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 thought for a moment Ethan was going to rebel at getting on the train, but after we arrived at the depot from boarding our horses and buckboard at the stable, he overcame his reluctance and stepped up into the passenger car. Gideon saw to storing his son’s body in a baggage car and elected to ride there for the entire trip. Rachel Ann insisted on joining him in his vigil. Under protest, Ides remained with Ethan and me.


Ethan clutched his knees tightly for the first ten miles of the trip, but gradually relaxed when nothing catastrophic occurred. Strange that a man who’d stood his ground while a passel of cattle-rustling killers nearly ran him down, feared a mere mechanical thing like a locomotive. We all have our demons, I suppose.


Either this was not the same car I’d ridden on previously or the railroad people had outfitted it with windows against the winter weather. Even so, the car was chilly. How were Gideon and Rachel Ann faring in a drafty baggage car?


Chapter 58