Savage Surrender by Colleen French

Author:Colleen French [French, Colleen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The Evan Marshall Agency
Published: 2017-12-13T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eighteen

The leaves fell from the trees as fall blew into the Chesapeake with its blustering winds and cooler temperatures. With the help of Starlight and the other women in the Lenni Lenape camp, Rachael kept busy with the harvest season ritual of preserving food for the long cold winter ahead. She was so occupied by her new duties and position in the village that the days and weeks slipped by like grains of precious salt slipping from her fingers.

Side by side the women worked to gather the three sisters—squash, corn, and beans—from their small but prosperous summer gardens. The wives of the village were so anxious to help the newlyweds set up housekeeping that they showered Rachael with baskets of fresh vegetables and herbs grown lovingly all summer. They took their time to patiently demonstrate to her how each item could be preserved and then stored so that she could provide for her husband throughout the winter. They worked tirelessly at her side, guiding her, laughing with her, teaching her the ways of the Lenni Lenape.

The women not only tended the garden, but fished and clammed beside their husbands as well. Their catch from the shores of the great Chesapeake bay and Metuksit River were smoked on racks and stored in the wigwams on long strings. The women and children gathered honey and stored it in wax-sealed pots. Pits were dug outside the wigwams, lined with dried leaves, filled with fruits and vegetables, then buried to protect the precious foodstores from freezing temperatures. It was a busy but contented time for the Lenni Lenape when the men hunted and cared for the children while the women prepared for winter.

Rachael was overjoyed with the new life she and Storm Dancer had been exiled to. It was better than she could ever have dreamed. Her entire life she had always experienced a strange sense of detachment from the world around her, but suddenly she felt as if she were in the center of the universe. For the first time in her life she felt as if she belonged.

Not only did she enjoy the company of the women of the village but she thrived on her husband's attention. They fished together. They dove for oysters off the shore of the bay. He made baskets for her from the reeds of the riverbank to store her foodstuffs. He sat across from her at their firepit and played haunting tunes on his bone flute for her. They swam in the cold bay and made love on the shore by the light of the moon.

As the weeks enfolded into months, Rachael saw Storm change subtly. He became more relaxed, less moody, less brooding. Shaakhan began to train his grandson for the honorable position of shaman of the village and Storm Dancer excelled under his grandfather's rigorous instruction.

Despite the fact that Shaakhan insisted that Storm Dancer begin his study immediately, the old man remained elusive concerning Storm Dancer's purpose for coming to the village.

Rachael suggested that

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