"I have come to you," Nancy said. "You can help White Bear."
Redbird gave a helpless grunt that said she could not. The soldiers would not let her leave.
Nancy reached into her handbag and drew out a folded paper. "I have spoken with General Winfield Scott. This says that you may come with me."
Redbird sat in the damp straw looking down at her hands folded in her lap. Nancy waited anxiously for her to speak.
After a moment, her voice full of pain and uncertainty, Redbird asked, did White Bear want to see her?
The question shocked Nancy. It had not occurred to Nancy that Redbird might ever doubt Auguste's love for her.
Recovering from her surprise, Nancy said, "Before his uncle shot him, White Bear told me he was going to come here to find you and Eagle Feather. You are first in his heart, Redbird."
And, my God, how I wish it could be me!
Redbird looked sadly at Nancy. She was not first in White Bear's heart, she said. That land that had been stolen from him was.
Shocked, Nancy started to blurt out a denial. But she realized she could not. Auguste had gone to Victor before he went anywhere else.