Free Wind Dancer by Jamie Carie

these parts won’t look at her, not for a wife anyway.”
    â€œNothing happened.” Samuel didn’t mention that the sister Julian was trying to defend had made that most difficult for him.
    Julian kicked at a dandelion, sending white fluff floating into the breeze. “It won’t matter. Isabelle has always stirred up gossip. One time some men came upon her dancing in her chemise in the forest.” He paused and took a deep breath. “It was lucky she had her rifle with her that day. One man lost an earlobe, and the one really going after her … well, let’s just say he won’t be fathering any children. Then there are the clothes she sometimes wears … to church .” He pressed his lips together and stared at Samuel. “This will be the icing on the cake, lying the night through with a man.”
    â€œNo one will know.”
    â€œDo you think the Coffmans won’t talk about this in Kaskaskia? We’re going to have to continue this story in town, or they will know it for the fabrication that it is, and Isabelle’sreputation will be … My father will kill you for this.” He stopped and looked sad. “And my mother. You’ve never met a better woman.” He shook his head. “She will forgive you and pray for you, and believe me, that will feel worse than a good thrashing from my father. I should thrash you myself.”
    But they both knew he couldn’t.
    Samuel stared at Julian, weighing his next words carefully. “In a few days the citizens of Kaskaskia will have something much more pressing on their minds.” His mouth turned up into a grim half smile. “And my deception will make more sense to everyone.”
    Julian stared, eyes squinting. “Who are you, really?”
    â€œI have little reason to trust you with such knowledge. Beyond my gut instinct.”
    A thoughtful look entered Julian’s eyes, and he said quietly, “You can trust me.”
    Samuel nodded, looked from Julian’s intense face off into the distant sunrise, all yellow and orange and hopeful. With a short nod, he agreed. “I’m here with an army. An American army. We plan to take Kaskaskia in a few days.”
    â€œYou are a spy?” Excitement laced Julian’s youthful voice.
    â€œA scout, yes.”
    Julian looked behind them, toward the east from where they had come. “They’re behind us now?”
    Samuel nodded. “A few days. I have to report back later today, after scouting the fort.”
    â€œWhy do the Americans want Kaskaskia? It’s such a little, out-of-the-way place. There are not even any British there to speak of.”
    Samuel’s eyes locked with the young man’s. “We are securing the land west of the Appalachians for the American government. We’re all going to be Americans soon, Julian. No longer Britishcitizens, or even French. We are becoming our own nation. You understand that, don’t you?”
    Julian looked excited, the familiar fire of independence heating his eyes. “Yes, but—”
    â€œThat’s all I’m going to tell you, so don’t ask any more questions. And don’t tell Isabelle. I am trusting you with the lives of many men, with dreams of glory and freedom. Don’t disappoint me.”
    * * *
    HE SENT JULIAN inside and stared at the dark forms that were moving in the village across the river. He sincerely hoped he hadn’t made a mistake, but he didn’t think so. Julian was much the same as young men anywhere, straining for a cause to believe in, for something worthy to stand up and fight for. He thought of Isabelle and felt his blood go hot inside him.
    Isabelle made every emotion he felt deepen in intensity. There were no grays with this woman, only color—the deep blues and greens of their rightness together, a deeper place of peace and connectedness; the oranges and reds of their passion, unrequited and pulsing; the