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

How Gideon had found time to let them know what was going on, I didn’t know, but my sister was all agog over an orphaned baby at Turtle Crick. She toted a bag full of things needed to care for an infant. Items left over from Ides and Gabe, I supposed.


We arrived at Turtle Crick to find that Libby had returned to the Liberty but left Dex to keep an eye on Ethan and the baby. Dex’s relief at spying Rachel Ann come through the door was palpable. He promptly turned over the infant girl to my sister.


“Ethan’s got some fever, but otherwise, he’s doing fine. Baby’s sound as a ripe pumpkin,” he said.


One look at my mate’s sweat-covered face confirmed Dex’s judgment. Indeed, he had the fever typical of gunshot wounds, but his eyes were seeing, not wild and vacant. I’d work the night through to keep the worst of it at bay. No matter my own weakened state.


“Are you all right? What happened to you?” Ethan exclaimed in a tremulous voice when I took him a mug of cool water.


Chapter 92