have a nicely tailored jacket to go over it all. I look very professional.” She grinned at Nancy and placed the aprons beside the dresses. “Well, that’s one trunk down and two to go. Plus the books. I should have plenty to keep me busy.”
“Are you sure the room suits you?”
Faith glanced at the flowery wallpaper and matching drapes. “Well, it’s a little more frilly than I would normally choose, but I honestly believe it will be cheerful and perhaps even inspiring. When times are difficult, it might even help me to press on.”
Nancy gave her a sad look. “And are you happy, Faith?”
“What a strange question.” Faith stopped and looked at her cousin. “Of course I’m happy. I’m doing what I’ve always wanted. You know they haven’t always allowed women to attend medical school. Letting women become doctors is the stuff of my dreams. Why would you ask?”
“I just think it’s a pity you don’t feel you can marry and settle down with a family.”
Faith shrugged. This was a matter that had been discussed at length with her parents. “God calls some to remain single. I’ve always figured, given my heritage, that He’s planned that for me. Of course, I suppose something could happen to change the laws. Or maybe I’ll find a handsome man like Uncle Adam who is part Indian, and he won’t mind that I’m half Cayuse.”
“Do you think about it a lot?”
“Being half Native?”
Nancy nodded. “I mean that . . . and how your mother was held hostage when the Indians massacred the men at the Whitman Mission. When I finally heard the truth of what happened there, it was all I could think about for a long time. I still think about it sometimes. How awful it would be to be forced to . . . be intimate against your will.”
Faith sat down on the end of the bed. “I know. I think about it from time to time. I can’t imagine my poor mother learning that she was with child. It would have been terrible for others to find out, and I can’t believe she was the only one who ended up in that condition.”
“You truly think there were others?”
“As I understand it, every woman and girl over the age of twelve was imposed upon during that month of captivity. My mother couldn’t have been the only one to conceive. The women involved just don’t dare to talk about it. Not even among themselves. It would have been, and still is, considered the height of disgrace to bear a child who is even part Indian. And those who did no doubt freed themselves of that baby as soon as possible.
“I think Mother did the only sensible thing by going to live with Isaac and Eletta Browning far from Oregon City and all of their friends. It saved my mother and her family the embarrassment of having to explain. The Brownings became my first parents, and I loved them dearly. I love too that they were missionaries and that I grew up with the Native people along the Rogue River. It was a wonderful thing for me—especially since I’m half Native. Although the tribes are vastly different.”
“Do you ever feel concerned about passing yourself as white?” Nancy asked, then looked mortified. “I’m sorry. Of course you’re white too.”
“Don’t be upset. I think about that all the time. Am I living a lie to call myself white? After all, I am half of each, so I don’t think it’s wrong to choose one over the other. Although I know I am living the life that is easier, given all the government has done to the Indians.” Faith lowered her head. “Some of my happiest days were living with the Indians, but I know that life is gone forever. I talked to Aunt Mercy about working with them on the reservation, but she said it wouldn’t be the life I used to know and that if I was going to do it only for that reason, I shouldn’t come.”
“But you still talk about being a doctor on the reservation.”
“Yes.” Faith looked up and smiled. “I want to help the people there. I don’t want them thinking everyone is against them. They get so little care, and while they do have their own healers, I could offer something different. So I wouldn’t be going there just to reclaim my childhood memories.”
“Would you tell them you’re half Indian?”
Faith often asked herself that same question. Half-breeds weren’t very well