Kiowa Husband by DiAnn Mills

Author:DiAnn Mills
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Barbour Publishing, Inc.
Published: 2012-09-13T00:00:00+00:00

Twelve

Sarah Jane had busied herself all morning, and now she read from Papa’s Bible. Her perch beneath the cottonwood facing the river had become her favorite spot during her recuperation. She could become very lazy here, mesmerized by the gentle flow of the water and the placid scene of grazing cattle. She opened the Bible to one of Mama’s favorite passages—the book of Ruth. The ancient Moabite woman’s journey to a new home and her devotion to God filled Sarah Jane with renewed hope for her marriage.

Papa always said things happened for God’s reason and not our own. At the time, Sarah Jane believed him, though since her marriage, she’d contemplated the wisdom of Papa’s statement. One moment she was filled with despair and certain Painted Hands planned to leave her at Fort Laramie; in the next he acted as if he cared. She wanted to look expectantly to the future, but she wished God would give her a glimpse of it. Trust was a heavy dose of medicine to one who lacked patience.

Closing the Bible, she stood and headed back to the wagon. There Painted Hands bent over a deer. He’d skinned the hide and set it aside, then deftly sliced up the meat. She could cure it with the extra salt, but her curiosity came with what he intended to do with the hide.

“I’m going to tan it,” he said. “You need some good buckskin for the mountains.” He filled a second bucket with the venison. “We’re going to stay an extra two days here to get it started.”

Buckskin? Mama and Papa will roll over in their graves. “I have clothes, Painted Hands.”

“I know, but they aren’t suitable for the mountains.” A smile greeted her. “Once you get used to them, you might never wear a dress again.”

“So will I wear a buckskin dress like an Indian woman?”

He laughed long and loud. “No, Sarah Jane. These will be breeches and a shirt. They won’t wear out, and the going will be easier.”

I have to be excited about this. “No one will be able to tell us apart.”

“Oh, I imagine there will be a few differences.”

Sarah Jane flushed hot, and it had nothing to do with the heat of the day or a fever.

Sarah Jane wanted to leave the peaceful site by the Platte River, but she realized the need for a few extra days of rest, and the thought of watching her husband prepare a hide for clothing purposes sounded interesting. In fact, she decided to record each step in Mama’s journal.

Painted Hands began the process once the meat had been sliced and salted. He prepared a mixture of the deer’s brains and liver with a little fat in a kettle over a low fire.

“Are you going to eat that?” she asked.

“Did you want to?”

“Not exactly, although I guess if I was hungry enough, I’d eat anything.”

He stirred the mixture before answering. “Once it’s cooked for about an hour, it will be ready to use in the tanning.”

She had so many questions, but she knew how he felt about them.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.