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

And I rode away understanding how clinging to selfish grief for a departed wastelakapihad cost me the love of a good man.


The Moon of Hard Winter, or wani yetu wi,called by the white man November, was well underway before Tiger and Beard, normally placid dogs, set up a racket and took off on a run to the north. I walked up the stubby hill behind the house and spotted a lone horseman. I recognized Star before I discerned the identity of the rider. My heart took a leap and almost drew an unseemly cry of joy from my throat. When Ethan raised an arm, I took off my hat and waved a welcome before shouting to Rachel Ann and the boys that our errant cowhand had returned.


Chapter 38