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

After the stage pulled out for Fort Ramson, we had a family meeting that set the girls—and Ma—to crying. My eyes were pooling, but I blinked back the tears. Wouldn’t do for a nearly nineteen-year-old man to bawl even if he were feeling as low as a snake’s belly. Alex just looked more solemn than usual—if that was possible. Pa wanted to go settle Otter’s affairs, but he was needed at the Mead. Alex could have gone, but he was knee deep in newly planted fields and resisted any suggestion he should go. So that left me. Which suited me just fine.


There wasn’t just Otter’s body to be taken care of. He’d kept a portion of his silver and gold pieces in a hidey-hole under the cabin. That was likely where the deed to the farmland was, too. And perhaps a piece of paper that told what happens to things after the Major died.


Chapter 25