A love between two very different men is put to the test. John Strobaw, a young mixed-blood, grows up in the relative security of a family farm after the Civil War. His mother raises her family as Americans, but his foster brother, Matthew Brandt feels his red blood more keenly and leaves to ride with Crazy Horse. John doesn’t understand the longing he feels for his absent companion until he has his first sexual experience with a man and he only thinks of Matthew. After the murder of Crazy Horse, Matthew makes his way back home. John fights hard against a growing lust for Matthew, but when he ultimately succumbs, he is lost to this handsome, dusky warrior. Just when the future looks bright, another suitor appears -- a handsome Cheyenne army scout, and trouble looms on the horizon.

Echoes of the Flute

Midafternoon, I noticed Min hanging around me. Well, I’d noticed before, but I was too busy playing ball or participating in a seed-spitting contest or pitching horseshoes to pay her any mind. When I finally plopped down on the edge of the porch, she came over to sit beside me and dimpled prettily.


“You sure do play good town ball.” That’s probably what they called round ball where she came from. Of course, it was baseball now. I’d hit a couple of pitches and managed to slide home once.


“Thanks. Just takes a good eye.” Uh oh. Shouldn’t have said that. Now she’d talk about my eyes. Then it’d be my hair.


“You sure do have nice ones.” Her cheeks turned as red as our tom turkey’s beard. “I mean, strange ones. But they’re pretty too.”


“Somebody’s always talking about my weird eyes.”


She made a moue with her lips. “They’re not weird. They’re…well, pretty. All that gold in them.” Then her gaze moved upward. “And that hair.” Her hand fluttered.


Chapter 15