Brave Beginnings (22 page)

“My sister is watching her. As soon as I
heard a stagecoach was coming, I had to see who was on it.”

“And my other nephew or niece?” Julia
motioned to Woape’s stomach, realizing it was too soon for Woape to
show yet. “Are things progressing well?”

“Yes, and the sickness has finally passed and
my energy’s returned. So, do you have news for me of a more
personal nature?” Woape asked, looking at her expectantly.

Refusing to give into the urge to mope, Julia
shook her head. “Not yet.”

Chogan came up to them with a trunk in his
arms. “I paid the driver. We can go into the lodge now.”

Gary came up to them with Julia’s carpet bag
and rolled his eyes. “Did you leave anything with Aunt Erin?”

Julia pretended to be appalled by the
question. “Really, Gary. You think we brought too much? It’s just
one trunk and a carpet bag.”

“Is the carpet bag too heavy?” Chogan asked
her brother. “We need to toughen you up. Julia can carry it just
fine. She’s stronger than you.”

“I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that,”
Gary said with a wry grin. “Lead me to where this thing belongs. I
have better things to do than carry a woman’s bag around.”

Chogan glanced her way. “Do you want to
come?”

“I better.” Julia turned to Woape. “We’ll
talk soon?”

Woape smiled. “Of course.”

Julia gave the onlookers a nervous smile
before she joined Chogan and entered his lodge, aware that four
women stood near the doorway.

“Chogan!” the woman she recognized as his
mother cried.

He set down the trunk, and his mother gave
him a big hug. Then they spoke in Mandan. He motioned to Julia
before he turned his attention back to the others surrounding them.
Since they spoke fast, Julia couldn’t make out everything, but she
understood he was explaining why they decided to come here to
live.

His mother smiled at her and spoke to Chogan
but pointed to Julia.

He smiled at Julia. “My mother says you need
no introduction. No one can forget how you killed Hothlepoya. She
said I married a brave woman.”

Julia blushed at the unexpected compliment.
“Thank you,” she told his mother, unsure of what the words for
‘thank you’ were in Mandan.

She hugged Julia and patted her on the back.
“We happy you here.”

“Thank you,” Julia said again, unable to
think of anything else to say.

She scanned the rest of the people who
watched them and took a deep breath to settle her nerves. She could
do this. They were smiling at her, and she sensed the silent
welcome in the air.

Chogan drew her close and spoke to them in an
excited tone. Whatever he said made them laugh, and then the old
woman pointed to one of the rooms along the perimeter of the
lodge.

Julia looked at Chogan.

“Our bedroom will be there,” Chogan told
her.

He turned to the trunk and picked it up.
Gary, who’d been standing off to the side and watching the whole
thing, passed her. She jerked. She’d forgotten he was there with
them. Deciding to follow their lead, she gave another tentative
smile at her new family and hurried to check out her new
bedroom.

The area was smaller than she was used to,
but there was room for a bed, a trunk, a crib, and a dresser. Julia
wasn’t sure what the exact furnishings would be, and the room was
bare except for a bed without anything on it. The bed didn’t look
as comfortable as the mattress she was used to, but that was a
minor issue.

Chogan set the trunk in the corner of the
room and said, “My mother and aunts will bring more items in here.
The women own the furnishings.”

“Really?” Julia asked, intrigued.

Gary put the carpet bag on the trunk and
nodded. “All that the men own are their clothes, hunting supplies,
and horses. You women make out like bandits in this tribe.”

“It is not like Bismarck where the men are
the primary owners,” Chogan told her. “The lodge belongs to my
mother and her sisters. This is why men often move into the lodge
of their wife’s family.”

Gary grinned and nudged her in the arm. “You
can kick him out of the lodge if you get tired of him.”

“Don’t give her ideas,” Chogan admonished and
pushed Gary toward the door. “You are a bad influence.”

Julia laughed. “I’ll never get rid of him,
Gary. If I get rid of anyone, it’ll be you.”

Her brother groaned. “I’m not so sure having
you two here is a good idea.”

“You’ll survive.” Chogan patted him on the
back and winked at her.

She giggled and turned to her carpet bag.
She opened it and took out the embroidered wedding gift her aunt
had made for them. It was a picture of a bridal veil and a feather
headdress with their names and the date of their wedding
underneath. Erin had then put it in a frame so Julia could hang it
up. Looking around the room, Julia didn’t see any nails to hang it
on.

She looked at Chogan who was watching her.
“Is there a place to put this?” She motioned to her aunt’s
gift.

“I will hang this above our bed.” He took it
from her and asked, “What do you think? Will that be good?”

She scanned the room again and smiled. “Yes.
It’s good, Chogan.”

Looking relieved, he headed for the doorway.
“I will get a hook to put on the wall for your aunt’s present. I
will bring in buffalo furs for the bed.”

She took that as her cue to wait, so she
remained in the room, aware that Chogan’s mother was talking to his
aunts. From the excited tones in their voices, Julia deducted they
were happy to see him again. Rubbing her hands together in the cool
room, she wondered how long it would take until she could
understand more than a word here and there.

She didn’t appreciate how far Chogan had
come in learning the English language. He worked harder than she
realized, and now she’d have to work just as hard, if not harder to
learn his. Learning another language seemed like a daunting task.
But it wasn’t impossible. She would learn to be fluent in Mandan.
It was a matter of time. That was all. Thankfully, she had people
who would teach her. Taking a deep breath, she decided this place
would suit her and Chogan just fine. With a sense of adventure, she
turned her attention back to the carpet bag.

~~********~~

Woape waited for Gary to enter her family’s
lodge before she asked her sister to watch Penelope so she could
talk to him. He was putting his steed into the stall by the front
entrance, and though he didn’t appear as if the sudden development
shocked him, she knew it did. Despite her best effort to look
serious, she found that she couldn’t stop chuckling.

He glanced over his shoulder and rolled his
eyes.

She burst out laughing. “You shouldn’t let
Chogan frighten you. He’s harmless.”

“Only to women,” Gary replied.

After he secured the stall, she put her arms
around his waist and kissed him on the cheek. “You have no need to
worry. I’ll protect you.”

“Just what a man wants. His wife coming to
his aid.” Though he shook his head, she caught a flicker of
amusement on his face. “It’s not that Chogan is mean to anyone, but
he has that way of looking at someone that unnerves them. It’s
spooky. And it’s not just me who thinks that. Even your brother’s
made a comment about it.”

“Chogan won’t bother you as long as you leave
his loved ones alone. So just be nice to Julia, and you’ll be
fine.”

“It’s hard to know who’s more intimidating
when you put those two together,” he joked. “I’d rather take my
chances with Chogan, now that I think about it.”

She giggled. “You exaggerate.”

“Maybe a little.”

“Why are they here?” she asked in a lower
voice so the others assembled around the fire in the center of the
lodge wouldn’t hear them. “I thought Chogan was glad to get out of
here because Citlali kept bothering him.”

“I don’t know why they’re here. They didn’t
say. But there is some talk in Bismarck about the Indian who
threatened a few men. The owner of the mercantile warned me to be
careful. He said the Indian hates white people.”

“You can’t be serious. Chogan married Julia,
and she’s white.”

“They think he forced her into it
somehow.”

“How absurd.”

“I know. She couldn’t marry him fast enough.
You should have seen the way she ran to him. If there was ever a
woman who wanted to marry someone, it was her.”

“So why would people spread those lies?”

Gary shrugged. “Your guess is as good as
mine. Maybe next time I’m in town, I’ll try to figure out how the
whole thing started. That tobacco store owner is a loud mouth. I’m
sure he’ll be more than happy to tell me all he knows.”

“That’s a good idea. In the meantime, I’ll
see if Julia will tell me anything.”

At that, he was the one who laughed. “Good
luck getting her separated from him. Those two stood so close to
each other that you couldn’t tell where one ended and the other
began.”

“They’re still newlyweds. Not old married
people like us,” she teased.

“Nonsense. We’re still newlyweds.” He grinned
at her and gave her a lingering kiss. “And the best part is,
Chogan’s lodge isn’t close by so I can sleep safe at night.”

She sighed. “You need to talk to him and get
to know him. Then he won’t be so scary.”

“Maybe.” Gary shrugged.

Realizing the chances of Gary actually doing
that were slim, Woape gave up on the topic. “I will return to Onawa
and Penelope. You go help my father.”

Gary patted the small of her back and headed
to her father’s room so he could help her father put up a new
covering for the door.

Woape went over to her sister and sat beside
her. Onawa was showing Penelope some beads from her basket.

Onawa rolled the red and orange beads in the
palm of her hand and told the one-and-a-half-year-old girl, “I will
make you a necklace.” She glanced at Woape. “Penelope seems to like
these colors the most.”

“Penelope likes them because you wear them a
lot,” Woape said. “She wants to be like you.”

Onawa’s dark eyes twinkled. “She has good
taste.”

“Of course, you’d say that.” Woape brushed
her daughter’s black hair from her eyes and tucked the fine strands
behind her ear. “In a couple more months, we can braid her
hair.”

“I’ll weave some beads into the braid.
She’ll like that.” Onawa placed the beads back into her basket.
Still sitting, she took Penelope’s hands so the girl could stand up
and dance. “She is adorable. I hope I have a girl so I can put her
in dresses and play with her hair.”

“You’re looking forward to marrying Citlali
next year?” Woape asked, studying her sister’s face.

“Yes.”

“Has he been by to see you?”

“Not since he brought over the white buffalo
robe.”

“A white one? That probably made his family
proud,” Woape muttered.

Onawa glanced at her. “What?”

Clearing her throat, she asked, “Has he
talked to you?”

“He did for a bit.”

“Really? What did he say?” Woape was
surprised he took the time to say anything to her sister. He was so
closed off from Woape during the time Woape had been engaged to
him. She couldn’t recall him saying more than the casual
greeting.

“He asked if I will go to his family’s lodge
when we marry.” Onawa winced when Penelope grabbed her braid and
pulled on it. As she gently pried Penelope’s fingers from her hair,
she continued, “His cousin will move into another lodge when he
marries next month.”

Woape breathed a sigh of relief. Even if
Citlali didn’t seem to hold any ill will toward her, she was glad
he wouldn’t come to their lodge to live. Having to see him as she
went about her business in the tribe was awkward enough.

“I’ll miss being here with you and Penelope,”
Onawa softly admitted.

“Thankfully, we’re in the same tribe,” Woape
replied.

And thankfully, Citlali’s family was
friendlier than he was. Woape honestly didn’t know how her sister
could be excited about marrying him, but she hoped her sister
wouldn’t be disappointed after the wedding. She decided to keep her
misgivings to herself. Maybe Onawa saw something in him that she
didn’t. Maybe he showed her a flicker of emotion.

“If you want to help our aunts prepare
supper, I’ll keep a watch over Penelope,” Onawa said. “I can take
her for a walk.”

Woape nodded. “She needs to run around.
Alright.” She figured that later on, she’d go to Chogan’s lodge to
help Julia get settled in. In the meantime, she had her chores to
tend to. She stood and got Penelope’s blanket and moccasins ready
for the walk.

***

Larry slammed the newspaper on the table in
the printing room and shook his head. He glanced at Mike who let
out a low sigh and shrugged.

Lips set in a firm line, Larry made his
decision. Turning to Mike, he said, “I don’t care how good of
friends Noah and Ernest are. Noah’s not working here anymore.”

“I don’t think anyone will mind if you fire
Noah,” Mike replied as he walked over to the table and picked up
the paper. “Is it possible he was drunk when he did this?”

“Drunk or not, he’s incompetent and lazy.
Chogan never did shoddy work.” He placed his hands on his hips and
took a deep breath. “I’m going to hire him back.”

“But the boss won’t allow it.”

“If Wilcox can’t handle it, then he can fire
me. I’m sick of Ernest Freeman getting whatever he wants in this
town. He thinks that just because he snaps his fingers, the world
has to run to do his bidding. I won’t lie down and play dead
anymore.”

Mike winced. “You’re right. We can’t let
people like Ernest bully us into going against our principles. The
Tribune won’t sell any papers if they look like a child printed
it.”