Mia stared at her handsome husband in wonder. All the years she secretly read the horrible stories in the newspapers about how terrible the Indians were and the constant wagon attacks along the Oregon Trail. Even her secret collection of dime novels were now questionable in her mind. Had anything she’d read been true?

The man sitting beside her was anything but the savage portrayed in all those accounts. He wasn’t naked, wearing only a leather breechclout. No long feather headdress covered his hair, which certainly wasn’t long enough to wear in girly braids.

She shook her head and frowned. “I’m a bit confused. You are nothing like the Indians I’ve read about.”

Josiah smiled. “Probably not. I’ve read some of those same stories.” He leaned his elbow over one knee. “Are all white people the same? Are people from across the ocean the same with the same skin, hair or eye color?”

“Well, no. That’s a bit silly. People living in Scandinavia are very fair with blonde hair and pale skin. Egyptians have very dark skin because they live in the desert while people from the Orient have black hair and fair skin, but it's different from those in Scandinavia, more yellow toned.”

“Do you all dress the same?”

Her eyes narrowed. “I see what you’re doing. Very smart. You are telling me the Indian tribes are no different from people living in countries around the world. Choctaw, Iroquois, Apache, or Ute are like the English, Spanish, German, or Russian. Each have their own culture and way of life.”

“Yes, that is exactly what I’m saying. There are some tribes who have adopted more of the white ways over the decades such as the Cherokee, Choctaw, and Creek as well as a few others. We have built the same style homes, worn basically the same type of clothing, and have the same basic town structure. The Cherokee even has the same form of government. There are many similarities and at the same time, differences that make us still Indian. We are proud of our culture and don’t want to lose that any more than the whites do.

“We see people coming to this country from faraway lands like Russia and Germany. They bring their traditions here, yet expect us to forget ours. We don’t understand that. America has enough land for everyone to have a small portion.”

“That’s the problem, Josiah. With land comes greed. There are always going to be those men who want it all. Are there really tribes who live in teepees and only wear breechclouts?”

Mia couldn’t believe she asked the question burning a hole in her brain, but now that it was out there, she couldn’t take it back. His dark stare unnerved her until she saw the minute twitch of his lips and realized he was trying not to smile. She rolled her eyes and looked back at the house, not quite sure who she was more disgusted with, herself for asking the question in the first place or her new husband for laughing at her.

“Yes. There were tribes like that. Still are to some extent. The plains tribes such as the Apache, Comanche, Kiowa, and Kickapoo men wore nothing more than breechclouts during the hot summer months. Most all tribes, of course, wore what they called war shirts and would always wear many layers during winter, which could be very harsh on the plains.”

“You know a lot about the tribes, don’t you?”

Josiah shrugged. “I was born in the Territory and lived my entire life among the Indians. I am Indian. I listen and learn and am very proud of my heritage—from both tribes.”

She glanced down at her clasped hands. She had always dreamed of walking among the Indians and here she was actually talking to one! Her lungs stilled, and what felt like a thousand tiny bubbles burst inside her as she realized she was married to an Indian. An incredibly handsome, smart, and seemingly polite Indian.

She didn’t know what to say or how to say it. Being too excited growing up had always been her downfall, so she had always just kept her mouth shut and faded into the background. Jessamine and Katriona had always known and stuck up for her. They had realized how hard it had been for her to say anything, especially when she was the center of attention or was expected to respond. Standing up in front of a group of small children, though, was different somehow. In her mind, they needed her. At least that was how her silly brain justified it.

A quick shout pulled her attention away from her white knuckles. She glanced toward the house and saw two small faces staring at her from an upstairs window. She smiled and waved, but the children disappeared.

“Where did they go? Who are they?”

Josiah climbed down from the wagon and walked around to her side and held out this hand. “Would you like to see your new home?”

She nodded and placed her hand in his. She followed him along the narrow path to the house and up the porch steps. Turning, she moved to the front rail and grabbed it with both hands, her gaze on the wide expansive land rolling away from her like the waves on an ocean. It was breathtaking. Along the horizon were what looked like low-lying mountains, which she didn’t know this area had. Somewhere in between were thick clusters of trees zig-zagging through the fields and valleys of golden grasses.

In a few of the valleys were several groups of deer and closer still, she caught a glimpse of two large red dogs loping and jumping their way through the thick grass. “I couldn’t have imagined a better place to live. What an amazing view.”

“I think so. I’m glad Summer talked me into building a larger porch. Drinking coffee out here in the morning and relaxing out here in the evening, listening to the cicadas and other night sounds will be nice. Much better than squatting on a single stair, which was what I had before.”

She glanced at him from the corner of her eye. “A single stair? No porch, just one stair?”

“Mmmhmm. A rotted, splinter-filled stair at that.”

She laughed and covered her mouth with the back of her hand, embarrassed at how loud it sounded in the heavy silence surrounding them. “Can I see the inside?”

“I can’t vouch for how it looks. Summer and Billy were supposed to get everything ready for you while I picked you up at the station. Since they aren’t used to having a home, things may not seem quite right, so please go easy on the judgments if you find something out of place.”

“I’m sure it will be fine.”

They stepped inside and stopped, staring at the strange arrangement in wonder.

Mia pinched her lips between her teeth to keep from laughing as she stared at the interior of her new home. “Well, you did warn me.”

“I did, but this is hard for even me to fathom.” Josiah closed the screen door behind them and leaned against the back of the sofa, which was in the dining area where the table should have been. The table was nowhere to be seen, but their bed was in front of the fireplace in the middle of the living room.

Mia’s shoulders began to shake, and before she could stop it, laughter burst out and she was doubled over. She gasped for air as her stomach muscles ached, and she swiped at the steady stream of tears running down her cheeks. “Oh dear, but I haven’t laughed like that in years. This is priceless.”

A darker thought dissipated the laughter and gaiety and she spun around to face Josiah. “Does this also mean what I think it means? Have neither of them ever had a home before? Have they no idea what furniture is?”

Josiah’s expression saddened. “I honestly don’t know. Neither of them have really opened up and talked much. They have only been here one week. Before that, they lived wherever they could—in an abandoned building, camped outside, wherever they found shelter.”

“They have no one? No family?”

“None that they mentioned.”

Determination filled Mia. No child deserved to live like that, on their own without proper food, clothing, or shelter. “You have told them they can live here, I assume?”

“Yes and no.”

“What?” Her eyes widened, but before she could say anything else, he covered her mouth with his hand.

“Before you begin screaming at me in outrage…and yes, I can see it in your pretty gray eyes, which at the moment look very much like the blades of knives, let me explain. I told them I would have to talk it over with you since this would be your home, as well. You were already coming into a new home and marriage, so I couldn’t very well ask you to take on two children as well without asking you first.” He frowned and glanced toward the narrow staircase. “I figured they would have come down by now to meet you.”

“They are probably just being shy.”

“They are…shy, that is. It took them a while to come out of the bushes with just me sitting on the porch. I sat out there whittling for the longest time.”

“Let’s go upstairs and meet them halfway. Sometimes that helps,” Mia suggested and followed Josiah up the narrow staircase. “You look in those two rooms,” she said, pointing to the two doors at the end of the hall, “and I’ll take these two.”

She opened the first door, but no one was inside. After checking the second room, she joined Josiah in the hall. “They were both empty. They managed to get the furniture in the right spots. Mostly.” She met his worried gaze. “Do you think they’re outside?”

He shook his head and shrugged. “I’m not sure where they are, but Summer’s a smart girl, and she’s used to taking care of Billy and herself.” He took her by the shoulders and gently turned her back to the stairs. “Let’s go down and fix the furniture then figure out what we’re going to have for supper. With all the excitement this week, trying to get the house finished and remembering to be at the station on time, I forgot to run by the mercantile and pick up basic staples.”

“I’m sure what you have will be fine.”

He chuckled. “I’ll remind you that you said that when we’re eating canned surprise.”

“What’s canned surprise?”

“Just what it sounds like. Before my great aunt died, she left a few canned items in the root cellar, and whenever I open one, I get a surprise for supper. Hence, the name.”

Mia groaned. “Oh, that’s not even funny.”

“Just wait until you see some of the jars.” He walked to the bedroom. His low chuckle filled the room and settled Mia’s nerves. She wondered why she’d never thought about liking the sound of a man’s laughter before. Moving behind him, she smiled. The table and chairs had been placed in the center of the bedroom.

“Building you a real bedroom was Summer’s idea, so why she put the table and chairs in there is interesting.”

“I think every dish, bowl, and cup in the house must be on the table. Maybe she wanted to keep us busy?” Mia laughed and ducked past him, gathering as many as she could carry. She moved them back to the kitchen and set them on the counter to be dealt with later. Once the table had been cleared and moved into the kitchen, they managed to get the bed into the bedroom where it belonged. Next, they arranged the living room with the sofa facing the fireplace and the cozy-looking wing chair tucked into the corner of the room with a round table next to it.

By the time they’d finished moving the furniture and setting the house to rights, night had fallen and they were both exhausted. All Mia wanted was to go to sleep, but the thought of curling up beside Josiah caused her blood to catch fire.

Filled with nervous energy, she found several cans of peaches in the root cellar. After liberally sprinkling them with sugar and cinnamon, they enjoyed their sweet supper on the front porch, listening to the cicadas.

“I would never have thought to add sugar and spice to the fruit, but it was delicious. Thank you,” Josiah said as he swiped his finger along the inside of the glass jar and sticking it in his mouth. “If I could lick the bottom of the jar, I would.”

Mia handed him hers. “Here.”

He smiled and used his finger to lick as much from the inside of her jar as well then set the jars on the porch next to their chairs and leaned back. “Tomorrow we’ll look for the children.”

Mia gave him a sad smile. “Thank you. I haven’t even met them yet and feel somewhat responsible. If I wasn’t here, they would both be inside, sleeping in their beds.”

“Don’t think like that. It was their choice to run off. You had nothing to do with that.”

The silence stretched between them, both knew the inevitable was almost there and Mia had no idea what to do about it, much less how to broach the subject. She was terrified but knew sleeping with her husband was natural and something God-given. The prospect still terrified her. The idea of someone seeing her without clothes wasn’t right…and no one had ever seen her bad arm. No one knew she was deformed, and that bothered her.

Josiah cleared his throat. “Did I mention it was Summer’s idea about rebuilding the house for you?”

“So much has happened, I don’t recall if you did or not. You mentioned something about the bedroom…I do, however, remember you were going to explain why you hadn’t planted the garden in time.”

“I ran into a bit of an issue with the Creeks. The women hold all the power—and the land. They’re a matriarchal culture?” She nodded and he continued. “Evidently, when I came here, my great aunt had to approve of me, which she did, of course, but only shortly before she died. I was left the family house and land. By the time everything was settled, and I was given permission to move in, planting season had passed. Summer helped me get a few things planted, so we’ll have some fall vegetables. Next year, though, will be better.”

Mia picked up the jars and spoons and took them inside. Washing and drying took too little time and before she knew it, she was staring at her reflection in the mirror trying to force herself to leave the bathroom. She had done everything she could possibly do: bathed, washed her hair, toweled it dry, and cleaned her teeth. There was nothing more for her to do. Closing her eyes, she counted to ten then pried her fingers from the sink and opened the door.

Creeping into the bedroom, she made her way to the edge of the bed and climbed under the light coverlet as gently as she could. She let out a long breath, the pain in her chest finally easing as her cramped muscles relaxed.

Josiah rolled over and propped his head on his hand, his elbow digging into his pillow beside hers, causing her to let out a high-pitched squeak and pulled the cover up to her chin. “Are you always this jumpy?”

“Ohh! Don’t do that! You scared me half to death!” She shoved her hand against his chest, which he grabbed and held over the spot where she’d pushed him. “I thought you were asleep.”

“As you can tell, I’m not.” He chuckled, his thumb rubbing back and forth over her knuckles and doing wicked things to her insides. All sorts of funny flutters were creating havoc in her stomach and her lungs decided they needed to breathe faster. All that did, of course, was pull in his scent, which she’d been trying not to do all evening. It reminded her of pine and leather, and some other spice that was driving her quite mad.

“Did you want something?” she asked and immediately regretted her poor choice of words.

“Yes, I do,” he said in his sinfully low voice, which sent tingles all over her body. He pulled her closer, his face inches from hers. “I want you, but I am a gentleman, which is what I was going to tell you.”

She swallowed. “You do?”

He slowly nodded. Without curtains, the moonlight filled the room with a silvery glow, and his eyes glistened as he stared down at her. “Yes, iskitini chukfi luma, I do,” he whispered against her lips and showed her what heaven on earth was like.

---

Josiah watched his wife work in the kitchen with Harjo’s wife, Maria. Mia had surprised him several times since he’d picked her up at the train station yesterday. His first surprise had been her. He had not expected someone as pretty as she was. At first, with her hair pulled back in the severe bun and covered in soot, he’d been worried, but once he’d seen past that, he had realized she was beautiful both inside and out.

His second surprise had been her acceptance of his Indian heritage, seemingly without censure. She had even asked questions and wanted to know more about both his Choctaw and his Creek families, not to mention her acceptance of his lovemaking last night.

The third had been when she’d bounced out of bed early that morning and demanded they search for Summer and Billy. The day had dragged by as they searched the fields, river, and every place Josiah could think of, but neither child had been found. Returning home empty-handed had been difficult, especially when he saw the disappointed expression on Mia’s pretty face. The only bright spot had been when Harjo arrived an hour later with an invitation for supper, which Josiah was thankful for. While the peaches had been delicious, he wanted something a bit more filling in his stomach tonight.

Harjo scooped up a large helping of the delicious-smelling deer stew and filled two bowls. He handed one to Josiah and took the other for himself while the women prepared their own. The only sound in the room was the clicking of spoons against bowls and the slurping of stew while everyone ate in silence.

Harjo took a long drink of tea then let out a loud belch. “Have you decided what you’re going to do?”

Josiah shrugged and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “Not too many options left open for me.”

“You still have one.”

Mia’s gaze moved between the men. “Josiah? What is he talking about?”

Harjo’s gaze narrowed on Josiah’s face. “You haven’t told her?”

“I haven’t had a lot of time. She only just arrived yesterday afternoon, and we spent all day today looking for two elusive children.”

“Seems like plenty of time to me.”

“Harjo,” Maria said, her tone chastising. “It is not your business when he tells his wife something. No matter how important it may be.”

Harjo’s lips twitched.

Josiah dropped his head into his hands with a groan. “All right. I was told before coming here I would have a church. However, when I arrived I was informed there were no openings and there wouldn’t be. The Tribal police positions are few and filled, so those are out, and the women are the ones who farm, so anything agricultural is out.” He met Mia’s worried gaze. “I even asked about teaching jobs, but there aren’t any open schools around. The only open position was just filled last month for next year.”

“Definitely worrisome,” Mia agreed.

“Josiah, what about the dream you told us about?” Maria asked, dipping a piece of bread into the stew before taking a bite.

“There is a rancher I know in Muskogee who has a few head he will sell at a reasonable price. You said you didn’t want a lot of cattle and wanted to concentrate more on horses. This is the perfect time,” Harjo said, filling his bowl with more stew.

As a boy, Josiah had dreamed of following in his father’s footsteps as a rancher. Since the first time he’d watched a foal being born, he had wanted to breed horses. But when his parents were murdered, he felt as if that dream died with them.

His focus shifted to bringing their killer, or killers to justice, and the man who’d done that was his older cousin, Clay, a Choctaw lighthorseman. Josiah remembered watching all Clay had done to find the Kiowa responsible for his parents’ death and had wondered if he’d ever have the chance to become a lawman like Clay.

The opportunity had never been presented so, instead, Josiah had chosen to study God’s word and serve in the church.

Mia laid her hand on his arm, bringing him back to the present. The warmth seeped from her palm into his skin, soothing. Clarifying. He raised his gaze to hers.

“Is raising horses really your dream?”

“My father bred horses. It was all I ever wanted to do until they were killed.”

She squeezed his arm. “Then that’s what we’ll do. We will raise horses.”