Page 41 of Red Hawk's Woman
“You mean to marry for the moment only?”
“Saa, no. When you would again return to this country, we would still be married.”
“And you think this would work?”
He shrugged.
“What would you do in the time between when I was here and when I returned? It might be several years.”
He didn’t answer.
“Don’t Indian men take more than one wife?”
“Sometimes they do,” he said, “but not always.”
“And are you already married, Mr. Hawk?”
“Saa, I am not.” Although he was fairly certain he knew the answer, he asked, “Are you?”
“No. But what if you were to marry while I was gone? I would not be able to stay with you, for in my culture, a man may take only one wife at a time.”
“That would be difficult, I agree. Would you rather we separate altogether, if you go back East?”
“I will go back East.”
“And I cannot come with you?”
“You could, but I do not think you would like it there. Besides, isn’t it the woman’s place to stay wherever her man is?”
The comment struck him as odd, and he countered, “Why should she?”
“Don’t Indian men demand this?”
“Of course not. A woman is the heart of our Nation. If she is not happy in one place, perhaps another might be better. The Blackfeet have a saying, ‘Mat’-ah-kwi tam-ap-i-ni-o-ke-mi-o-sin.’ Not found is happiness without woman.”
Lips open, she stared at him.
“We could agree,” he advised, “that if you wish it, when you leave, our marriage will dissolve.”
“Then the marriage wouldn’t be real, would it? Since we both know that I will return East?”
“It will be real. I will simply not require you to stay if you wish to leave. That is, so long as you are not with child.”
She swallowed, her throat muscles constricting before she said, “And what if you don’t wish to remain with me?”
“What you ask will not happen.”
“But let’s say that it does. In my world when people marry, they stay married. It is a life sentence, so to speak.”
“I understand. In my village, people usually stay married also, but it is not frowned upon if both people find this hard to do. Sometimes leaving one another must happen. So no one will look down on you if you decided to marry me but then leave me.”
She shook her head, and he decided to take another tack. “If you cannot answer me now, consider it, think on it and give me your decision tomorrow night. As you have allowed me time to consider the good and the bad of these matters we speak about, so too must I grant the same to you.”
She moaned. “I don’t need time. I know what my answer must be. But very well, tomorrow night we will discuss it again. Now I really must go. Already the sky is turning pink in the east. I have other duties.”
She rose, and gazing down on him, she said, “Till tomorrow night,” and departed.
Yawning and rubbing her eyes, Effie sat up and came slowly awake. What was this? Had she actually fallen asleep in the chair where she’d been working?
