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It had only been a few weeks after their wedding when Johnny and Kathryne went to visit Gray Wolf.
They were not prepared for what they saw when they entered the camp. The camp teepee had all been taken down, and many of them were already gone. As they slowly rode in, they saw Gray Wolf.
“Gray Wolf?”
He looked up at Johnny and walks over to him.
“I’m sorry my brother,” he said, “but I cannot ask you to stay. We are leaving.”
“Leaving? Leaving?” Johnny echoed. “But where will you go? This is your land!”
“Not anymore. We have been told that we must leave and go to a place called Oklahoma. Do you know of this place they speak of?”
“Yes, I do, but it is a long journey,” Johnny said. “Why are you moving?”
“We were told that the land is no longer ours and ...”
Kathryne looks around for Bright Star, a chill goes up her spine and she wondered where the young woman was.
She spoke up when she was unable to find her.
“Johnny I don’t see Bright Star.”
“Gray Wolf, where is Bright Star?” Johnny asked.
The brave bows his head sadly.
“She was down by the stream yesterday and these men came and ... She tried to tell them she ... They killed her.”
Kathryne started to cry.
“The baby?” she asked. “Johnny ask him where the baby is!?”
Gray Wolf looked at her.
“He was spared. Bright Star hid him in the bushes. He will grow up without a mother now.”
Kathryne walks over to him and puts her hand on his arm.
“Gray Wolf, don’t do this to the baby,” she said. “If you leave him with us we will raise him and make sure he knows who his mother and father are. I promise you he will hold his head up high and be proud of his heritage.”
Gray Wolf looks at Johnny, who is standing there so proudly of what his wife was offering at this moment.
“You would take my son, my brother, and raise him as your own?” he asked.
“Yes, I would Gray Wolf,” Johnny agreed.
He goes to get the baby and handing him to Kathryne.
“His name is Dancing Bear,” he said. “. He has his mother’s eyes.”
“I will take good care of him Gray Wolf and he will know of his mother and father,” she promised.
That afternoon, after saying goodbye to Gray Wolf, Kathryne, and Johnny ride back to the ranch with a young Cheyenne baby. It wasn’t long before both she and Carlita took turns with the baby, and he became part of the family immediately.
