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Tuesday, May 5
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Phoenix awoke to a queasy stomach. She looked over at Sage Eagle, who still slept, Star sleeping in the crook of his arm – the others slept nearby on top of the covers. It was funny how he had taken to this kitten, considering that he’d been afraid of cats before.

She wanted to lie there longer, but her stomach thought otherwise. She ran to the bathroom and emptied it into the toilet. There wasn’t much there though – more like the end of an illness, not the beginning. She rinsed out her mouth, then took a peppermint that Dancing Bear had told her would settle a queasy stomach.

She noticed that she was ravenous.

She threw on her robe and went out to the kitchen and ate a few crackers as she prepared breakfast. Pancakes sounded good, especially with berries and whipped cream! She put the kettle on, preparing a mug of peppermint tea to help her stomach further.

Somewhere, alarm bells went off in her head as if trying to remember something she should know.

It was when she returned to the bathroom that she understood. She had yet to open the package of pads she’d picked up at the store after moving into her new earthship – and they’d been there nearly a month now. Her period as about a week late if she had to guess.

“Are you okay?” Sage Eagle asked when he joined her, the kitten still in his arms.

“Just feeling a little queasy,” she downplayed, not wanting to worry him.

“Come back to bed,” he coaxed.

“I’ve got breakfast cooking already… need to turn the pancakes before they burn.” She hurried back to the kitchen just in time to turn the slightly scorched pancakes. Hers, she figured, pouring hot water in her mug. She removed the pancakes from the pan and started some more.

Sage Eagle followed her. “I saw you looking in the cupboard in the bathroom. You haven’t bled since we went to Rawlins, have you?”

“No,” she replied.

“Think you’re pregnant?” he asked, holding her against him as she watched the pancakes cook, his hands caressing her abdomen.

“Maybe. Woxi already said I had the coloring.”

“I think we should be sure. Is there anything else you want from the store?”

“I can’t think of anything,” Phoenix replied. “I think we have enough syrup.”

He kissed her and left.

Phoenix kept cooking pancakes, then sliced strawberries and whipped some cream between sips of peppermint tea. She planned to go early to the grange tonight so Little Deer could teach her how to dance to the drummers and singer practicing for pow wow. “Even the girls can dance! There are always children’s regalia circulating around the community,” she had told Phoenix the previous week.

Once, as she practiced, she saw Sage Eagle watching her proudly. “You honor me and the Neme’o’ng,” he had breathed to her later as he took her to bed.

She had been afraid that he might see it as insulting, given that she was very white, but he had assured her that the future chieftain’s T’suanki should dance if she could.

Phoenix had been determined to learn as perfectly as she could after that. Even as she finished preparing breakfast, she practiced the steps she’d been taught. They weren’t overly complicated, but doing them correctly and in a way that made them look easy was a bit harder. She had determined to be amongst the best dancers as quickly as she could manage – to honor her T’suanka.

She had just finished plating up everyone’s food and serving the girls when Sage Eagle returned with a small bag. “Come,” he urged her as she took a bite.

“T’suanka!” she protested.

“Please… I must know!”

She smiled. It was eating him up, she knew. She reminded herself that other than the one lost, this would be his first. She went with him to the bathroom. He unwrapped the small box. “I presume you know how these things work.”

“Yes,” Phoenix replied, taking it from him. “You are waiting?”

“If you’ll allow me!” he persuaded.

Phoenix giggled, but then sat on the toilet and peed on the test end of the stick, making sure it was good and wet. “I’m glad I had that cup of peppermint tea!” She watched the wet patch work its way up the test, light up the results window and then the control window.

“And?” he asked impatiently.

“We have to wait a few minutes to make sure that’s a real dot and not just a fluke of the test, but that looks pretty good.”

“Really?!”

Phoenix giggled, watching his excited grin. Was it really possible that she was pregnant with his child? Could she really experience this much happiness with a man in her life? She looked at the test again. The dot was darker than it was before. “I think I’m pregnant,” she voiced with a grin.

He pulled her to him. “I’m so happy!” he grinned back. “Thank you for coming to be my T’suanki! I love you, Coonagwi!”

“I love you too, Kwina!”

He pulled something else out of the bag. A small box of chocolates which he handed to her. “I figured you might like something to celebrate.”

She grinned. Yes, her life had changed for the better. Maybe she could manage to raise her daughters to find good men too – men just like their new father.

“I’m going to take Skye to school this morning. Is there library for Rose?”

“Yes.”

“Then I’ll take her too… give you some time to just rest, maybe talk to Woxi if you need to.”

“There’s a new family with her now.”

“She’ll still talk to you – you know this.”

“Kwina, I’ve had babies before. I’m not too worried about doing it again.”

“Sorry, but I will worry about you – because that’s what I’m supposed to do, T’suanki!”

Phoenix smiled and laughed. Yes, she would be okay.

“Mom! Da!” Skye called from the other room. “Rose spilled her milk!”

“You get her some clean clothes and I’ll clean up the mess,” Sage Eagle suggested.

“We make a good team,” she said with a smile.

“Yes. We certainly do.”

♥♥♥