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

“Jack, what you doing off the rez. Heard tell everbody’s pinned up tight.”


“Dunno.” Jack looked surprised that I hadn’t introduced myself. “Who are you?”


“That ain’t no Injun name I ever heard tell of,” a thin, middling man of nervous nature said.


“It’s the one my grandpa gave me,” I said.


The man with the dirty blond hair reached out and knocked my hat off. “Let’s git a good look at you.”


Neither of the men had pistols, but a knife could hide out in a boot or a belt. Trouble, even it if was of their making, wouldn’t come out well for me. I sat as I was.


“Them pigeons look good eating size,” blondie said.


His voice died at a grunt from Jack. “Medicine Hair. You’re Medicine Hair.”


“Who in the blazes is that?” the blond man said.


The dark, nervous one clutched his arm. “Don’t rile that one, Hank. Come on, let’s go.”


Chapter 81