“With sassy-mode on an eleven.”
“Twelve,” she said, sticking out her tongue. She sobered. “Thank you for keeping me a secret from the family until all this hullabaloo was over. I don’t want Mom, Than or Grandfather Ray twisting in the wind for two weeks. It was a sound decision.”
“I have made a few, once or twice,” he said with a smile, tweaking her nose.
She laughed softly, then sobered. “Have you heard from her?”
He exhaled. “Just a text or two. Nothing deep.”
“It’ll work out,” she said softly, slipping her arm around his waist and squeezing. “As it’s meant to.”
“Sassy, hopeful, and smart,” he whispered. “How did I ever do without you.” His voice was hoarse.
“Luckily, you won’t have to ever again.”
When they landed, Bear asked her to wait in the rental so that he could speak with them before she gave them all a shock and just walked back into their lives.
His mother broke down in Chay’s arms, his Grandfather Ray started chanting, and his brother Than ran out of the house with a joyful yell, pulling her out of the car and hugging the stuffing out of her, then dragging her inside where she was welcomed with kisses, hugs, love and laughter.
His life was almost complete, except for one woman who sat on his heart like a heavy, full miracle. If she didn’t come to him soon…he was going to go after her. But he would give her some more time, just enough to celebrate with his family the safe return of his beautiful sister.
Then he was going to make that woman his.
Hilton Hotel, Washington, DC
The room was quiet, lit only by the desk lamp and the glow of her laptop. Bailee sat cross-legged on the bed, heart thudding as the video call connected.
Four faces appeared, three tribal leaders, Elder Martin High Hawk, Elder Della Red Elk and Elder Harold White Lance and, in the center, a woman in her early forties, gray streaking her dark braid, a medicine pouch resting against her chest. Leona Fire Cloud, the new medicine woman.
Bailee sat straighter. “Thank you for seeing me.”
The woman inclined her head. “Thunderhawk’s girl.”
Bailee gave a small nod. “It is good to see you again, Leona Fire Cloud. I remember your kindness. My grandmother often said your spirit walked close to the ancestors.”
Leona’s expression softened. “She walked close to them herself. You were blessed to have her as your guide.” She tilted her head slightly. “I remember you, too. A wild one, but always respectful. Wild has served you well in the world you chose.”
Bailee smiled, and the elders chuckled quietly.
Elder High Hawk’s weathered face went solemn. He leaned forward, his voice deep as river stone. “You have petitioned to carry our lost daughters home. Is that your intention?”
Bailee straightened her spine. She didn’t rush. Her voice, when it came, was low and steady. “I humbly ask to carry them. I couldn’t imagine letting them make the journey without someone who remembers their names.”
Elder White Lance added, gently, “Your cousin, Taryn, is among the lost. It is generous of you to include others of our tribe alongside her. You have our deepest sorrow in your loss and our gratitude.”
She glanced at Leona, then to the elders gathered across the screen. “Taryn was my cousin. Her loss lives in every breath I take. But the others, Waniya, Chenoa, and Sahoni, were our daughters too. Our sisters. Our people. I can’t separate their stories from hers. Not now.”
Elder White Lance murmured, “Their bones have waited in silence long enough.”
Bailee’s throat tightened, but she continued. “I wasn’t called to the path my grandmother walked. I thought that meant I wasn’t chosen. But now I believe…my role is different. I wasn’t called herbs or prayer, instead, I bear truth and justice. I ask your blessing to bring them home.” She closed her eyes. The weight of the girls settled in her chest as something sacred. When she opened them again, her voice had changed. It held the sound of knowing. “I will speak their names. I will walk the road. When the time comes, I will place them in the hands of their families as one of their own.”
There was a long pause of silence. Bailee waited. Then Leona spoke, her tone clear and unwavering. “You speak not with the voice of a medicine woman…but with the voice of one who seeks, and that has its own kind of power.”
Elder Red Elk murmured, “Then let her carry them.”
Cheyenne River Reservation, Lakota Territory, South Dakota
The road curved wide around a sun-bleached ridge, and there it was, just off the shoulder, planted in rusted earth.
