Chapter Twenty-four
Annie lingered for a while with Medicine Woman, enjoying her company and the mild day. The two women shared a lunch of berries and pemmican.
Early that afternoon, hearing children laughing, Annie glanced off toward the hillside and observed six of the camp youngsters—three boys and three girls—proceeding in a caravan toward a wide ledge, tugging along heavily laden dogs and even a mule hauling a travois. The boys, including Little Fox, were armed with small bows and miniature quivers filled with tiny arrows; the girls bore deerskin dolls on cradle boards. In a whimsical touch, Moon Calf followed at the rear of the echelon, his posture regal as he held high a smoldering stick. Several mule deer trailed behind the sacred idiot.
Annie was perplexed. "What are the children doing? Running away?"
Medicine Woman laughed. "They are going camping."
"Camping?" Annie repeated with an astonished laugh. "And why is Moon Calf with them?"
"He carries the ceremonial fire stick. He will start the fire and bless the lodges."
"Lodges?"
"Yes, the children have their own small tepees that their mothers made for them."
"How charming."
"After the lodges are raised, the girls will begin preparing the meal while the boys go hunting."
"Amazing."
"Go and watch," the wise old woman directed. "Only do not linger too close. For the children, this is serious business."
Flashing the woman a smile, Annie rose and went to observe the youngsters from behind a clump of cedar. While the girls unloaded the packs and travois, the boys erected three miniature lodges no more than four feet tall at their centers. The play tepees were decorated with smaller animals such as beavers, raccoons, and foxes. One of the girls arranged a pile of buffalo chips in the central area, and Moon Calf went into great ceremony, chanting and dancing with his smoking stick, before he lit the fire. Then, as the children reverently watched, he blessed the lodges, rubbing them down with sage.
The girls brought out bowls and knives and began chopping roots while the boys tested their bows and arrows, shooting shafts into a tree stump. All at once they paused as Sam, Whip, and several braves galloped into view, turkeys tied to their saddles. Waving the others on, Sam dismounted and brought the boys one of the slaughtered fowl. The lads accepted the gift with hoots and laughter, one of them taking it to the girls, who began plucking off its feathers. The boys continued to congregate around Sam, chattering rapidly in their native Cheyenne, obviously beseeching him as they tugged at his sleeves and motioned toward his horse. Annie wondered if they were begging him to take them hunting.
A moment later her curiosity was assuaged when he strode back to his horse and got his rope. As he moved toward the children, they backed away, surrounding him in a circle. Annie watched, enthralled, as Sam began performing rope tricks, twirling his lasso in circles high in the air, then whipping the loop up and down his body. The children cheered wildly and jumped up and down. After a moment, he flung the lasso outward, creating a huge sideways hoop. The boys began dancing through it. Pandemonium erupted when one of the dogs leaped through the loop! Sam continued to enchant the youngsters, gently lassoing several of them about the waist and pulling them forward as the others laughed. He even used his lasso to snap a bow out of Little Fox's hands, much to the joy of all.
Then he turned and his eyes met Annie's. She froze, embarrassed, realizing she had unconsciously strayed closer to the fascinating scene. Sam grinned, threw out his rope, caught Annie about the hips, and hauled her carefully but firmly toward him. The children howled with laughter, and even Annie giggled as Sam pulled her close.
"Know what this means, sugar?" he whispered, eyes dancing with mischief.
"What?"
"I've reeled you in and now you're mine," he murmured back huskily, leaning over and kissing her.
Annie kissed him back, unable to resist his sexy words and rugged charm. He smelled of the outdoors, and even his whiskers felt manly against her skin.
Pulling back, he winked. "That's what you get for spying on us."
Annie was about to scold him, but several children burst forward to tug at his hands and clothes. Grinning, he removed the lasso from her hips and strode away with the youngsters.
Still smiling, Annie walked back to rejoin Medicine Woman, who was pounding dried berries into powder. "Your grandson has many talents." She laughed. "In fact, he recently used his rope to rescue a bobcat cub and even to save me from a snake. How did he become so skilled with a lasso?"
Medicine Woman banged her mallet rhythmically against a wooden bowl. "Sam always loved his rope. When he was still a lad and lived among our people, he entertained us all with demonstrations of his magic. He also shoots and rides with greater skill than any man I have ever seen, red or white. Now he uses his mastery to seek the white man's justice."
Beset with bittersweet emotion, Annie strained to catch another glimpse of him with the exuberant youngsters. She had such doubts that her world and Sam's would ever truly meet. Yet everything she learned about this amazing man only made her love him all the more.
The waning day brought a deep chill, and Annie donned her wool car coat. When time came for the evening meal, all members of the encampment, including the children, returned to the central area. For Annie, it was her first chance that day to spend any real time with Sam, and she was secretly thrilled when he plopped down next to her. She realized she truly had missed him that day—too much.
"So, did you enjoy your day as a natural man?" she teased.
He raised a dark brow. "What do you mean by that?"
"I mean you spent your day communing with nature. Let's see—you began by diving naked into the lake—"
"So you watched that, did you?" he asked with a grin.
"The splashing caught my attention," she replied primly.
He leaned over and whispered, "The splashing or my naked butt?"
Annie glanced away to conceal a guilty expression. "Well, your backside is kind of cute, even if you are a shameless exhibitionist."
He wrapped an arm about her shoulders. "I'm just proud of what the good Lord gave me, sugar." Leaning closer, he added, "You should be, too. Mighty proud."
She shot him a chiding look but spoke with a quiver. "Enough of that. To get back to your day in the wilds, you went hunting, then entertained the kids with rope tricks—"
"So you're really keeping track of me, are you, woman?" he taunted, appearing pleased. "Maybe you miss me. Heck, maybe you like me a bit more than you're letting on."
Annie was saved from replying as Moon Calf came up to present her with a new bunch of flowers. She smiled. "Are those for me?"
Appearing miserably put on the spot, the holy man shoved the bouquet toward Annie's nose and stammered, "W-welcome."
Thrilled that he had actually spoken to her, Annie accepted the blooms with a look of pride. "Thank you. You're very kind."
Moon Calf almost smiled back, then caught Sam's scowl and hastily backed away.
Annie shot him a chiding look. "Sam! Why did you stare at him so coldly? He's harmless."
"Harmless?" Sam blustered, scowling. "He's got his eye on you all the time, when he ain't fawning at your feet like a lovesick puppy dog."
"That's not true! He spent a lot of time 'camping' with the kids today—you know, blessing their lodges and such. And he actually spoke to me just now, instead of ranting or chanting."
Sam's menacing look deepened. "I just ain't sure about him."
"Well, I am," Annie argued. "He's sweet and friendly, and I think he's a dear to bring me flowers. Besides, there's enough segregation of the sexes around here."
"Complaining, are you?" he asked with a sudden, avid gleam in his eyes.
"Not really," she replied. "But I have noticed how the men spend the day doing their thing, leaving the women to perform much of the labor. Although I did have a very good talk with your grandmother."
"Did you?"
Annie was about to elaborate when she again spotted Moon Calf standing over her, extending a bowl of stew. She reached out, took it, and smiled. "Thank you."
Annie was stunned to watch Sam shoot to his feet. "You leave her alone," he gruffly ordered the other man.
Blinking in fear, the bearded man dashed away.
"Sam! How could you?"
Sam fell back down beside her, his expression bemused. "Annie, he's got some kind of strange fascination with you, and I just don't like him coming around."
"Well, maybe I don't like you around me!" she retorted.
Sam groaned and met her eye soberly. "Annie, he's never taken an interest in a female before. First he told me where to find you . . . now this. The man is right touched and we both know it. Lord only knows what's really on his mind or what he might do."
"Well, I'm not afraid of him. He's a dear, nonviolent man and you should apologize to him right now—or go sit somewhere else."
He appeared incredulous. "Annie, you can't mean that."
"Damn right, I mean it. Sam, you were hostile toward him, and that's totally unlike you. What's going on?"
Glancing off toward the lake, he groaned. "Annie, it's just that . . . I miss you something awful, sugar, and then I see you smiling at him all nice like, and I guess it just twists me up inside." In a low, husky tone, he admitted, "Reckon I need you to clip my horns."
Although she fought a smile, Annie replied crisply, "Then go tell him that."
Sam's mouth fell open. "Woman, have you gone plumb loco? I can't tell him that. Hell, he'll think I'm one of them funny fellers that likes lace hankies and gold-tipped walking sticks."
Annie raised a hand to cover her giggles. "I mean, go make him understand why you acted so mean toward him."
Sam rolled his eyes. "Annie, I could talk all night and he ain't understanding nothin'."
"Well, go try."
Waving his arms, Sam got to his feet and trudged across the central area toward Moon Calf. Spotting the other man's approach, Moon Calf almost bolted away, until Sam laid a hand on his shoulder and spoke quietly with him. Before long Sam returned to Annie's side, grinning smugly. She glanced across to see Moon Calf examining a coin from many different angles.
"Well?" she asked Sam.
"I gave him a five-dollar gold piece to amuse him— though he'll never know the difference—and thanked him for helping me find you. So there. Do I get a kiss now?"
Annie harrumphed. "You're going to have to mind your manners a lot better than that to get a kiss from me."
Sam scowled, then ducked down and stole a kiss anyway while nearby, several children chortled and cheered.