Thirty-two-year-old mixed blood John Strobaw, known to the Sioux as Medicine Hair, returns to his Turtle Crick Farm after a six-year exile on the Pine Ridge Reservation. Grief-stricken at the loss of his mate and lover Matthew Brand, known as Shambling Bear, at the Battle of Wounded Knee, he struggles to become a farmer again while fighting an internal battle to let go of the past and face his future. Will that future be with his best friend Winter Bird or with Pretty Face, an outrageous flirt who hasn’t yet decided who he is?<br><br>But before he can come to grips with this, John faces several battles. Will his former friends and neighbors accept him now the Indian War has come to an end? Can John forgive those same friends and neighbors after the murderous ambush of the Sioux by the 7th Cavalry at Wounded Knee? Or survive the hostility of an Indian-hating sheriff named Charles Landreth and protect himself against the mindless fear and loathing for Two Spirits, men who love men?

Wastelakapi…Beloved

I was so lost in my head that I almost missed Captain Harris’s admission Gideon had contacted Pine Ridge and requested a detail. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Iron Head’s eyes dart my way.


“It is a powerful man who makes the army do his bidding,” the chief said in Lakota. “Never heard of a blood getting them to do nothing for tribesmen before this.”


“It was my brother-in-law who sent the telegraph, not me.”


“Would he have done it had you not been with us?”


The question was unanswerable, so I ignored it. “After you sell the cattle to the agent, what do you intend to do?”


“We will keep some of them to feed my fire over the winter. Next year, I’ll come to you and let you cheat me on another purchase.”


“Cheat you?Many more such purchases and all I’ll have left is a breechclout and a pair of ragged moccasins.” We both laughed. “Winter Bird is a good cowman. You would do well to listen to his advice.”


Chapter 36