive like the animal he is,” Vince yelled.
Hannah shouted, “He’s not an animal!”
George Levine said, “That’ll be enough, young lady. Everyone better settle down or else.”
Lacey and Jamie tried to sooth Hannah.
Vince said, “When you make your decision, think about how you would feel if your brother or son or friend were killed by the likes of him. Would you want him running around again, ready to kill anyone who crossed him? Do you want him allowed around your women and children? Think about that when you vote.”
Vince sat down and Marcus gathered his thoughts as he stood up. He wore his suit and brand new doctor’s coat. As he took his place in front of the audience, he stood straight and said, “Today I am speaking as a physician and not the defendant’s brother. I could stand up here and tell you about what a good brother Owl has been to me since I was seventeen and other similar things, but I’m more interested in the medical facts pertaining to the injuries that Ms. Fairbanks sustained.”
With Hannah’s permission, Marcus read his notes from her chart and then went into how much force would have had to be applied to leave the kinds of bruises Hannah had sustained and give her a concussion. When he was done, he thanked the audience for being allowed to speak and sat down.
Jake Henderson got up and stated that whenever Owl came to the Watering Hole, the Lakota man never caused any trouble. He was quiet and rarely had more than one or two beers a night.
“He’s the perfect customer. He’s certainly caused a lot less trouble than Joe Dwyer has over the years,” Jake said.
Joe said, “Hey, don’t get me involved here. I’m behaving myself…for a change.”
There were many people who laughed.
George had to rein the crowd in again. “What did I tell you all? Now knock it off! Finish up, Jake.”
Jake didn’t have anything else to say and took his seat.
Tessa stood up and people started whispering about a woman speaking. Tessa tried to quiet her nerves as she faced the crowd.
“Good morning, everyone. Many of you know that Owl spent the winter with our family after being severely injured last fall. Yes, we are friends, but I don’t want to talk about that right now. My children come first in my life, which is the way most mothers feel. We have three young children.
While he stayed with us, Owl was entrusted many times with the care of all of our children and was never anything but kind and loving. Our children adore him and he loves them, too. As a mother, I always worry about the safety of my children. I would never let anyone care for them that I deemed inappropriate. I have never seen any sign of aggression in Owl and would happily still allow him to take care of our children and my husband feels the same way.”
“As a woman, I can tell you that the kind of experience Hannah went through is every woman’s nightmare. If someone was choking the life out of me and had beaten me, I would want my attacker stopped, even if it meant that person’s life was taken. What you should be thinking about as you vote is what would you have done if you saw a man beating and strangling your wife, betrothed, sister, or mother? If you only had a split second to save the life of a woman you loved, what would you do?”
As she sat down, George Levine began outlining the procedure for voting. Mitch made sure that things were kept orderly as the voting commenced and then delivered the ballots to Pastor John who counted them in front of everyone. When he was done he wrote something on a piece of paper and gave it to George.
George gave nothing away as he said, “The defendant has been found not guilty.”
The community center erupted and pandemonium ensued. Sammi and Jack stood protectively by Owl as Mitch, Seth, and Luke worked on calming everyone down. Sammi unlocked Owl’s handcuffs and said, “Congratulations, friend,” in Lakota.
Owl smiled at her and said, “Thank you.”
Jack tried to not smile a lot, but couldn’t help it. Owl looked for Hannah and saw her trying to push her way through the crowd. He left Sammi and Jack and hurried towards her. She broke free of the swarm of people and threw her arms around him. He held her close and felt her shake with sobs.
He kissed her hair and murmured soothingly to her. Then he was surrounded by family and friends, many of whom had tears of joy running down their faces. Marcus’ hug was as enthusiastic as everything else he did and Owl laughed as his brother rocked back and forth with him.
Owl was in a state of happy shock. He’d thought for sure that he was going to be swinging from a rope by the end of the day. He looked around at the throng of supporters and couldn’t believe how many there were. Jake decided that he was going to open the Watering Hole for a celebration and the happy crowd started pulling Owl and Hannah along.
As Marcus left the community center, he saw Raven standing a little ways off and ran over to the boy.
“Hey, buddy. It’s good to see you, but what are you doing here?” Marcus asked.
Raven’s big, dark eyes were sad and he looked scared. “It’s Mother. She’s having the baby and I think she’s going to die. Please help her, uncle. She needs you.”
Marcus closed his eyes for a moment and heard Black Fox’s warning in his head again. Marcus’ oath as a doctor had to come before concern for his own life, however, and his ethical code wouldn’t let him stay away when he could help Wind Spirit.
“Ok. I’ll come. But you can’t tell anyone, ok? Now here’s what I want you to do when you get to camp…”
Raven listened intently to his uncle as he was given instructions.
Marcus slipped through the woods. He didn’t take any of the trails into the camp. He moved cautiously, utilizing his ability to move silently. If there was ever a time that he needed it, it was now. The direction he travelled would lead him to an area that was close to the back of Black Fox’s tipi. He hoped Raven had been able to accomplish what he’d asked. When he arrived at the clearing, Marcus stopped and listened to what was going on around him.
He heard women’s voices talking inside the tipi and didn’t like what he was hearing. He saw that a slit had been cut in the back of the tipi and smiled. Raven had come through for him. Marcus made sure no one was looking as he ran the ten feet from the woods to the tipi and shoved his way through the opening.
Squirrel was with Wind Spirit and she almost screamed in fright when she unexpectedly saw Marcus. Marcus put a finger to his lips and did the same to Wind Spirit. Marcus began assessing the situation and whispered instructions to Squirrel about making certain teas he needed. They needed water. Squirrel left the tipi. Outside she told Black Fox where she was going. Wind Spirit cried out during a very painful contraction and Black Fox popped his head into the tipi.
Marcus froze as his eyes met his brother’s. A smile briefly passed over the chief’s face before Black Fox quickly shut the flap again. Marcus grinned and turned back to Wind Spirit. Squirrel returned and helped make the teas. He was concerned by the amount of blood Wind Spirit was losing. Marcus instructed Squirrel to give Wind Spirit the tea for pain and he waited as long as he could for it to take effect, but the situation was becoming dire.
“The shoulders are stuck. We need to get this baby out right now,” Marcus whispered to Squirrel.
“What do we do?” Squirrel asked.
“It’s called an episiotomy. It’s a last resort. I’m going to have to make an incision so the baby can pass through,” Marcus said. He told Wind Spirit what he was going to do and Squirrel gave her a leather thong to bite down on. “I’m starting now.”
Marcus worked as quickly as possible to cause Wind Spirit the least amount of pain and to make sure the baby would be all right. Once the incision was made, Marcus was able to get the baby’s shoulders through quickly. He smiled as he told Wind Spirit that she had given birth to a healthy baby girl. In his excitement he’d forgotten to whisper. Black Fox coughed loudly to cover Marcus’ gaff and Marcus almost laughed.