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

“It will be good to see them again after snowmelt.”


“Aye. I’ll be curious to see how much the boy will grow by then.”


“He will be as fine a man as his father someday.”


Not long after the Haleworthys had left, heavy clouds rolled in from the west. At the edge of evening, large snowflakes began to fall. Ethan stood at the window watching, his face pulled into a frown.


“They should be home by now,” I said.


He turned and smiled. He knew how to calculate time and travel as well as I did, but he needed reassurance.


That night as we lay abed after an energetic and satisfying tumble, my lover spoke into the darkness. “Tell me about this pandemic.”


So, I explained that diseases sometimes seem to sweep the globe, one place after another claiming many victims in each place. He listened in silence and then asked.


“Does that mean hunger is pandemic?”


“Perhaps. But maybe it’s only endemic. Centered in certain places.”


I touched his cheek. “Like reservations.” 20


Chapter 63