Free Savage Dawn by Cassie Edwards Page B

here?”
    “No. If there were, the cavalry would be here now, burying the dead,” Jacob said tightly.
    “As it is, that chore has been left to us, for there is no way that I could ever rest again without knowing that we did the right thing,” Jeremiah said.
    “But, Jeremiah, the risk we would be taking by taking time to bury the dead is too great. Surely it’s not worth losing our own lives,” Jacob argued. “We have our wives and children to consider. Let’s go home, Jeremiah. Let’s go home now.”
    Jeremiah ignored Jacob’s whining as he dismounted. He was so glad that the others who had come with them had not spoken out. They just sat on their horses, stunned and quiet.
    “Come on,” Jeremiah said, looking from man to man. “There has to be a shovel somewhere. Maybe even more than one. We must start digging graves. Now!”
    The men dismounted and secured their horses’ reins to a hitching rail that stood some distanceaway from the burned buildings. They found three shovels in the ashes and started digging graves beneath the moonlight.
    “I wonder if Nicole arrived here just in time to be killed with the others?” Jeremiah worried aloud, ignoring Jacob’s frown.
    Jeremiah laid his shovel aside, and fighting the urge to vomit again, he went to the first person that would be placed in the shallow grave he had managed to dig.
    He swallowed hard, then grabbed the man by what was left of his wrists. He dragged the body over and rolled it into the grave. The other men followed suit.
    “Indians sure didn’t do this,” Jeremiah said to Jacob as they each began digging another grave, side by side. “There were no arrows. That surely means this was done by white men, but what I don’t understand is how could white men hate other white people so much that they would kill them so heartlessly? Why would they do this? We Mormons teach love, not hate.”
    “Jeremiah, you know as well as I that there is much hate in this world,” Jacob said, stopping to rest a moment as he leaned against his shovel. “It is not something that anyone can ever figure out. Let’s just get this done and return home to those we love. We can’t let anything like this happen to our peaceful little community.”
    “Yes, you’re right,” Jeremiah said, stopping his digging when the grave was deep enough. Hedreaded with every fiber of his being having to drag another body over to it. “Jacob, surely Nicole Tyler is still alive somewhere, for I don’t see her body here.”
    “Unless she is one of those that can’t be identified because of how badly they are burned,” Jacob suggested softly.
    “Yes, perhaps,” Jeremiah said. He sighed heavily. “But something deep inside tells me that she is still alive, somewhere.”
    They all continued burying the dead until none were left to bury.
    A quiet prayer was said over the graves, and then Jeremiah and his friends mounted their horses and headed back toward their homes.
    Jeremiah knew now that he must forget the woman. Since he hadn’t found her body among the others, she could be anywhere, with anyone.
    His duties awaited him back at the settlement. It just wasn’t meant for Nicole Tyler to be his third wife, and that was that.

Chapter Twelve
    Although there was only a crescent moon on this second night that Nicole was with Eagle Wolf, it lighted the heavens and all that lay beneath. The sky was filled with a brilliant scattering of stars, twinkling brightly.
    Every now and then the campfire Nicole and Eagle Wolf were sitting beside sent sparks into the air, looking like orange fireflies against the dark sky.
    Nothing seemed real, though, to Nicole. Her life had changed so much in such a short period of time.
    Was it truly only a few days ago that she was in St. Louis, content, with a bright future ahead of her?
    How excited she’d been as she packed her belongings so that she could finally be with her parents again. It had been hard staying behind in St. Louis, until she had that