Chapter Twenty-four
Summer and Iron Knife ran from the carriage to the door. She rang the bell again and again, conscious of the precious moments slipping away. Finally she heard Evans coming to answer it. She got one look at the sleepy butler’s shocked face as he saw Iron Knife and tried to close the door again, but Iron Knife kicked it open and pushed him aside. “Out of our way, or I may slit your throat!”
With a frightened cry, Evans turned and fled.
Summer laughed. “That’s the only time I’ve seen him lose his composure in all these years. We have to hurry.” They ran up the stairs. Summer awakened Mrs. O’Malley and quickly explained.
“Ah, lamb, are ye sure you’re doin’ the right thing now?”
“I’m following my heart; that’s all I know,” Summer answered.
The plump widow smiled. “ ’Tis a shame your dear mother didn’t. I’ll help you.”
“We’ve got to hurry,” Summer said. “Any moment, I expect Father to show up.”
“And you’re afraid of him, lass?”
Summer paused. Without thinking, she reached to touch the little gold locket around her neck under the mourning dress. Like her mother, all her life, Summer had cowered before Silas and his angry bluster. He had kept the whole family in line with his fury, and only rarely did any of them dare confront him. It wasn’t too late. “I will stand up to him if need be,” Summer said with conviction. “I’m going with my man!”
Mrs. O’Malley brought out Priscilla’s little suitcase. “She would like you to use it for this, lamb, I’m sure.”
“I suppose it’s poetic justice,” Summer answered. They packed only a few things. “Where I’m going,” Summer said, “I lead a simple life; I won’t need much.”
As she started down the hall toward the nursery, Angela stuck her head out of her door, looking sleepy and rumpled. “What’s the confusion about?”
Summer paused. “Angela, I’m leaving; returning to Colorado.”
Had she expected dismay or sadness from her sister? Angela actually grinned. “Good! I’m sick of competing with your children for Father’s attention.”
“Angela,” Mrs. O’Malley scolded, “that’s not nice!”
“I am tired of being ‘nice,’ being shuttled aside while Father makes plans to hand over everything to Lance. I want it all.”
Summer smiled sadly at her. “I pity you, little sister, you’ll have it all, all right. I hope you don’t end up like King Midas.”
Leaving Angela staring after them, Summer and Iron Knife went to the nursery, where she introduced him to his two new daughters. The babies were asleep, but Iron Knife gently touched their soft cheeks, his dark eyes filled with tenderness and awe. Then he gathered his three sleepy children around him and held them close.
“My children,” Iron Knife murmured in Cheyenne, “I’ve come to take you home.”
Storm said, “I thought you wouldn’t come for us.”
“Never!” Iron Knife said. “Nothing could separate me from my family.”
Garnet had her arms around his neck, squealing in Cheyenne, “Daddy! Daddy!”
Even Lance appeared delighted as Summer and the plump maid dressed the children quickly.
Summer took a sleeping baby and grasped Lance’s hand. Mrs. O’Malley carried the other twin and took Storm’s hand. Iron Knife picked up Garnet and took one of the suitcases. “Have we got everything? Let’s go, then, before Silas gets here!”
“Too late!” Mrs. O’Malley gasped. “Me thinks I just heard a carriage crossing the cobblestones out front!”
Iron Knife looked at Summer,. and when their eyes met, she knew he was asking if she had the nerve to defy her father for the sake of love.
“Let’s go!” Summer said. The three of them and the children hurried down the stairs. Just as they reached the front hall, the door burst open, and Silas stood there, red-faced and angry.
“Not so fast, young lady!”
Summer took a deep breath. “Father, don’t waste your time. I’m going to do now what I should have done last spring; I’m going back west!”
The butler came into the hall just then, and Silas gestured to him. “Quick, Evans, go for the police!”
“Yes sir!” Before anyone could stop him, the man was out the front door.
Silas smiled. “Now, while we wait, let’s be reasonable, shall we, and discuss this?”
Iron Knife shook his head. “I love Summer and I’m taking her back with me.”
“And what can you offer her?” Father’s face was distorted with sarcastic scorn.
“Love,” Iron Knife said simply, “only love.”
“Love!” Silas’ lip curled, and his eyes grew colder. “Sentimental twaddle; that’s all.” He shook his finger in Summer’s face. “I haven’t gone to this much trouble to keep you here all these months so you can throw it all away for silly claptrap!”
Summer took a deep breath. “Father, get out of our way or we’ll miss our train.”
“The police will be here any minute,” Silas said. “Don’t do something foolish that you’ll regret, Summer; don’t throw it all away for this—this savage.”
Iron Knife’s face darkened with anger. “If you were a younger man and not the honored father of my woman, I’d kill you for that insult.”
“Neither of you appreciate what I can do for the children,” Silas shouted. “Why do you think I went to all that trouble with the fake telegrams? Someone in this family had to do something to separate you two. I want my grandchildren raised as Van Schuylers!”
Summer looked at him a long moment, then at Iron Knife. Their eyes met, and she saw the sudden realization there of what the old man had done. “You are despicable, Father. I don’t know how you can live with yourself with your plots and lies!”
“Oh, you’re so high and mighty, just like your mother!” Silas roared like a wounded lion. “She thought love meant everything and look what it got her!”
“And where did your money get you?” Summer asked.
He reacted as if she had struck him hard, and his shoulders slumped. Suddenly, she felt very sorry for him. “Goodbye, Father.”
She wanted to reach out to him, leave him on some sympathetic note, but he only glared at her. She was free of his fury, of his bullying tactics, she realized now. “Goodbye, Mrs. O’Malley, and Godspeed. Come on, Iron Knife, let’s get out of here before Evans returns with the police.”
The Irish maid hugged her and dabbed at her eyes as she handed over her little charges. Gathering up the children, they brushed past Silas and went out the door into the night.
Austin rushed to help them into the carriage and shouted orders to the driver. As the carriage raced down the drive, Summer said, “Austin, we’ll have to hurry; Evans has gone for the police.”
“Has he now?” Even in the moonlight, she could see him smile as he lit his pipe. “Actually, Silas only thinks he’s gone for the law. In reality, I gave that pompous rascal a good whack on the head and laid him behind the shrubbery.”
“What?” Iron Knife said.
Austin chuckled, obviously quite pleased with himself. “By the time Silas finds him and they do send for the police, I expect to have you on that train. It leaves in about fifteen minutes. By the way, while you were in my conservatory, I ran up to my room and got a few clothes for you, Iron Knife. I’m sure you will want to change on the train so you won’t be so conspicuous.”
Summer leaned back against the seat and sighed with relief, holding the sleeping twins close. “Austin, you amaze me.”
He smiled and smoked his pipe. “I’m just being a good friend; that’s all.”
The children were cuddled down around them, all half-asleep as the carriage raced toward the station in the chill night. They caught the train just as it was about to pull out. Summer hugged Austin. “Thank you, I can never repay you.”
“I did it for friendship and love,” Austin said gruffly. Then he blinked as if to clear his eyes of a mist, waved, turned and disappeared into the darkness, walking rapidly.
As they boarded the train, Iron Knife said, “He loved you; he was good to help me.”
“I know.” She sank down on the seat as the train whistled and chugged out of the station. She didn’t look back at the lights of the city as they pulled away.
Back at the house, Silas stood staring into his library fire, wondering what was keeping Evans and the police. If they hurried, they could still take her off that train. Summer wasn’t legally married to that savage. Silas would have her placed in a mental hospital and that savage in jail.
He heard the door behind him creak. Summer. She had reconsidered and come back. With a great sense of relief, he turned. “I wondered if you’d—”
It was Angela. She stood in the doorway in her nightgown holding her cat. “They’re gone?”
He didn’t like the smug satisfaction in her voice. “They’re gone; and after everything I did for them.”
“You still have me. In fact, I’m all you’ve got left, Father.”
“I had such plans,” he muttered.
“I do, too. You underestimate me.”
He only grunted and returned to staring into the fire. The big house seemed so very empty. The wind had picked up and rattled the shingles and whistled through the eaves. It almost sounded like a woman’s mocking laughter. Priscilla. She had won after all. He had everything and he had nothing. What is a man profited if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul?
He had forgotten that there was anyone else in the room until the cat meowed. “Go to bed!” he bellowed.
Angela watched his stooped shoulders a long moment. He really was getting old and weak. It was only a matter of time before his anger pushed him into a stroke or heart attack. By then, Angela would be grown up, and she would push him aside, take over the helm of the Van Schuyler empire. She would show him what ruthless ambition was; she was more of a Van Schuyler than any of them. “Good night, Father.” She paused in the doorway and smirked. “Oh, by the way, Evans never went for the police. I think he’s out front someplace in the shrubbery.”
“How do you know—?” He knew better than ask that. Silas watched his youngest leave the room and heard her go up the stairs. Once again, he remembered the history of the Blackledge family and shuddered with apprehension. Perhaps he had underestimated Angela; perhaps Priscilla would finally have her revenge after all.
Summer settled herself in the train seat next to Iron Knife. The babies were asleep, but the other three were chattering with excitement as they pressed small faces against the glass and stared out at the passing darkness. “Happy, my love?”
He hugged her against him and kissed her. “Happier than you’ll ever know!”
She thought about Gray Dove one more time, then closed her mind on that forever. While it might hurt to think of Iron Knife making love to the Arapaho girl, she understood now and she had almost wrecked what she had. Love and relationships are very fragile, Summer thought, like roses, they need tender care; they don’t just grow and flourish on their own. She loved him, and because of that, she would forgive and forget everything but that he loved her, too. The train whistled and began to pick up speed as it hurtled into the night.
“Little One, what are you thinking?”
There were times when truth was not the best thing for a relationship, Summer thought. “Nothing; nothing except how happy I am to be with you again. I—I think I should tell you Dr. Morgan says I can never have another child.”
He leaned over and kissed the tip of her nose. “What would we do with more than five, Little One? As it is now, I’ll have to be the Cheyennes’ best hunter to feed them all.” He looked around at his sturdy brood, pride on his handsome features.
“You are the Cheyennes’ best hunter,” she reminded him, “and now we won’t have to worry about making love.”
He grinned. “Don’t you think I haven’t thought of that?”
“You rascal!” She reached to kiss him. “Somehow, I think our five will help write the history of the West.”
He nodded agreement. “Lance, Storm, Garnet, Lark and Lacy. If only we could look into the future and see what excitement and adventure awaits them.”
She reached to pull the blanket over the sleeping twins. “The West is changing, whether we like it or not, and who knows what will be happening fifteen or twenty years from now?”
His face saddened only a moment. “Perhaps things will not improve for the Indian people.”
Summer considered a long moment. “We can’t help that, my dearest. I only know that we have strong children and that they will adjust, survive and maybe prosper as the West tames down.”
He held her close. “We won’t worry about that now,” he whispered. “It is enough that we are all together again. I only regret I never got to marry you in the white man’s way,” he whispered.
“Does it mean so much to you?” she asked. “We’ve done the Cheyenne ceremony.”
“I would like to know that you care enough about me to stand up before the whites and say you belong to me forever and always,” he said.
“Hmm.” Summer leaned back against the seat and began to think.
The trip with five noisy children was difficult, but every time she looked up and saw her beloved, she was so glad to be on her way back to Colorado. They discussed all the wires and letters, shocked at what Silas had done attempting to destroy their union. At one station along the way, Summer slipped away and sent a wire to Todd in Denver.
When Iron Knife and Summer Sky finally reached the end of the track, they took a stagecoach the rest of the way, but evidence of rail building and track laying was everywhere.
Summer said, “You know, some of my father’s friends are involved with that railroad; they say it will be across the whole country in a couple more years.”
Iron Knife frowned as the stage rocked along. “That means that the time of the Indian grows short. Soon there will be trains all across our buffalo plains, and the wild free days will be gone forever.”
Little Lance looked up at him solemnly with his bright blue eyes. “Then I shall become governor or maybe a senator, like Grandfather Van Schuyler says, and do good things for my people.”
She started to smile, then realized her handsome but solemn little boy was serious. “I’m sure you will, Lance.”
Storm Gathering scowled. “And I will kill and scalp many white men and become a great warrior.”
Iron Knife smiled and looked from the two little boys to their three girls. “I think our five children will play a big role in the West’s history. By the way, Little One, I know it has bothered you to have me riding with war parties.”
“It has,” she admitted.
“Black Kettle and his band have headed south and are going to try again to live at peace with the white men; I thought we’d join them. No more war parties for me.”
She threw her arms around his neck and hugged him. “I love you,” she whispered, “and I’ve got a surprise for you.”
“What?”
She winked at him. “You’ll just have to wait until we get there; that’s all.”
“Maybe I’ll kiss you ’til you tell me,” he wheedled.
“Try me!” she challenged; but about that time, one of the twins woke up hungry, and she was too busy shushing her to be kissed.
“Just wait, Little One,” Iron Knife said, “just wait until I finally get you alone.”
She smiled at the memory of his lovemaking. “Oh, we have so much time to make up for.”
“By the way,” he hesitated, “I forgot to tell you that on my trip up to Boston, I accidentally met my sister.”
“Cimarron? Where?”
“She got off the train in St. Louis. There’s a lot to tell, Little One; you have no idea what I’ve been through getting to you. I’ve been in jail, on a chain gang; it’s a long story.”
“Oh, my poor dearest, I want to hear all of it,” Summer said, “but tell me first about your sister. Is she all right? Did she know you? Is she married?”
“Wait! Wait!” He held up his hands and smiled. “One thing at a time! Cimarron is married to a handsome half-breed named Trace Durango who owns a big ranch in Texas. She’s invited us to come down and bring the children.”
Summer laid her face against her shoulder. “I’m glad you found her; I’ll be eager to meet her.”
A troubled look crossed his rugged face as if he were remembering the circumstances of their meeting. Abruptly, he hugged Summer to him. “Have I told you I love you?”
“About a million times since I got on this train, but I like to hear it again.”
When they finally got off the stage in Denver, Todd, Silver and Cherokee were waiting for them. Summer hugged her friend. “I’m so glad to see you.”
Little Wannie pressed forward. “I got a new dress for the wedding—”
“Wannie!” Keso scolded. “Dumb little kid, tellin’ the secret.”
“What secret?” Iron Knife asked.
Cherokee grinned and pushed his hat back. “Well, now, I reckon it isn’t. The womenfolk have been plotting by telegraph.”
Todd smiled and reached out to shake his hand. “You don’t know it, Iron Knife, but you’re getting married today.”
“What?” He looked at Summer as they stood next to the buggy.
Summer held a baby in each arm. “Are you turning me down? You said someday you wanted me to stand up before white people and say I loved you enough to take you in a white man’s ceremony.”
She saw tears come to his eyes, and he blinked and cleared his throat. “Oh, Summer!”
“Now, stop it, or you’ll have me in tears,” she said.
They began getting in the buggy, Keso driving.
Silver chimed in, “After Todd got Summer’s wire, he contacted me and I got busy, hunted up the preacher who married us to do yours. We’ve even got a wedding cake.”
Keso picked up the reins. He glanced back, his dark eyes alight. “Good! I love cake.”
Little Wannie clambered up on the seat beside him. “And Silvery says I get to dress up and be a bridesmaid with a new dress and jewelry.”
“Humph! Women!” Keso snorted. “Here, Lance, climb up here by me.”
Wannie pushed Lance to one side. “I sit be Keso, you sit by me, Lance.”
Summer smiled. “Do we have a romance going here?”
Keso blushed crimson. “Wannie? Why, she’s just a dumb little girl! Tell you what, kids, Lance, you sit on one side, Wannie, you sit on the other, and I’ll sit in the middle.” He turned to the amused adults. “Dad, will you put the rest of those babies in the back with you?”
Cherokee nodded. “Sure, Keso.”
However, Storm Gathering retorted, “Me no baby!”
Iron Knife chuckled and put his son in his lap while Summer and Silver each took a twin. They drove out to the Evans’ cabin high in the Rockies where the old preacher waited. The groom wore buckskins; the bride, her finest white doeskin ceremonial dress with much fringe, beadwork and elks’ teeth—the legendary One Thousand dress.
The minister cleared his throat. “Now, if someone will keep those two little boys from chasing each other around the table, and Keso, you see if you can keep those twins quiet, we’ll begin.” He looked at all the little ones, awestruck. “Are these all yours?” he asked Summer.
“No, only five of them.”
“Then it’s high time you did this, young lady.” The old man again cleared his throat. “Dearly beloved, we are gathered together today before God and these witnesses. . . .”
Summer reached out and took Iron Knife’s hand. Her heart was so full, she felt it would burst. Tears rose to her eyes, and she blinked them away. You never appreciate love until you almost lose it, she thought. True love may sometimes have a rocky road; but it lasts. It endures against all odds. That’s how you know when you’ve found the real thing.
She looked up at him and smiled. Iron Knife looked into her eyes, clutching her hand as if he would never let it go.
“. . . and do you, Summer Priscilla Van Schuyler, take this man to be your lawful wedded husband, from this day forward, forsaking all others as long as you both shall live?”
“Excuse me,” she corrected him, “I am Summer Sky of the Hevataniu band of Cheyenne.”
“All right, do you take him as your husband?”
She looked deep into her love’s eyes. “I do.”
“And do you, Iron Knife, take Summer Sky to be your lawfully wedded wife, forsaking all others as long as you both shall live?”
“I do.”
“Then, by the power vested in me by God and the Territory of Colorado, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss your bride.”
He took both her hands in his and looked down at her. For a long moment, no one else existed in the whole world but the two of them. “Ne-mehotatse,” he whispered.
“Ne-mehotatse, my once in a lifetime love.”
They went into each other’s arms, and he kissed her, holding her close against his heart. If she had him, she didn’t need gold or power. No, she thought, she was already rich.
In the background, the children were fidgeting and punching each other. “Cake! Let’s have cake!”
The adults all laughed. “All right, cake it is!”
Iron Knife leaned over and kissed her again. “Happy, my Little One?”
“Happy!” She nodded, eyes shining. Tomorrow after their honeymoon night in the Evans’ cabin, they would ride south and rejoin the Cheyenne, but for tonight, they were just another newly married couple.
Silver took over dealing with the children for a few precious hours, and Summer and Iron Knife could at last retire behind their closed bedroom door.
“I didn’t think the house would ever get quiet.” She sighed.
“I know.” He kissed her bare shoulder as he pulled her dress low. He was kissing along her collarbone in a way that sent chills up and down Summer’s back. “Are you cold?”
“No, you do that to me”—she smiled—“the way you kiss me.”
“I intend to kiss every inch of you,” he said, “and see if you still taste the way you always did.”
“Right now, it’s enough to just hold you.” She sighed, and they held each other close so that she could hear his heart beating against her. How could she ever have thought she could live without him?
She lay back on the pillow and looked down at his black hair and his dark skin against her white breast. His hot, greedy mouth fastened on her nipple, and she watched his big, hard hand kneading her other breast. Heat began to radiate through her body as he caressed her bare skin. “Tell me how much you love me.”
“I’d rather show you,” he whispered, and his breath was warm against her skin as he stroked her, his hand moving lower until he caressed her dewy velvet place.
“Women like to be told,” she said.
“You yellow-haired vixen, isn’t it enough that I traveled over a thousand miles against all sorts of odds to reclaim you, and now you want me to grovel and beg for your favors?”
“Did you fight any dragons along the way getting there?”
He hesitated a long moment. “Oh, Little One, if you only knew what all I have been through to get to you.” There was anguish in his voice. Someday there were things he would tell her—things he had suffered along the way—but tonight, all that was important was that they had each other and their love. Whatever had happened in the past didn’t matter; all that mattered was being together; all that mattered were their fine, strong children. Summer took a deep breath and stroked his hair. “Do you love me?”
He looked up at her, caught her hand, and kissed her fingertips. “More than anything in this world, and I would have crawled through hell to get to you!”
In stroking his hair, she found a scar that had not been there before and wondered how he had come by it, but she did not ask. Someday he would tell her of his adventures getting to Boston, but not tonight. “If you love me, dearest, I don’t care about anything else.”
“Hahoo naa ne-mehotatse, ” he whispered, thank you and I love you. He looked relieved as he reached to kiss her. “You make love to me, too.”
She needed no urging. She knew every nerve in his body, every response after all these years. Summer ran her fingertips over his nipples, and he moaned aloud and kissed the tips of her fingers. “You like that, do you?” She smiled.
“I love it; don’t stop!”
So they touched and stroked and kissed; exploring every inch of skin, every nerve ending, every kiss as if it were for the very first time; reveling in each other’s bodies, each other’s love. And finally he took her gently, holding her safe and secure in his love and devotion as he entered her and brought her the gift of his passion.
She answered his need with her own, swift and sure and surging as she took him deep inside her. Even as the embrace deepened, she locked her arms and thighs around him and felt his mouth cover and claim hers. He caressed the inside of her mouth, teasing and tantalizing with his tongue deep inside her throat as her body took his deep into her very core, wanting more than just seed, wanting an affirmation of his love and caring.
“Give me everything you’ve got,” she demanded in a hoarse whisper.
“You blond vixen, I haven’t got any more to give,” he whispered, and then he thrust into her hard one more time and surrendered to his ecstasy. His passion ignited hers, and they locked onto each other’s bodies and drifted away into sweet splendor. Finally they drifted back off to sleep, naked and fulfilled, wrapped in each other’s arms and with her head in the hollow of his broad shoulder. For the first time in almost a year, she slept soundly, satisfied and well-loved in her Cheyenne warrior’s embrace. Where he was, there she would always be, safe in the arms of love.