CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Eagle Heart beat out a cadence on his hand drum, raising his voice in rhythm to the heavens, asking the Creator for assistance. As he sat high up on a ledge overlooking the prairie in all directions, he was ever alert to movement in the distance or close-to-hand. But, this didn't mean he wasn't also mindful of the beat of his drum, the melody of his song or the rhythm.
He was aware of his wife when she climbed up onto the ledge and stepped toward him. Finishing his chant, he came to his feet, turned toward her and smiled.
"I do not mean to disturb you," she said as she stopped before him, reaching out her hand to run her fingers down his cheek.
He caught her hand, kissed her palm and said, "I like it very much when you disturb me."
She laughed. "I like it, too. But, I have come here to tell you the good news. My father has instructed me to ask you if you might, please, come to him. He wishes you to help him if you can."
As Eagle Heart stared down into the beautiful countenance of his wife's face, he paused for a moment to bring her hand toward his lips, whereupon he kissed her fingers, and bending, he kissed her lips.
"Áa, my wife, how lucky I am to have you in my life. You, who help me in all I do. You, who have given me so much without asking for anything in return."
"Except your love, my husband." Laylah smiled up at him, and, standing on her tiptoes, she kissed him back.
"Always, I will love you," Eagle Heart responded to her at once, not pausing for even a moment. "May I ask how you convinced your father to allow me to speak to him about his illness?"
"I…do not reprimand me, my husband, for what I did."
Eagle Heart grinned at this beautiful woman. "I will not scold you," he murmured, "but, if you did anything wrong when speaking to your father, I might 'punish' you by kissing you so frequently, you could find you will have no choice but to surrender to me tonight."
"Do you promise?"
He laughed, but didn't answer. Indeed, he could not. If her father were ready to talk to him, it was safe to say he might be gone all the night through. "But, tell me, woman of my heart, how you talked your father into allowing me to speak to him."
"I… Well, I told him that if he continued to refuse to see you or talk to you about his illness…well, because you are a medicine man, I said he might find himself cast out into the night with no one to help him but the birds in the air."
Eagle Heart chuckled. "I would never do such a thing."
"I know. But, he doesn't."
Eagle Heart shook his head. And, although he smiled, he touched his forefinger to her nose, saying, "We must always try to be truthful."
"I was being truthful, because if you were not going to cast him out, I would certainly do it."
Eagle Heart laughed heartily, then said, "You have done well, my wife, and, as long as he has consented to speak with me, will you take me to him? As you know, I have only been awaiting his consent. Since I now have it, I should go to him at once."
"Of course I'll take you to him," Laylah responded, reaching out to hold his hand. "Or perhaps I should say I will letyou take meto his lodge."
She laughed, as did he, and, as he led the way down the steep cliff toward her mother and father's tiny lodge, Eagle Heart thanked the Creator for giving him the good sense to make this woman his own.
When they reached her parents' lodge, he turned first to her, kissing her hand once more, then, throwing back the buckskin entrance flap, he bent to enter the hut first, as was tradition. His wife followed him in and came down onto her knees beside her father, and said, "Here is my husband, Father. He is a medicine man, and he is here to pray with you. I'm going to leave the two of you together while Mother and I attend to other matters in the camp."
Her father, Robert McIntosh, merely grunted. But, it was enough because it was a positive response, and, as soon as his wife and mother-in-law had left the lodge, Eagle Heart took hold of his father-in-law's hand, and said, "Can you speak to me of what you think is wrong with you?"
"You mean besides whiskey?"
"I do."
"Well, can't think clearly. Can't move my legs without pain. And I declare, my heart stops now and again. I swear, after seeing that beast in the mountains, everything in my life turned black."
"Soka'pii.I am now going to place my hands on your chest, then your legs and lastly, your head."
"Fair enough."
As promised, Eagle Heart put both his hands upon his father-in-law's chest, then his legs and, lastly, his head. After a moment, he said, "I will pray to the Creator so that, through me, He might heal your illness. Do you agree I should do this?"
