A Promise of Thunder

Starke came to Peaceful Valley recently to purchase horses for the army he told me he saw my son in Guthrie, Oklahoma. He said Grady had taken part in the race for land in the newly opened Cherokee Strip. Is that true, old friend? Has Grady finally decided to abandon his violent life and become a farmer? And if it is true, why hasn’t he contacted me or his mother? Doesn’t he know he is still our son no matter what he has done?”
    “It is true, Swift Blade. Thunder—it is difficultto think of him as Grady—won a quarter section of prime land that he is homesteading. I saw him last when he came to collect his son. Laughing Brook accompanied him to care for the child until he felt comfortable with his new surroundings. The reservation is the only home Little Buffalo remembers.”
    “Has Grady married Laughing Brook?” Blade asked, surprised. “It would please me if he has, but I was under the impression that he thought of Laughing Brook as one of his younger sisters.”
    “There was no marriage, yet after many moons Laughing Brook is still with Thunder in Oklahoma.”
    Blade frowned, displeased by Jumping Buffalo’s answer. “Has Grady changed so much? Has he dishonored your daughter?”
    Jumping Buffalo remained thoughtful for a long interval before answering. “I do not think so. Thunder is an honorable man, and he swore to protect my daughter. I trust him. But there is something else you should know. Thunder is married.”
    “Grady is married?” The news was startling indeed. “If he is married, why is Laughing Brook still with him? I don’t understand.”
    “Thunder’s wife is no longer with him. I will tell you all I know.” Then Jumping Buffalo proceeded to tell Blade everything, from the time he encountered Storm at the cabin until the present. When he finished Blade was more bewildered than ever.
    “It appears as if Grady has married an extraordinary woman,” Blade mused thoughtfully. “I’m anxious to meet Storm and judge her for myself. My son must be a fool to let someone like her go. Her decision to come to the reservation to care for Sweet Grass was a selfless act of charity.”
    “Sweet Grass and I have come to love the girl and think of her as our daughter. But there is another thing I must tell you about Storm.”
    “What is it? Have you found some flaw in her character?”
    “If she has a flaw, we have not found it,” Jumping Buffalo said with a smile. “Since Storm’s arrival a change has occurred. And these past few days has strengthened our belief that Storm is carrying Thunder’s child. She probably did not realize it at first, but now she cannot deny the truth.”
    “My God! Have you any idea what caused the rift between Storm and Grady? If she is to bear his child, she must go back to him.”
    “Storm says she cannot live with the violent way of life Thunder has chosen. He has killed two men in Guthrie, one of them Storm’s first husband.”
    “Then he hasn’t changed,” Blade said sadly. “I had hoped …”
    “It would be remiss of me if I didn’t tell you that I suspect Laughing Brook of contributing to the dissension between Thunder and Storm. My daughter is one of the reasons Storm refuses to return to Thunder. And Storm insists thatThunder ordered her to leave him.”
    “If that is true, then I don’t know my son anymore,” Blade lamented.
    “Only Thunder can tell you if it is true,” Jumping Buffalo said. “But it does not sound like the brave Sioux warrior I have always loved like a son.”
    “What will Storm do now that Sweet Grass has recovered and no longer needs her?”
    “I do not know. She may stay here as long as she likes, but conditions on the reservation are deplorable and she would be miserable raising her child here.”
    “Grady’s wife has a home,” Blade said with quiet authority. “Her home is at Peaceful Valley with me and Shannon.”
    Inside Jumping Buffalo’s tepee Storm sat beside Sweet Grass, brushing her long blonde hair and thinking of Grady and the child she carried. She looked up as two men entered through the open flap, their bulk blotting out the sun. Storm paused, resting the brush in her lap as she tried to see the men’s faces through the filtered light. When Jumping Buffalo greeted Sweet Grass, the identity of one of the men was solved, but it wasn’t until the other man moved more fully into the tepee that recognition came to her.
    The incredible width of his shoulders and massive chest, the narrow hips