Page 71 of Freedom's Kiss
Chapter 29
Florida, 1832
Winnie felt like a cow being led to slaughter, just waiting her turn to stand before the butcher with a club in his hand. They’d been summoned to Payne’s Landing along the Oklawaha River to discuss another treaty. She scoffed. As if the last one had benefited either her or her adopted people. But gather they did. A herd corralled, if not yet slain.
Tension slithered throughout the bands of people like thread through the tanned hide of a deerskin. Everyone waiting with bated breath.
She watched as the men and leaders, those from both sides, entered into the log building being used for the talks. Each face appeared sharp and hardened as they passed through the doorway. She wasn’t allowed inside. Didn’t know all the matters that they discussed, but Nokosi had enlightened her to some. The demands of the officers in charge remained as persistent and annoying as a buzzing mosquito. Though instead of one or two easily squashed, they came in swarms. Deadly. Anyone who didn’t flee from their charge would find themselves a rotting carcass.
She pressed a palm to her stomach. Where life should germinate and grow, death and emptiness greeted them. Three times hope had sprung that she would once again be a mother. That she would give Nokosi more children and Otter brothers and sisters to play with. But three times her body didn’t have the strength and nourishment the little babes needed to thrive. How could she when their food was so scarce? The animals on the reservation had been hunted until none were left. Warriors severely punished if they moved past the reservation borders in order to provide much-needed meat for their families. As a result, she’d watched big, strong men, men like her father, wither before her eyes as they gave their meager portions to feed the little ones.
And now, it seemed, the greedy whites from the North wanted more from them. Or, rather,all. While they still demanded the return of slaves, they now wanted the Seminole people to leave their home in Florida altogether and join with the Creeks past the mighty Mississippi and onto Arkansas Territory.
For a split second a smile toyed with her lips. How that news had caused an uproar. Hachi had railed for over ten minutes about how they were not Creek and did not feel any connection whatsoever with their neighbors from the Northwest. His speech had been answered with approval from friends from the Choctaw and Yuchi tribes, which had never been a part of the Creeks at all.
But the men, having been sent by President Jackson, continued to press. They cajoled. Promised. Bullied. Threatened.
The last man entered the building, and the door shut behind them. Winnie sucked in a breath and pressed her hand yet more firmly to her middle. She wanted to dash to the outer log walls and press her ear to the wood, if not barge through the front door and demand justice once and for all.
Laughter drifted from behind her, and she turned. Nokosi and the men had their role in the people’s’ future, and Winnie had hers. Lifting up her skirts, she bypassed a thorny bush and made her way over to a group of children playing close by. Otter had found the skull of a raccoon and had set it on a branch.
At first he’d asked if he could practice playing stickball, but she’d reminded him that he didn’t have his playing sticks with him for such a game. She’d thought he’d have given up the idea then, but her son was undeterred. Instead, he’d broken off a piece of a long reed and pulled already-made darts from a pouch at his hip, honing his skills with a blowgun.
Reed to his lips, she watched as his eight-year-old shoulders rose with an intake of breath and then press down as he blew with all his might. Her eyes couldn’t follow the dart, but they didn’t miss the skull falling from its perch.
“Well done!” She clapped.
He turned and beamed before trotting off to right his target. Another boy, one she didn’t recognize, though he seemed vaguely familiar, sprinted to her son’s side, and Otter handed over his hollow reed and a few darts, giving the same instructions she’d overheard Isaac give his nephew.
The boy listened carefully, the way he tilted his head tickling at a memory in the back of Winnie’s mind. While the children had little time for play, she’s grown familiar with all the boys and girls in their band. She’d met many new faces the last few days they’d been at Payne’s Landing. Maybe she’d crossed paths with this boy and his mother and that was why he seemed familiar.
The boy brought the blowgun up to his lips and blew. The skull remained in place, but a leaf a few inches to the right snapped from its hold on the tree. Otter whooped and handed his friend another dart to try again.
A shadow grew along the ground beside Winnie, elongating in front of her.
“Your boy is a good teacher.”
That voice. Both sweet and haunting.
Slowly Winnie turned, gaze to the ground, afraid the ghost materializing in her mind would vanish the moment she laid eyes on the source and realized her past but played tricks on her present.
Soft leather moccasins with bright blue-and-red beadwork peeked beneath the hem of a full skirt. Winnie’s pulse picked up speed as she slowly raised her eyes over a ruffle at the knee and a belt cinched at the waist. She licked her lips and forced herself to look up. Past a ruffle-trimmed blouse and into a face that at once was both known and unknown to her. How many years had it been since she’d beheld this face? Fifteen or more. Life had carved deep lines upon a once youthful complexion. Tears glistened in eyes she thought she’d never see again, and she blinked back answering ones of her own.
They stood there. Staring. Drinking each other in. But the place in Winnie’s heart that had dried up so long ago couldn’t be refilled with sight alone. With a shout that rang with joy, she threw her arms up and around the woman, squeezing her as if she feared she’d lose her if she didn’t hold on tight enough.
“Mother?”
Winnie sniffed and leaned back but didn’t loosen her hold. Otter peered up at her, worry in his eyes, his feet braced as if willing to come to her aid.
“It’s all right.” She tried to assure him, though the tears coursing down her cheeks caused his brow to furrow in doubt. He looked so much like his father with that expression. Though she knew he’d hate it, she pressed her thumb between his eyes and rubbed.
He jerked back, his frown deepening. Though she didn’t need to explain herself to him, her heart swelled. He was growing into a protective little warrior. One both she and Nokosi were proud of. And one who wouldn’t leave without knowing she was well. “This woman…” Was a magnet to Winnie’s gaze. She stared back at her, still not believing her own eyes. “She…I thought…”
The woman lowered to be on the same level as Otter. “I am your mother’s sister, Temperance.”
Otter’s gaze swiveled between them before he shrugged and scampered off, assured no harm would come to his mother if this woman were family. Temperance straightened, her smile smoothing out the lines stacked along her forehead.
“I can’t believe it’s you.” Disbelief tinged Winnie’s words.
