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

“He came here last winter. Been living in the bachelor’s tipi.”


“Everyone here is capable of it when the whites try to tell us what to do.”


“I can see that with the soldiers. But a young woman?” I asked.


“I’ve known him since we were boys together. And my answer is no,” Ethan said with conviction.


“I don’t know. He gets wild when he’s drunk.” Bird added a question mark to my mate’s certainty.


“Nothing. He could be passed out with the horse herd somewhere.”


After looking at matters from several directions, we all agreed to go on about our business and leave Big Wolf to his own devices.


Chapter 80