Ivy Read online

  Poppy walked across the lawn in denims and a cotton shirt, her guns draped on her hips, and Hotah doubted the woman went anywhere without them. She held a basket of clean laundry to hang on the line. The women were very different in looks, and when he saw them together yesterday it was difficult to see any resemblance between them. It was in their traits he’d seen similarities. Fern was soft-spoken and mild-mannered with a giving nature. Poppy was hotheaded and a bit crass, but underneath her tough exterior lay a gentle woman. Ivy held some of those traits, but her courage and determination were what attracted him to her.

  The sisters had found their mates in Noah and Gabe, both skilled with a gun. Another sense of relief at leaving Kimimela came over him. But knowing they’d be safe did not make it any easier to walk away. He sighed. It was for the best. He needed to do this.

  “You don’t have to leave right away. You can stay another night,” Gabe said, coming to stand beside him.

  Hotah didn’t reply, and again his gaze fell on the veranda.

  “You gonna say good-bye to Ivy?” Noah asked as he walked out of the barn.

  Hotah shook his head and grabbed the reins, when the front door opened and Ivy appeared. Hotah’s breath caught in his throat. Her blond hair braided down her back, a light-blue dress that hugged her curves perfectly. His groin tightened. Beautiful woman.

  Ivy walked to the edge of the porch, and before she could step off Fern was running toward her. Poppy dropped the basket and followed.

  “Ah, hell,” Gabe said.

  “Shit.” Noah sighed.

  “You know the rules, Ivy,” Fern said.

  “Get back into the house,” Poppy demanded.

  Ivy hung her head as the sisters, one on either side of her, ushered her back toward the door.

  Hotah growled low in his throat, dropped the reins, and walked toward the women. He pulled Ivy from their grasp and placed her behind him.

  Poppy drew the colt from her hip. “Release my sister.”

  “Wiwasteka is not ill. Do not treat her as such,” he said.

  “I don’t know who in the hell you think you are, but that is my sister. So hands off, renegade.” Poppy cocked the gun, and the click echoed across the field.

  “It is okay, Hotah,” Ivy whispered from behind him. “It’s who I am.”

  He turned toward her and cupped her face within his hands. “You are better than this.”

  She shook her head.

  “Yes.” He tipped her chin up so she could see him. “I know this, wiwasteka.”

  “But I am not. I cannot see.” A tear dripped from her lashes.

  “Yes, you can.” He placed his hand over her heart. “You see from here.”

  “Oh, Hotah.” She sucked in a quivering breath.

  He wiped the tears from her cheeks with the pad of his thumb. “Le mita,” he whispered and gently brushed his lips across hers.

  “Well, son of a bitch.” Poppy pushed her way toward them.

  “Hold on, hellcat,” Noah said, yanking his wife back into him.

  “What is going on, Ivy?” Fern asked.

  “I believe your sister is in love,” Gabe said, coming up the steps.

  “Nonsense!” Fern said.

  Hotah ignored them as his lips gingerly caressed Ivy’s cheek. “Le mita—you are mine,” he whispered into her ear before he turned to face the overbearing sisters. “I have brought Ivy home to you, but I will take her with me if you continue to treat her like she is not worthy of living a normal life.”

  “You don’t tell us how to raise our sister!” Poppy shouted, going for him again, but Noah grabbed her arm.

  “Hear what he has to say, darlin’,” Noah said.

  “Wiwasteka is mine.” Hotah growled.

  “I beg to differ,” Poppy argued.

  “If you do not see her as equal to you, I will take her from you.”

  “You’ve got a lot of nerve!” Poppy pulled her arm back to clock him, but Noah swung her around.

  “Stop, Poppy,” Noah growled, “Hotah is right.”

  “The hell he is!” she yelled.

  “Hear the man out.” Noah gave Poppy a shake.

  “Ivy is mine, and the baby is ours.” Hotah felt his heart swell at the words he’d spoken. It was right. It was what he had longed for all this time: a wife, a family, and Ivy to be his. No one would harm her, or Chaska, or Kimimela. Not even the Montgomery sisters.

  Ivy stepped around him to face her sisters.

  “He is right, Poppy. If you do not accept this, then I will leave and not return.”

  “But, Ivy, you cannot…see,” Fern said with tears in her eyes.

  “You refuse to look past the blindness to see what she can do.” Hotah reached for Ivy’s hand.

  “I am the mother to that baby.” Ivy pointed to the house where Chaska slept. “Kimimela is mine also.”

  The girl came running up the steps to wrap her arms around Ivy’s waist.

  She hugged the girl. “Will you have me?”

  “Yes, Ina, I will!” Kimimela shouted.

  “She calls you mother,” Hotah whispered into Ivy’s ear.

  “And as for Hotah”—she reached for him, and he took her hand—“I love him.”

  The sisters stood, mouths gaping, and Hotah couldn’t help the chuckle that erupted from his lips. He wrapped his arm around Ivy, and, drawing her close, he kissed her temple. “I am proud of you, wiwasteka.”

  Ivy’s face lit with joy, and she leaned into him.

  “Well, hell.” All the fight gone from Poppy, she stepped back and smiled.

  “It seems our little sister has found a family of her own,” Fern said. She reached out her arms to embrace Ivy in an exuberant hug before moving on to Kimimela and then Hotah. “You take care of my sister,” she whispered in his ear.

  He nodded.

  Poppy approached him next, and when she opened her mouth he was surprised to hear her speak to him in Lakota.

  “Do you love my sister?” she asked.

  Hotah looked at Ivy, a wide smile spread across her beautiful face, and her blue eyes more clear than he’d ever seen them. His chest expanded, and his heart soared.

  “I do.”

  “And you’ll keep her safe for all eternity?”

  “I will give my life for hers.”

  “If you don’t, I’ll hunt you down and kill you myself.”

  Hotah didn’t doubt the redhead would. “I promise to keep her safe.”

  “Well, all right then.” She was back to speaking English. She looked at Fern. “He will do.”

  “There has to be something we can do to help.” Fern poured coffee into the six mugs on the table.

  Ivy had told them of General Davis and his men hunting Hotah. Relief settled on her shoulders at their insistence to support him.

  “Damn right there is—we fight.” Poppy slammed her fist onto the table.

  “You’ll have to excuse my wife—she’s been itchin’ to shoot at something for a while.” Noah said.

  “I cannot ask this of you,” Hotah said.

  Ivy sat next to him, her hand upon his knee. She gave a light squeeze of assurance. The smile had not left her face since Hotah had expressed his feelings to her and the family. She felt alive for the first time since going blind. There was no way she’d allow Hotah to go against the evil general on his own. They had just found each other, and she’d fight for their love. The cavalry would not take him from her.

  “Hotah is our family now,” she said. “Whoever comes for him comes for me also.”

  “No, wiwasteka.”

  She turned toward him, seeing every inch of his handsome face. “I go where you go.”

  “No.” He looked at Fern, Gabe, Poppy, and Noah. “Tell her no. Tell her she cannot do this.”

  “Ivy is her own person,” Fern said. “We have treated her poorly these past years, and if not for you, Hotah, we would still be doing so.”

  Ivy blinked back tears at the words of admiration from her
sister.

  “She is capable of fighting right along with us,” Fern added.

  Hotah faced her, and she inhaled shocked at how much love she had for him.

  “I could not bear it if something happened to you,” he whispered.

  “Ain’t nothin’ gonna happen to her,” Poppy said. “Ivy will stay with me.”

  “My sister is one of the best gunwomen around. She will keep me safe,” Ivy said.

  Hotah sighed. “Promise me you will stay with Poppy.”

  She placed her palms to his cheeks and kissed him. “I promise,” she murmured against his lips.

  He leaned his forehead against hers. “Know that I love you, wiwasteka, with all of my heart.”

  “Ah, hell,” Poppy whined.

  Ivy giggled, dragging herself from Hotah’s kisses to face them.

  “You are family now, and family sticks together,” Gabe said.

  “Can’t argue with that.” Noah placed an arm around Poppy.

  “How much time do we have?” Fern asked.

  “Until Dawn.” Hotah answered.

  “We best get planning,” Ivy said.

  Chapter Eleven

  Orange clouds smeared the sky as the first rays of dawn approached. Hotah watched from the rocking chair on the veranda as the fog of dust came closer. The trample of horse’s hooves carried across the field. Soon the cavalry would descend upon them.

  Kimimela and Chaska were safe in the cellar under the house. Fern was positioned in the loft of the barn, Gabe close by on the ground, hidden behind the wooden structure. Poppy and Ivy were hunkered to the left of the home behind bushes and the family wagon. Noah took his post in the house.

  Silence filled the air, and Hotah breathed a quiet prayer that they’d make it out okay. If Wakan Tanka should take any life, let it be his. Restless, he checked the shotgun again for the bullets he’d placed in it a half hour ago.

  The riders came into view, and he stood watching as they approached the farm. Hotah’s chest burned with fury when he spotted General Davis at the front of the men.

  The horses galloped into the yard.

  Ten.

  Davis held his hand up to stop them.

  He grinned at the surprised look on the general’s face when he spotted Hotah on the front porch waiting for him.

  “It is good to see you, Hotah,” Davis called.

  He guessed the general did not know Hotah was onto his plan and decided to play along.

  “Davis.”

  “We have been looking for you.”

  “And why is that?” Hotah narrowed his eyes.

  “You will need to come with us.”

  “And go where?”

  “Back to the reserved land of course.”

  “I have not found my brother,” he lied.

  The general shrugged. “We have ceased the plan and wish for you to come back and reside on the reserved land.”

  Hotah walked down the steps, shotgun still in his hands.

  “And if I do not?”

  “You do not have a choice.”

  “I believe I do.”

  Davis smirked. “We will kill you as a renegade if you do not come with us.”

  “Is that not what you wanted all along?” Hotah growled.

  The smile on Davis’ face disappeared replaced with a jagged frown. “Why would you think that?”

  Hotah stared at the man. He’d not back down. “I will remain here.”

  “You really have no choice in the matter,” Davis continued.

  “Afternoon, General,” Noah said, coming from around the house. “Hotah is a free man, and he is our family. So he stays.”

  “Family?” Davis looked confused.

  “That’s right. He’s married to my sister in-law.”

  Hotah hadn’t become one with Ivy yet, but if they made it out of this alive, it’d be the first thing he did.

  “He is a renegade. Wanted for the killing of white folk just like yourselves.” Davis wiped the sweat from his neck with a red rag.

  Hotah growled at the lies the general spewed.

  “I’d have to argue with you on that.” Noah stepped beside Hotah. The Colt revolvers clanked on his hips. “You see, Hotah has already told us of your treacherous plan to frame him.”

  “You’d believe him over a general?”

  “In fact I do. You may also be inclined to know I sent a wire to Colonel Black regarding this issue.”

  “And why in hell would the colonel believe a farmer over one of his own men?” Davis laughed.

  “Well, that’s easy. I’m a Pinkerton, and I know Colonel Black personally. I’ve worked on a few missions with him.”

  Davis’s brown eyes twitched, and the corners of his moustache quivered.

  “Now, kindly make your way off our land.”

  Davis drew his gun and aimed it at Hotah.

  Noah’s guns were drawn faster than the general’s. The click of guns all around them carried across the farm.

  Hotah smiled.

  Davis looked past them, but could not see where the others were hidden. He motioned to his men and in unison they pulled their guns.

  Ten.

  “I’d reconsider your situation,” Noah said.

  “Give me the renegade and no one has to die,” Davis said.

  “You have lied to me and my people.” Hotah thought of the Paha Sapa spread across the land, and his chest constricted. He narrowed his eyes. Rage clenched his jaw, and tightened his grip on the shotgun. “You will die this day.”

  Davis laughed.

  “Did you really think I was going to let you tell me how to run my camp? You and your people were lucky to get the food I did give them.” He spat. “They’re filthy disgusting savages who are better off in the ground.”

  Hotah let out a war cry and lunged for the general a top his horse. They hit the ground in a bone-cracking thud, but Hotah did not cease in his quest to kill the bastard. He smashed his fists into the thick moustache until it turned crimson and stained his knuckles.

  Davis drove his fist into Hotah’s stomach, when a shot rang out. Hotah flew backward, his arm on fire. More shots ensued as he tried to right the dizziness floating around in his head.

  “Hotah, you okay?” Noah called.

  He nodded and reached for the shotgun, but it was too far away.

  Poppy’s hoot and hollering echoed across the yard as shots rang out and bullets kicked up the dirt around them. The cavalry jumped down from their horses and took shelter.

  Noah downed three men as he covered him.

  Davis picked himself up off the ground, cocked his revolver and aimed at Hotah.

  He had to act, or die. Hotah rolled to the left pressed the butt of the shotgun into the ground, aimed at General Davis and fired. The man pitched forward, a hole straight through his stomach.

  Poppy whooped as she downed another man shooting in their direction.

  He did a quick scan of the soldiers. Four.

  Hotah froze when he saw Ivy walk out from behind the bushes, pistol in her hand, and took aim. No! His chest seized, and he felt the blood drain from his face.

  “Ivy, get back!” he yelled, forgetting the pain in his arm as he scrambled toward her.

  She fired, nailing her target square in the chest.

  The remaining riders retreated, jumping onto their horses and galloping out of the yard to disappear over the hill.

  He reached her and took the gun from her hands. “Wiwasteka, you scared me to death.”

  “Did I get him?” she asked.

  He laughed. “Yes, ohitika—brave one. You did.”

  “Yeehaw, that was a battle.” Poppy walked out from behind the bushes, guns still smoking.

  “Come here, hellcat.” Noah tugged her into his arms and kissed the redhead like they were the only two there.

  Fern and Gabe walked hand in hand toward them. All Hotah wanted was Ivy. He inhaled. Nothing else mattered. He laid his forehead against hers.

  “Le mita,�
�� he whispered.

  “For all eternity,” Ivy whispered back.

  Ivy rocked Chaska on her lap. The evening air still warm, she’d left her shawl in the house. It’d been a week since the general and his men had attacked them, and she was thankful they’d all made it out alive. Poppy, Noah, and Hotah had gone to meet with Colonel Black right after the gunfight to have Hotah exonerated from any wrongdoing. Her brother in-law and sister were the best to speak on his behalf, but Ivy still worried the government wouldn’t see the truth and base their verdict solely on the color of Hotah’s skin. She hugged the baby. They were going to start a new life here on the ranch, and Ivy couldn’t be happier.

  Hotah insisted they marry this coming Saturday, and Ivy prayed he’d be home in time. She heard Fern slamming pots and pans around inside and smiled. Her sister had been teaching her how to cook the last few days, and Ivy realized it wasn’t as difficult as she’d first thought. Once she knew where everything was, the work seemed quite simple.

  Fern had been so impressed with Ivy’s diligence at whatever task she was given, her sister jumped with joy and squealed in excitement whenever Ivy did it right. For the first time Ivy felt like this was truly her home too and she belonged here.

  She heard the gallop of horses and sat up straighter. The front door swung open, and Ivy knew by the sound of the short steps that Kimimela stood beside her.

  “Leksi is home!” the girl yelled and raced toward her uncle.

  Chaska still in her arms, Ivy walked to the edge of the veranda and waited.

  “Leksi, Leksi,” Kimimela yelped.

  “I have missed you,” Hotah said to his niece.

  Ivy could feel him watching her, and she squirmed underneath his gaze.

  Hotah stepped onto the veranda. His nearness invaded every part of her. He leaned in and kissed Chaska’s forehead.

  Ivy inhaled the wood smoke, sage, and spice that was all him, and her heart warmed.

  “Wiwasteka, I have missed you,” he whispered as his lips nuzzled her ear.

  “I have missed you too.” She pressed her cheek to his whiskered one.

  “You two, knock it off already,” Poppy said, coming up beside them.

  Noah chuckled.