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 we have to get Gabe to the fort,” Gideon added.


Ides, standing beside his mother suddenly straightened. “Why?”


He placed his hand on his son’s shoulder. “We need to make arrangements at the cemetery.”


Ides surprised us all. Tears sprang from his eyes even as his small frame took on a rebellious stance. “No!” His reaction was all the more surprising because the child never cried. Not even when in physical pain.


“You know what has to be done, Ides,” his father said. “Gabe has to have a proper burial. We have to say goodbye to your brother and let him go. We will always have memories of him. But we’ll have to be satisfied with that.”


“No!” The child screamed again. “Don’t put him at the fort. He won’t know anyone there. He won’t have anyone to play with.”


“Where would you have us put him, child?” Rachel asked quietly.


Ides rushed to her and clasped her arm tightly. “Teacher’s Mead. A lot of people he knows would be with him there.”


Chapter 57