Grace and the Guiltless

Chapter 26

The sun was sinking fast by the time they made it back to the village.

Sequoyah came racing toward them and grabbed Grace by the arm as she dismounted from Bullet. She pointed toward her father’s kuugh’a, where a horse was staked.

“You want to show me you got a new horse?” Grace said, confused.

“No, no.” Sequoyah seemed close to tears. “It’s . . . it’s Tarak’s.”

Grace didn’t understand why Sequoyah sounded so desperate.

Joe’s deep voice broke in. “Grace doesn’t know all our customs yet.”

Grace noticed he said “our.” Despite what he had said before, she realized he really did feel a part of the Ndeh.

That’s where she and Joe were different from one another. As much as she loved the Ndeh, Grace needed to journey out on her own.

“When a man stakes a horse outside a girl’s home,” Joe explained, “he’s asking to marry her. She has four days to respond. If she feeds and waters the horse, she’s agreed to be his wife. If she does not want the man, she does not care for the horse.”

Sequoyah’s voice was tight with panic. “I cannot leave a horse without food and water for four days. But I do not want to say yes.”

“What is your heart telling you to do?” Grace asked gently.

Sequoyah looked confused.

Joe translated, but then he shuffled his feet and looked uncomfortable. “I’ll go unload the horses.”

Sequoyah waited until Joe had left. Then she clasped her hands against her chest. “I only love Dahana.”

“Then you must turn down Tarak.”

“Dahana must care for his family. He is not ready for a wife.”

“Wait for him,” Grace urged.

“But my father say Tarak is good hunter and warrior.”

“But you don’t love him. Follow your heart.”

“Like you?

Sequoyah glanced over to where Joe was unloading the horses.

Grace pulled her gaze away and shook her head. “That’s different.”

“I do not understand. You love him, do you not?”

“I . . . it’s complicated. Besides, Joe hasn’t asked me to marry him.” Grace had to change the subject. “You’re the one who must decide.”

Sequoyah’s face took on a troubled expression. “If I feed the horse too soon, everyone will say I too eager. If I wait too long, I look cruel. So I must decide by tomorrow.”

“Follow your heart,” Grace repeated, thumping her chest.

“It is not easy.”

Grace grimaced. “It never is.”

Sequoyah studied Grace more closely now. “You look different.”

Grace didn’t want to get into the whole story. She only nodded. “That reminds me. I’ve got something for you.” She held out the gifts from the mercantile. “This is for you. And these are for everyone in camp to share.”

Sequoyah hugged her. “Oh! Thank you.” Her face saddened. “You are . . . going?”

Grace nodded, swallowing hard. “I’ll miss you, Sequoyah. Thank you . . . for everything.” With a heavy heart, she turned and started to walk away.