Wildest Dreams - By Rosanne Bittner Page 0,116

her home, where those people outside will not bother you. You have brothers and sisters there, people who would take care of you. Your mother would like you to stay there with them forever, but she says that when you are well, you will be free to choose, to stay with them, or go back to Half Nose and the Sioux."

White Bear watched the woman cry. Considering what she knew about him, she must be his white mother. If this was true, she surely would not lie to him. He moved his gaze to the man holding her, studied his blue eyes, saw honesty there, and something else. The man looked at him lovingly, as a man would look at his son. Something told him he could trust these people. He did not like the idea of staying with a whole family of whites, but for the moment he had no choice. The bullet in his side burned fiercely. He knew he needed help. He told Runner he would go with them... for now. As soon as he was well, he was returning to his people, and to Half Nose, the only man he knew as father. He saw pain in Luke Fontaine's eyes when the Crow interpreted his words.

Luke turned to the sheriff. "Go get Doc Manning."

Tracy nodded and left. Luke gave Lettie a hug. "You keep your distance until the doc gets him sedated," he told her. "Keep in mind that in his mind and heart he's still Sioux. I'm going to take care of that crowd outside."

He left her then, and Lettie could hear him arguing with the people outside the jail. If anyone could straighten them out and make them leave, it was Luke and his men. How sad that now she had to defend her precious son against those who accused him of killing innocent whites. She felt so sorry for Jim Woodward's orphaned daughters. Could her Nathan have done such a horrible thing? She refused to believe it.

She ached to hold him, embrace him. What did he think of her? That she had abandoned him? That she had given up on him? Where had her bright, smiling little Nathan gone, the little boy who clung to that bear so tightly when Half Nose tore him away from her? He lay there painted and half-naked, his hair grown long. There was so much she wanted to know and learn, and so much he needed to learn in return. She closed her eyes and thanked God for bringing her son back to her. Surely he didn't mean it when he said he would go back to his people when he was well. The Sioux were not his people. She and Luke, Katie, Ty, Pearl, Robbie, and Paul—they were his people.

"I love you, Nathan. I never stopped loving, or hoping, or praying. We're taking you home, son."

She knew he didn't understand, but the words sounded good, words she had begun to think she would never be able to say. She stepped closer to the cot, knelt beside it. Again she touched his arm, and this time he did not try to jerk it away. He just watched her in wonder. She rested her head against his arm and wept.

CHAPTER 17

Luke carried Nathan out of the jail in his arms, to a waiting wagon Henny had brought to take him home in. Dr. Manning had sedated him with laudanum before removing the bullet from his side, and he was still groggy enough not to put up a fight or to notice the crowd of onlookers. Will helped Luke get the boy into the wagon, laying him on a bed of straw covered with blankets.

Luke worried that none of this would end the way Let-tie hoped it would. She herself had helped Doc Manning operate on the boy, and while he was being stitched up and bandaged, Lettie took advantage of his sedated condition, stroking his hair, kissing his cheek, talking to him as though he were four years old again. The doctor had said Nathan would be all right, but what about Lettie? Her wounds ran much deeper. What if she lost him again? What would it do to their marriage, and how was he going to handle his own guilt?

He helped Lettie climb into the wagon so she could sit beside her son. He was irritated at the gawking, whispering onlookers, some of the men still bent on hanging the boy. His men surrounded the wagon, keeping