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

Only then did we gather in the great room of the stone house Billy Strobaw and Cut Hand had built almost sixty years ago so I could introduce Ethan to an impressive number of unknown faces, some as Indian as he and others as European as Gideon. The children among us displayed a melding of the two, but I noted that the Indian traits seemed stronger among them. During this time, Rachel Ann remained by the window, keeping a close eye as snowflakes sought to cover her remaining child sitting atop the grave of his slain brother.


Chapter 59