Wildest Dreams - By Rosanne Bittner Page 0,224

is my sister, youngest daughter of Half Nose, who died not long after I left here the first time. That is why I left sooner than I had promised. My father's brother came in the night to tell me Half Nose was very ill. I went to be with him."

A wave of emotions swept through Luke. Half Nose. He had hated the man for so many years. Now he was expected to turn around and take in the man's daughter. What an ironic twist of fate. "How old is she?" he asked.

"She will be sixteen summers when the snow is off the ground and the sun is hot again."

Katie smiled at the odd way Nathan had of expressing himself.

"Well, a lot of people aren't going to like the fact that I have Indians living here on the Double L," Luke answered, "but I've gone against the majority more than once since I came here, so I guess they'll just have to learn to live with this, too."

Lettie looked at him, realizing it was not easy for him to give shelter to Indians. They had stolen his son away. Now he would have to put up with crude remarks from others for allowing Indians to live at his ranch, but maybe most would understand, realizing what it meant to her to have her son back. "Thank you, Luke." She looked at Nathan. "When will you bring them?"

"In the summer. I will need a written letter from Luke to show to the reservation agent. As soon as the letter is ready, I will go back. The agent promised my children would not be taken away while I am gone, but I do not trust him. I am afraid for them."

"Then Luke will go into Billings and send a wire to the reservation, demanding that nothing be done until you get back. Luke is an important man, Nathan. If he tells them to keep the children there, they will do it."

Nathan met Luke's gaze. "I am grateful."

"You will at least stay with us for Christmas, won't you, Nathan?" Lettie asked. "It's only two days away. Are you... are you Christian?"

He folded his arms. "As I learned the white man's religion from the missionaries, I came to see that it is not so different from the Sioux. We all believe in a Great Being who watches us from above and listens to our prayers. Yes, I am Christian, but I am also Sioux, and there are many Indian beliefs that will never leave me."

Luke walked back to the fireplace. He took a deep drag on his cigarette, then threw it into the hearth and faced the rest of his children. "I don't know exactly how all of you feel about this, but it's my decision," he told them. "I'm letting Nathan bring his family and his step-sister here to live." He looked at Tyler. "All of you know how important this is to your mother. When I met and fell in love with her, I also loved and accepted Nathan as my own because he was her son, and I knew how much she loved him." He directed his gaze at Tyler. "For more reasons than you know, I vowed never to let Lettie's son feel any less loved or accepted than any of our own children. I will not cheat any son of mine out of what is rightfully his, but I will be fair about who has earned the right to this ranch and take into consideration whether or not each child even wants a part of this ranch. Tyler, we all know who has earned that right more than any other. You ought to trust me enough to know I would never take anything from you that you honestly deserve, nor could any other child change the way I feel about you or how proud I am of you or the special relationship we've always had."

He looked at Robbie. "That doesn't mean Tyler is any more special than you, Robbie, or Katie or Pearl, and Nathan isn't any more special just because he's the long-lost son. You're all my children, all loved the same."

"Pa, none of us expects... I mean, I hope you don't think we're greedy or sitting around waiting for an inheritance," Katie spoke up.

Luke sighed. "I know that. I'm just saying that this family has always been close, and I don't want Nathan's arrival to bring on any unwarranted hard feelings or worries that somehow he's going to