"Coon," she looked up into Coon's kind looking face. "You are a man of God, are you not?"
"Yes ma'am." Coon nodded.
"Maybe you can answer my question and set my problem to rest."
"I'll try." Coon told her.
"Alright. When you have a choice between men, how do you know who you should choose?" She asked.
"Well, I'd say which one asked for your hand in marriage?"
"Both."
"Well ma'am that would be a hard one. But God gives us choices, and he gives us a heart too. And that's a good thing, because that heart will help you choose the right man. Whichever one has your heart, is the right one. It's like the Holy Ghost is inside you, and you must listen with your true heart to decide something like that. Does that help any?"
Snow Bird thought about his words, then looked up and kissed his cheek, "Yes, it does. Thank you. What is the Holy Ghost?"
He smiled down at her, "When you trust in the Lord and his son, then the Holy Ghost comes upon you and lives inside your heart from then on. You don't ever have to do anything alone again."
"A spirit inside me?"
"That's the idea, yeah. Do you believe in God?"
"I do. I have read the bible some myself."
"Do you believe he had a son, named Jesus?"
"I have read about him too, and that they hung him on a cross, to bear the sins of the world."
"You read good. That's exactly right, ma'am. And I'm right proud you believe."
She smiled. "I believe. And I will listen to my heart."
"Matt told us about your Indian husband. I truly hope it is not him you want to return to."
She twisted her head at him, "Oh, why?"
"Because like Ferg says, there is a war going on up there, and you don't need to be in the middle of it. I'd hate to see something happen to you. But, too, if that's where your heart is, then I guess there ain't much more to say."
"You must not trouble yourself with me." She smiled at him, "I have come to love my white husband more…do you think this wrong of me? I mean I am Indian, but I never knew my Indian husband, and I know my white one."
"Wrong? Matt married you, knowing your problems. And wanting to protect you from harm. No ma'am I don't think it is wrong at all."
Her smile broadened. "He is like no other person I have known. He's honest, and always wanting to do the right thing. How could I not love him? He has saved me here, and he saved me from Jake too, back on the trail. And he has shown me his heart."
"Yes ma'am, that's what I was thinking too." Coon smiled back now. "And another thing. Because you are also married to that buck up north, Matt might not say the words you want to hear, as he knows he wasn't the first husband."
She nodded sadly, "He has said them Coon. We both have…But more than that, he has shown me his heart." She blushed and got back to cooking.
Coon smiled the rest of the day. As though her words pleased him too.
She realized just how much she had come to care about Matt, and his friends too. It warmed her on the cold nights now. But she belonged to Matt. Even she knew that. Too Tall hadn't taken her as his bride yet, and he did love her sister. Her sister had a right to be happy with him.
She cared for her new white husband. He cared about her. He had said so. Of course, he hadn't said he wouldn't take her north either. She wondered about that. Matt was a man that tried to do the right thing all the time. But now the right thing had changed. No man could be that kind and gentle and not love too. Matt loved her, and that was something she did not doubt.
However, she knew there was a danger that Too Tall would not understand and want to kill Matt. She would not let that happen. No matter what. In fact, she wanted to put off going up north now. How could she explain it to Matt though? She didn't want him in danger.
She got such womanly feelings around Matt. She couldn't imagine not being with him. Coon was right, they belonged to each other. They were one in God's eyes.