True love isn't always forever love. Lovers I love can't always stay together. Tall Willow and Running Horse have one of those forever loves that don't end. Even with all that happens in their lives, there is an undercurrent of desire that can only be satisfied by being reunited with their one true love. Tall Willow and Running Horse have been reunited.

Being shot is rarely how true love reignites, but when Tall Willow is recovering from being shot, because Samuel was shot too, a journey home becomes necessary, even when Tall Willow has agreed to go to Denver for his next survey. On the way to Denver, but still ten days away, he stops at the family farm where he was raised to have his father treat Samuel with one of Medicine Woman's cures.

Speechless, Samuel is alive and responding to the Indian remedy for people inflicted with illness, even when man made, the medicine brings him almost back to where he was before he was shot trying to help the man he calls, "Pop."

The power of love is plain to see, when Tall Willow and Running Horse come together after too long apart. Their love is immediately the single strongest part of them. They are drawn to each other as powerfully as when they first met as boys.

As they revisit their love, it's depth is apparent to them as it is to John and Samuel, who didn't cross the river with Phillip, because they felt this was something he needed to do alone, and so they watched lovers coming together after being separated for years.

Even with the river between them, the power of the reunion was going to touch Samuel in a way that brought him the rest of the way back from his near death experience. Love can heal a broken heart, reach the unreachable, and cure the uncurable.

Witnessing that love a river away, touches hearts and cures the ills of mere mortal men.

Hearing the laughter and seeing Phillip overjoyed is the best medicine of all. It touches the spirit that makes anything possible. Samuel has become one with Phillip's Indian identity, and John has mixed emotions, after finding out Indians are like any men, capable of good and even savagery when aroused.

Neither John nor Samuel have known love. John knows how to make money. Samuel knows the meanness of men. Neither has known love.

All roads lead them to the cabin in the valley where the river runs, where the man they've been with becomes overwhelmed and overjoyed by his love for Running Horse. That love, their laughter, was a wonderful thing to witness.

At that moment, their hearts were purified by true love.

This was a new time. It was an old love, but not one day passed that Tall Willow didn't think of Running Horse. Never a day went by that Running Horse did not think of Tall Willow. From when they first met, they felt the connection. Neither could define it or explain it.

Who can explain love?

Certainly not lovers who love. It defies explanation. True love is true for lovers in love.

What else do lovers need to know?

*****

As with all celebrations in the pasture next to the firepit in front of the cabin, Proud Eagle turns the venison slowly over the fire. He is an expert at preparing meat for his guests. He sends no one away hungry, which has become harder with Samuel eating solid food again.

The venison was delicious and the meal went well out by the firepit. As the evening meal came to an end, Samuel wanted to stay outside for the night, but Proud Eagle put an end to that idea, and Samuel came in to get his daily dose of medicine and to sleep in a warm bed inside a cool cabin.

It would still drop to near freezing at night, and men in buffalo robes might like it, but it wasn't recommended for a boy who had a lot of healing to do.

Proud Eagle was no fool. He knew how much his son loved Samuel, but Running Horse represented a different kind of love, and Samuel couldn't be allowed to stand in love's way. Their time together was short, and keeping Samuel busy elsewhere was best for the time being, while he regained his strength, attending to that business.

John had no interest in being in the way of two lovers who wanted to make love. John hadn't experienced love, but he recognized it when he saw it, and the bed in the cabin was a comfort, and it didn't move. He'd be in the same place when he woke up the next morning.

The only one who wouldn't admit to knowing what Tall Willow and Running Horse were doing, were either naïve or fibbing. When they were together, the way they looked at each other left no doubt how they felt. They weren't going to kiss for an audience, but their hand holding told the tale. They needed to be in touch with each other.

As the moon rose above the trees, Tall Willow and Running Horse were locked in an embrace, as they merely wanted to be together, touching, feeling the other close. There would be time for love making, this was the time for holding and being held. This was the time for gentle kisses and getting use to the idea of being able to see one another.

"You're still the most beautiful man I've ever seen," Tall Willow said.

"Not beautiful enough for you to come home with me," Running Horse said.

Tall Willow wouldn't say the words again. He knew the disappointment would pass, and he'd already spoken the words to Running Horse he didn't think he'd be able to say to him.

There was no great movement, Running Horse held Tall Willow for a time and then, they'd move a bit, and Tall Willow held Running Horse. He was amazed how muscular Running Horse still was. He'd not gained weight in the places Tall Willow gained weight, and when he stood up to go relieve himself, his golden skin glistened in the moonlight. He had hardly changed at all, and the love felt like it only ran deeper, strengthened by the years apart.

As quick as he was back, the kissing started. Tall Willow missed Running Horse after he left him for five minutes. How had he lasted for going on twelve years? How would he stay away from the man he loved, once they'd been together for these days at the cabin?

Leaving Running Horse had been the hardest thing Tall Willow ever did. Doing it a second time would be almost impossible. He wanted to ride back to the village with Running Horse and never leave him again, but Dan was depending on him to do the job he said he'd do. He didn't know why that was so important to him, but he needed to go to Denver, and Running Horse needed to return to the village where he was chief.

"The cavalry. Tell me about the cavalry," Tall Willow said. "Did the cavalry come after me?"

"They come. We mourn Lit'l Fox and Morning star. They were led by lieutenant. No know name. They sat and watched he ceremony. Soldiers went through all lodges. No take anything, looking for Tall Willow. No find. Tall Willow gone from village."

"Your English has improved," Tall Willow said.

"Beverly and Angeleno come stay. No speak Pawnee and we speak English. They learn. Running Horse learn. Medicine Woman spoke English. Want us to speak, but most warriors no want speak English. Beverly and Angeleno only speak English. I speak English to them."

"Beverly and Angeleno?" Tall Willow asked.

"Take from Northern Cheyenne. They come on hunting grounds. We run them off. They run away but leave two white women, Beverly, Angeleno. We bring to village and make plan to take them back to white world. No go. Stay here."

"No go. You took them to rejoin white people?"

"No go. Like village. No go home. This home now. I not make go home. They want to stay, they stay. They good women. Beverly know herbs and make medicines. Angeleno tended the gardens. It freedom they not have as white women. They no go back. I learn English to speak to them. No like English, but spoke it for first time since Medicine Woman die."

"My Pawnee is rusty after all these years. I didn't dare slip up and gesture with my hands or say something Pawnee. Hard to go back to being white. Stayed away from people as much as possible for long time."

"The cavalry?"

Running Horse stood and walked away. This was not a subject he wanted to talk about.

"Before Beverly and Angeleno come. They look for you, no find. They watch us, no kill. We knew they'd come, and they kept their distance as we went on with ceremony. If they kill, they kill, we not stop for them. They ride away. No find and ride away. We all alive," he said.

"Cavalry come. Not big cavalry. Maybe ten men. They make camp and watch us. This go on for year, maybe two year. Stop coming. Lakota, Ogalala give cavalry hell on plains. They send all their men to stop Lakota and Ogalala. They not so easy to catch once in wind."

Tall Willow laughed.

"Your English is very good. You speak better English than I do."

"They learn Pawnee. I no speak English any more," he confessed.

Tall Willow heard what he wanted to hear, and Running Horse laid back down with him. He was agitated, but a few kisses made him forget agitation. Forget name too.

Their lips came together as Running Horse's body came in contact with Tall Willow. All idea of self control, of going slowly, had lasted long enough, and they were lost into each other. The passion boiled over and they made love that would take them both far away from the cabin in the valley where the river runs.

As they touched and kissed, they soared above the river and took a trip into the night sky to dance among the stars and fly over the moon as they loved each other in a way they'd never loved before. This was where they both wanted to be. This is where they belonged.

Together.

This is what they'd dreamed of doing a thousand times. The touch of their lover was electric. The sensations were beyond any feelings either knew. This was the perfect night with the perfect lover. As high as they made each other, they wouldn't, couldn't, let go for fear this might be another dream, and they didn't want to wake up.

They got up early so no time was wasted. These hours were precious, and watching the stars twinkle out one by one was how they wanted to get up every morning. They held hands, walking and talking as daylight erased the night.

They walked and talked and mostly it was Tall Willow explaining what he'd done as a fugitive on the run. He spoke of his meeting with Demon, his coming to terms with Dobbin, his only two friends for years as he rode herd on cattle, drove cattle, and finally knew a man who knew a man who needed a man to ride guard on a gold shipment going to St Louis.

Staying off well traveled trails, except when he was among a few thousand cattle, made him close to invisible. His few brushes with cavalry detachments ended with him riding away with nothing more serious than being faint of heart.

When he arrived in St Louis, his intention was to leave after he saw the transfer of gold from the wagon to the 1st National Bank of Wichita. When he went to eat before leaving town, while trying to keep Demon from being shot, the president of the 1st National Bank of Wichita noticed him and his dog that was a wolf. It was a lucky break he did, because it was through Dan that Tall Willow's journey eastward, returned him to the west as a surveyor.

That's how he ended up being the head of 1st National Bank's western division that was responsible for doing surveys of western lands the bank had bought. As settlers came to the 1st National Bank to secure their funds, they took advantage of their program that got them a place on a wagon train the bank organized to get settlers west to the land the bank sold them.

Once he took charge of one of those wagon trains, while going west for the first time to learn how to do the surveying, the bank wanted Phillip to take charge of more of their wagon trains when he was in position to do so. When organizing wagon trains to go west, the most difficult position to fill was that of wagon master, because he had to take responsibility for twenty or thirty wagons of settlers going west.

Phillip knew the trails, and when he came east to report on his surveys, they'd usually plan for him to take a wagon train west. This was how he had met John, who was ill, and using Indian medicine, he helped him get better. After that John stayed on to help with surveying.

"You bring the settlers to our land?" Running Horse wanted to know.

"I do, and when I do, no one dies. The settlers get where they're going, and the Indians let us pass, because they know me, and allow me to pass with a proper show of respect. These people are going to come whether or not I help them. I can protect them, while other wagon masters can only try to protect immigrants wanting to move west."

Once this was said, they walked and talked as Chief Running Horse reflected on his words. He saw the logic in what Tall Willow was doing, although, he didn't like it. He'd never experienced the white world, and Tall Willow had. He accepted his actions as sound. What he was doing had lead him back to have this meeting with the man he loved.

"You have seen a world Running Horse will never see. I accept it was not a plan. It was because you went east to live in white world. These were the things you could do."

"When Dan, president of 1st National in St Louis, took me to New York, he dressed me like a cowboy. Hat, six shooter, the whole deal. He wanted me to appear like a cowboy to his partners. You don't know how hard it was not to laugh out loud in front of them. If they only knew, their cowboy was an Indian."

"You've been white, Indian, cowboy. Time for you to come home to be Indian again."

"I've always been Pawnee. The best thing I ever did was love you, Running Horse. I'll be home sooner than you think, but I need to finish the work I said I would do."

Being a man of his word was difficult, no matter what name he went by. He told Dan he'd do the Denver job, and once he was well enough, once Samuel was well enough, they would go to Denver, do that job, and then he'd return to the village he left all those years ago. It would be impossible to stay away after they had been reunited.

Holding hands kept them in touch with each other. They needed to stay in touch. Their time was short, and they both intended to go back to their lives, but this time Tall Willow could see the end of the separation. Running Horse was trying to see the time Tall Willow would once again live in his lodge, but he could not make this vision become clear, which told him there was more waiting ahead. He'd wait. He couldn't do anything else.

Running Horse knew Tall Willow had lived many lives in the time he had been away. He knew he was a man of his word. He gave his word to a man, and he would keep it. He gave Running Horse his word that he was coming home after he did the job he signed up to do. He would not sign up to do any more jobs. Tall Willow was returning to his village.

"While I was in St Louis, I got myself a store-bought haircut. They have shops with fancy chairs and big mirrors. My hair was too long for the image I needed to show. As the man finished cutting my hair, he turned the chair to look into the mirror that was four foot high and three feet wide. I didn't know myself. I looked in the mirror and a stranger looked back at me. I knew then it was time to consider going back home. Back to the Pawnee village."

"See, you know it time to come home."

"The job in Denver shouldn't take a year. I'm picking up where another surveyor left off. Once I'm done, that will be where my life in the white world will end. There is a risk someone could recognize me, but I've seen the wanted poster with Tall Willow on it. It looks nothing like I look now. My hair is darker, I've gained weight, and only someone who knew me close up would be able to see Tall Willow in Phillip Dubois."

The sun was up by the time they rolled in the field on the north side of the river. They held hands while walking and talking. When the talking stopped, they stopped, looked into each other's eyes, and the hand holding wouldn't do.

They rolled and kissed, and they kissed some more. This was a heavenly gift, even when neither of them thought they'd see heaven or anything that was as good as touching each other. One touch lead to another, and the kisses showered both of them.

When all motion stopped, they lay cheek to cheek, holding on to each other. Words couldn't convey their feelings. Being in that field, being together, was all they ever wanted to be. They wanted to be together forever and a day, and one more day after that.

While John and Samuel sat on the front porch watching the lovers, they could not know what they were feeling, but they knew what they were feeling was good for both of them. No one couldn't see that their love was true, and after so many years, they lived to love again.

That's not to say that Phillip didn't nearly die, but he hadn't died, and if there was ever a reason to live, this was it. They would stay alive for each other. There was too much to live for, and dying was out of the question.

Living for love was as good a reason as any, but there was one thing nearly as powerful as the love Tall Willow and Running Horse shared. That was laughter, and from all over the farm, laughter could be heard. I suppose laughter might stand for happiness or delight, and there was plenty of happiness and delight felt over those three days Running Horse stayed.

Running Horse didn't merely walk with Tall Willow, he walked with his uncle, Proud Eagle, and true to his name, his uncle expressed how happy he was for his son and his nephew, because they'd found each other, and regardless of what else happened to them, their love stayed true, and Proud Eagle knew from his talks with his son, there was but one love in his life, and that love was for Running Horse. This was good.

Family, friends, and everyone at the cabin in the valley where the river runs was glad to see how devoted these two Pawnee were. It was hard to find someone at the cabin who wasn't happy to see the two walking and talking together.

They tended to keep their kissing private, except for when they first collided after all the years of separation. They did not care who saw their love on display, while they got accustomed to the sight of the other, the feel of him, and the thrill that came with the meeting.

Phillip was there for Running Horse. Phillip, who brought Samuel to his father to cure, felt that if he waited long enough, Running Horse would come. Even while he sat next to Samuel's side over the winter and into the spring he couldn't help but think, Running Horse would come soon.

While Samuel was well on his way to a full recovery, he didn't mind seeing his pop find happiness in the arms of Running Horse. Happiness, and being loved were strangers to Samuel, but when he saw Phillip and Running Horse, he felt this was good. He thought he might like to be in love one day.

Each day was warmer than the day before, although the nights were still cold, and the buffalo robe they'd slept in for years, was still plenty warm for lovers in love. They were able to have the evening meal and enjoy the people they were closest to, while being together, and once they began to yawn, their company left their bedroom under the stars, and they slipped into the buffalo robes to be sure they hadn't forgotten how to love each other.

Love had a long memory, and while Tall Willow was not fully recovered, the presence of Running Horse was the best medicine ever, although Proud Eagle made sure Tall Willow drank the medicine each day. Drinking his medicine was no problem at all, when Running Horse's arms were waiting for him. If Tall Willow felt any better, he'd be dizzy with delight.

Being lost in Running Horse's arms, in Running Horse, sped his recovery. There was no place it was better to be, and when the arms rode away from the farm, both Tall Willow and Running Horse would be counting the days until Tall Willow came home for good.

On their final night together, before Running Horse needed to return to the village he guided, it was a moonless night. After the loving was done, they lay with their arms wrapped around each other, enjoying how their bodies touched.

The sky was full of stars. There were a million stars right over head, and a million more cascaded behind the first million, and the night sky was full.

"Look," Running Horse said, as a shooting star passed overhead.

He raised his hand to allow his finger to track the moving star across the night sky.

"Another one," Tall Willow said with amazement in his voice.

Another, and another star shot across the sky overhead. A meteor shower ensued as the lovers held each other to watch the display. This was the proof of their everlasting love. Even the universe responded to the power of Tall Willow's love for Running Horse

They needed no further proof. There love was forever love.

They kissed as stars came and went as they crossed the sky above their bed. They'd both seen shooting stars, but until they came together at the family farm, neither had seen a sky full of shooting stars.

It was a remarkable display of the wonders in their universe.

They sealed their love with a gentle kiss, and one more, and then, more passionate kisses, and their love filled the night with heat and fire. They were together again. Their hearts were forever intertwined.

*****

There was coffee and buttered biscuits as they got up to face a day they hoped would never come. It was time to say goodbye again, but neither Tall Willow or Running Horse spoke the words. They sat together enjoying biscuits with butter and biscuits with jam. Both boys loved that kind of simple breakfast.

His mother's biscuits hadn't changed from when he was a boy.

The biscuits were heavenly and the coffee was strong, as they held hands and kept their eyes on each other. Neither of them planned this meeting. It had been in the making for twelve years. Their love had waited as the years kept them far apart, but they'd come back together, which reassured them that their love was right there between them. It hadn't gone anywhere, though Tall Willow had roamed far and wide.

They held hands, walked and talked, but Running Horse needed to leave in time to get to his village before dark, and it was many hours away.

John and Samuel walked to the river with them, as Running Horse prepared to leave. They walked across the river alone, with only Horse tagging along, and they held each other for a long time. They kissed and let go, and Running Horse went to Horse and got on him, immediately using his knees to tell Horse it was time to go.

Horse walked away, leaving Tall Willow standing to watch his lover's departure.

"This time next year, I will return to my village and my love," Tall Willow told him.

"You not come. I come after you," Running Horse said.

Now, Running Horse moved slowly away, out of reach once again. Tall Willow didn't want to part, but in his heart he knew he must honor his word to Dan, because he had treated him with respect, and Dan always did what he said he'd do. Phillp Dubois could do no less.

Tall Willow was going to stand fast, until he could no longer see Running Horse.

Running Horse did not look back. He sat tall and straight as Horse walked along the river.

In a sudden motion, Horse turned, bringing Running Horse back in a gallop, jumping off him before he stopped, and grabbing a hold of Tall Willow.

John and Samuel came to the river so Tall Willow wouldn't need to walk back to the cabin alone, and they saw the scene as it played out.

Running Horse held on to Tall Willow for a long time. He couldn't let go, but he finally did.

"One year," Running Horse said.

"One year," Tall Willow said.

"Running Horse love Tall Willow."

"Tall Willow love Running Horse."

Tall Willow stood and he did not move from that spot, until Running Horse went out of sight. Once he had, he finally went back across the river to join John and Samuel, and of course, Demon.

They walked toward the cabin in the valley where the river runs.

The End
Coming Soon, Book FOUR of Indian Chronicals, "We're Still Here"



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