After the Thunder Read Free

had betrayed her. Thanks to Emily, she had lost the man she had always planned to marry and the woman who was her one and only best friend at the same awful, bitter time.Two years ago. Two years that seemed a whole lifetime ago, two years that had seen her grow wilder and bolder and completely distrustful of long-lasting friendships with women and romantic attachments with men.
    Emily was smiling straight at her, though, that sweet smile that came straight from her truly caring and generous heart. How could she blame her, a small voice demanded from the depths of her heart. Emily and Tay
had
been meant for each other and Cotannah had said so many times, just as Cade had reminded her when he’d sent her here.
    Emily was smiling at her as if they’d never exchanged a single hateful, hurtful word, as if Cotannah had never accused her of betraying their deep friendship, of deliberately stealing Cotannah’s intended husband away. Emily was smiling as naturally as if Cotannah had never participated in that cruel, taunting testing of Emily that Auntie Iola and the other Choctaw women had used to torture her when they couldn’t believe that Tay would choose a white girl as his bride.
    Now here she was, the white woman, Emily Harrington Nashoba, wife of the Principal Chief of the Choctaws, Tay Nashoba, and mother of his child, not only accepted but beloved by his people. Cotannah’s people, the People of the Choctaw Nation.
    To her own surprise, though, she didn’t feel as bitter as she had expected. Maybe Cade had been right about that, too—maybe it had been her pride that was broken more than her heart.
    Her stomach settled right back into place and her hands relaxed on the reins. Emily was running to greet her, smiling a smile that she could never forget.
    “Oh, ’Tannah,” she cried, “get down from there and give me a hug. I thought you never would get here!”
    Then Cotannah was on the ground and Emily washugging her hard with her one free arm while the baby flailed at her with two chubby hands.
    “I’m so glad you’ve come to us,” Emily whispered. “Cade’s message said you’ve had some troubles of the heart and Tay and I want so very much to be able to help.”
    “I’m sure that’s exactly the way Cade put it—troubles of the heart,” Cotannah drawled sarcastically.
    Emily pulled away a little to give her a solemn, measuring look. Then she grinned.
    “We-e-ll, maybe those weren’t his exact words, but I want you to know right now, ’Tannah, that whatever has happened, I’m not judging you one bit, not after what you’ve been through. I’m just glad that you feel comfortable coming to us.”
    Cotannah felt a twinge of the old, deep hurt, then, but when she looked into Emily’s kind brown eyes it simply didn’t grow. It stayed there, but it didn’t get any bigger. How could she ever feel comfortable coming to Tay and Emily talking of other beaux, other courtships? Of course, in a way, if she were absolutely honest, she had to admit that Tay had never truly courted her at all, or been her beau, except in her imagination and his own thoughts and unacted-upon intentions.
    “You and Tay were destined for each other,” she said simply. “I’ve said that lots of times. And I’ve meant it. It’s just been hard for me to accept.”
    “We never set out to hurt you,” Emily said, as the baby leaned forward to reach for the stampede strings dangling from Cotannah’s hat. “We’re hoping you’ve forgiven us and all the hard feelings have faded away forever.”
    Yes. They have. No. They haven’t
.
    Cotannah opened her mouth but she couldn’t say either set of words. She didn’t know how she really felt,and she didn’t want to think about it. Emily—being Emily the peacemaker who loved to make everyone happy—was trying to get the big problem out in the open and disposed of as soon as she could so that things could be easy and warm between them the way they used to be before Tay ever came to