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

Then Ethan delivered some news hard to accept. Dancing Fox had appeared before the council and declared Winter Bird to be his second wife. This was not as common as it once had been, but everyone seemed to accept the arrangement. Why was this so difficult to bear? It was not unexpected. Yet perhaps I’d harbored a hope that Bird’s steady love of these past few years would win him back to me. Now he was gone, and I must accept the fact.


Ides and Gabe both insisted on sleeping at the big house that night, so Ethan abandoned his own night chamber and spread his blankets alongside theirs in the great room. Although relieved by the news the drive had ended well and pleased Ethan was back, I still had trouble going to sleep. It might have had something to do with all the giggling and whispering in the next room. Of course, the confirmation of Bird and Dancing Fox’s union likely played a part, as well.


Chapter 39