"Only to protect her. Not to be truly my wife. Will you consent?"
She stroked the back of his hand. "I think it would be a good thing if we keep her safe. You and I did not want our people to fight and kill the pale eyes." She pressed her warm hand against his. "At least we can keep them from killing this one."
The ripples on the lake reflected fragments of moonlight. White Bear felt he could see his love for Redbird, and it looked like what lay before him—a lake of silver. He leaned against her, and her back rested against his arm.
"I promise you I will not bed with her."
She smiled at him again. "Why promise that?"
The question surprised him. "You are my true wife and the only wife I want." He recalled Black Hawk's loyalty to Singing Bird. That was the right way to live.
Redbird said, "If you do go to her in the night, I will understand. Especially now when I am so big and we cannot get together easily. I believe you when you say you love me more than her. But she is tall and has hair like gold and very white skin, and I am small and have brown skin. Perhaps the pale eyes in you would prefer her."
"I think the pale eyes in me and the Sauk in me are one. And that one prefers you."
She took his hand and moved it down her body till he felt the warm, soft place whence, in little more than a moon, their baby would emerge.
"I want to do this with you now," she whispered. "I think we can, if you go into me only a little way."