Feather in the Wind (28 page)

He glanced up as she entered the room. “It is a good thing, to know how to read and write. Will you teach me?”

“Sure. You’ll have to be patient with me though. I’ve never tried to teach anyone.” She smiled, pleased that he wanted to learn, that he seemed to be willing to accept her way of life. Perhaps it wouldn’t be as difficult a transition as she feared. A new name would be a good place to start.

“Black Wind, what would you think of taking a Christian name?”

He frowned at her. “What is that?”

“A first name, like my first name is Susannah and my last name is Kingston.”

“I have a name.”

“I know, but I think most Indians today have a Christian name and an Indian name, like, well, like this.” She pointed to a page in the book. “See, this is a quote by an Indian named John Two Bulls.”

“You think I should have a Christian name?”

“Well, it might be easier to introduce you to people.”

“What name?”

“Gee, I don’t know…I’ve always liked the name Daniel. I was thinking it would be a nice name for the baby, if it’s a boy.”

“Daniel” He repeated it slowly. It felt strange on his tongue.

“If you don’t like Daniel, I have a whole book full of names,” Susannah said. “We could look at them later.”

“I will be Daniel for you,” he said, “if that is what you wish.”

Susannah’s shoulders slumped. “I’m not trying to change you, or steal your identity, honest. It’s just that it’s going to be hard enough to explain who you are, and I thought it would be easier if you had a Christian name like everyone else.”

“It is all right, Susannah,” he said bleakly, and rising to his feet, he left the room.

Susannah stared after him. “Damn, that didn’t go well at all,” she muttered, and then wondered if maybe her timing had been wrong. After all, he’d barely had a chance to get used to being in a different century and she was after him to change his name, which was practically the only thing he had left.

With a sigh, she went after him.

He was in the living room, staring out the front window, watching three boys playing catch in the street.

“I’m sorry,” Susannah said. She put her arms around him and placed her cheek against his back. “You don’t have to take a new name. It was wrong of me to suggest it.”

He placed his hands over hers. “It is all right, Su-san-nah. I will have to get used to living here, in your time, as you learned to live in mine.”

“Black Wind, please don’t be unhappy.”

“I am not unhappy.” He turned in her arms. “I just feel…lost.”

“I know, but it’ll get easier in time, I promise.”

He nodded, but she had the feeling he didn’t believe her.

Just then, the phone rang. She felt Black Wind start at the sound, then relax. She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, then went to answer the phone. It was Vivian.

“Where have you been, girl?” Viv asked. “I’ve been calling you for days.”

“I went out of town unexpectedly,” Susannah replied, grinning.

“Well, you might have called. I imagined all sorts of terrible things.”

“No, I’m fine.” She looked at Black Wind and smiled. “Better than fine.”

“So, where’d you go?”

“I took a trip to South Dakota.”

“Really? Whatever for?”

Susannah hesitated a moment, then grinned. “Research.”

“What aren’t you telling me?”

“I met a man while I was there,” Susannah said, glancing over at Black Wind, who was watching her curiously.

“Tell me everything!”

“Well…” Susannah drawled, her gaze moving over Black Wind, “he’s got long, long legs and the broadest shoulders I’ve ever seen. His hair is black, and his skin is a dark copper color. He the most handsome man I’ve ever seen, and I love him desperately.”

“Tall, dark and handsome,” Viv said, and Susannah could hear the smile in her voice. “Are you going to see him again?”

“Well, actually, I brought him home with me.”

“Well, that’s some souvenir,” Vivian remarked dryly. “Sounds serious, girlfriend. Is it?”

“Very.”

“When do I get to meet him?”

“Soon, I promise. Listen, I’ve got to go. I’ll call you tomorrow, okay?”

“Okay. You behave yourself now, hear?”

“Right. Bye, Viv.”

“Bye.”

Susannah hung up the receiver, frowning. She had only been gone for a couple weeks, yet she was more than a couple of weeks pregnant. How was she going to explain it? She supposed she could always fall back on the old explanation and say the baby was premature. Since she hadn’t begun to show much yet, she might get away with it.

She looked up to find Black Wind watching her intently. “That was Vivian. She’s my best friend.”

Tate Sapa nodded. “Am I,” he mused, “the most handsome man you’ve ever seen?”

“Definitely.” Crossing the room, she slid her arms around his waist. “You’ve been here for two days. Would you like to go out and take a look around?”

“Yes, I think I would like that.”

Pulling back a little, she looked him up and down, then grinned. “Maybe you’d better put some clothes on first.”

A short time later, they left the house. Black Wind looked virile and handsome in a pair of jeans and a dark blue t-shirt. He had tried on the tennis shoes, then put on his moccasins.

He stared at her car, obviously reluctant to get inside.

“Unlike that horse you made me ride, my car won’t bite you,” she said, sliding behind the wheel. “Come on, get in.”

Taking a deep breath, Black Wind ducked inside and sat down.

“Shut the door.”

She arranged his seat belt, patted his arm reassuringly. “Don’t be alarmed by the noise the engine makes, okay? It’s a little loud, but harmless.”

He flinched as the engine hummed to life, clenched his hands as she backed out of the garage. “Where do you want to go?” she asked.

“Go?”

“The mall? A movie? Or just for a drive?”

Black Wind shook his head. “You choose.”

“The mall, I think.”

Black Wind nodded. She had mentioned this place several times, had gone there to buy his clothes. He was curious to see what it was, this mall. He stared straight ahead as she pulled out of the driveway onto the street, his hands clutching the edge of the seat. His trepidation turned to amazement and then delight as the car picked up speed. The fleetest pony he had ever owned had not been able to travel at such great speed.

Susannah smiled at the look of enjoyment on Black Wind’s face. Bypassing the mall, she decided to take him for a short ride on the freeway, then circle back.

He looked a little alarmed as cars began whizzing by on both sides, but he was soon urging her to go faster. Men and cars, she thought, and knew there was at least one thing about the nineties that he was going to love.

Later, they walked through the mall. Susannah tried to see it through Black Wind’s eyes—the bookstores, the dress shops, the Candy Factory, the Disney Store. He stopped at every window, peering inside, asking dozens of questions. She took him into the bookstore and showed him her book on the shelf. From there, they went into the Candy Factory, where she bought several varieties of chocolates so he could try them out. They stopped in one of the men’s shops and he walked up and down the aisles, staring at the mannequins, examining the suits and ties, touching everything. She heard him mutter something about the white man wearing too many clothes.

They took the escalator to the second floor. Black Wind was hesitant to step on at first, and then, when they reached the top, he wanted to go back down. Susannah was happy to oblige, and they rode up and down the escalator three times.

“Remarkable,” Tate Sapa remarked.

At the food park, Susannah bought a double scoop of chocolate ice cream for herself, a scoop of chocolate and one of vanilla for Black Wind. He watched her take a lick of hers, then did the same.

“Good?” she asked, and he nodded, too busy eating to reply. He watched the people coming and going, amazed at their number, stared at a young woman who had purple hair. The man with her had shaved his head except for one long yellow strip in the middle. He saw women wearing hardly anything at all, and others who wore long flowing robes that covered them from their necks to their ankles.

“It is quite amazing, this world of yours,” he remarked when they were on the way home. “So many strange things to see. No wonder you were so anxious to come back to your own time.”

“Well, I did miss it,” Susannah admitted, “but I’d have been happy to stay in the past with you.” She bit down on her lower lip. “But you’re not going to be happy here, are you?”

“I am happy to be with you.”

“That’s not what I asked.”

“I do not think I will ever belong here.”

“Don’t say that. You’ve only been here a couple of days. Give yourself some time to get used to it.”

“I have no other choice,” he replied, his voice wistful and resigned at the same time.

Susannah nodded, but, deep inside, she wondered if that was true. She thought of the prayer feather hanging on a nail in her bedroom. The feather had carried her to the past, and brought Black Wind to the present. Might it not also take him home again if he wished to go?

* * * * *

Doctor Fries smiled as Susannah entered his office and sat down next to Black Wind.

“Well,” he said, “everything appears to be fine, just fine.” He handed her a slip of paper. “I want you to start taking prenatal vitamins right away. You don’t smoke, do you? Good, good. I’ve put your due date at November 13.” He paused to thumb through the file on his desk. “I guess that’s it. I’ll want to see you once a month for the next few months, and then every week. Any questions?”

Susannah glanced at Black Wind. She wanted to ask the doctor if traveling through time would affect the baby, but couldn’t bring herself to say the words out loud for fear of sounding like a lunatic. “No, I don’t think so.”

The doctor looked at Black Wind. “Do you have any questions?”

Black Wind shook his head, still somewhat stunned by the ride in the elevator. The building was larger than anything he had ever seen, filled with people who seemed to be in a hurry. He had sat in the waiting room while Susannah went in to see the
wasichu
shaman, conscious of the curious stares of the other people in the room. Even though he was dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, he knew he stood out from the others. And not just because of the color of his skin. There were people in the room with skin darker than his. He wondered if they knew, as he did, that he didn’t belong there.

“Well then.” The doctor stood up and shook hands with Black Wind. “I’ll see you next month, Susannah,” he said, giving her a hug. “Give my regards to your family for me.”

Susannah smiled at him. Doctor Jay Fries had been their family doctor for as long as she could remember. “I will. Thanks, Doctor Jay.”

“November,” she mused as they rode down in the elevator. “I didn’t realize I was so far along.” She glanced down at her stomach. “I don’t show hardly at all,” she remarked, and shook her head. It was amazing. She was three months pregnant, yet she’d been gone less than a month in her own time. She tried to figure out the time ratio between past and present, but it was impossible. She hadn’t tried to keep track of time while in the past and had no idea how long she’d spent there. Seven months, eight? Did it really matter?

Black Wind’s hand tightened around hers as the elevator lurched to a stop on the main floor.

“You okay?” Susannah asked, grinning up at him.

“O-kay? What is o-kay?”

“It means all right. Are you all right?”

“I am all right,” he replied, returning her grin. “Boxes that go up and down. Stairs that move. Has it always been so with the
wasichu
?”

“Not always.”

He found that hard to believe. The
wasichu
, it seemed, could do anything. They made cars that went faster than a fleet pony and built buildings taller than the Devil’s Tower. Susannah had placed his new leggings in one of her machines and they had come out soft and warm and dry.

Susannah fell suddenly silent on the drive home, making him wonder if there was something she wasn’t telling him. He glanced at her several times, noting the worry lines on her brow, the way she chewed on her lower lip.

He followed her into the house, afraid the
wasichu
shaman had given her bad news that she didn’t want to share.

“Su-san-nah?”

“Hmmm?”

“What is wrong?”

“Wrong? Nothing.”

He crossed the room and gathered her into his arms. “Something is bothering you. Can you not tell me what it is?”

“I was just thinking about my mother. She’s going to be upset when she finds out I’m pregnant.”

“Does she not like children?” he asked, astonished at the idea.