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

Another thing. If I really loved Matthew, why wasn’t I willing to share that fact with those closest to me? Because of Ma. That left a bad taste in my mouth. Not at her, but at me because I didn’t have the grit to stand up to her prejudices.


Another fortnight passed before we caught up all the work that needed done in the smithy and elsewhere around the place. I’ll admit to some guilt about leaving Pa without help with the coach teams, but Alex and Curtis could lend a hand.


We decided to take our leave directly after the stage from Yanube City arrived on Thursday to change the span of horses one final time. That would make us late in leaving, but we sorta looked forward to star-camping overnight on the trip. I checked the calendar hanging on the wall in the clapboard building used for the comfort of the passengers and circled Thursday, August 14, 1879, with my graphite pencil. The date Matthew and I would begin our new lives.


Chapter 55