The Great Plains Read Online Free PDF

physical proof of her treatment at the hands of those who had taken her.
    â€˜It’s not unexpected, Father, considering the circumstances.’
    â€˜It is to me.’ Aloysius was surprised at how calmly Edmund received the news.
    His son sipped at the flask, wiped his chin with the back of his hand. ‘Indians and whites do marry, Father.’
    â€˜And that is supposed to make me feel better? That there is the possibility of such a union with church blessing? Whose blessing and what church? Philomena was abducted by a bunch of murdering, renegade Indians.’
    â€˜I have read of captured white women who marry. Some are, in fact, very wealthy.’
    Was the boy simple? ‘These Apaches are prisoners of war, Edmund. At the very most your cousin is an Indian’s squaw and mother to one.’
    Edmund grew innately interested in the silver flask he held. He turned it slowly, deliberately. ‘The word squaw is extremely derogatory.’
    â€˜There is more.’ Aloysius experienced a surge of disgust. ‘The daughter is with child herself.’ He swallowed the bile in his throat. ‘God forgive me,’ he muttered, ‘but how can I bring such shame upon the good name of this family?’
    â€˜With child?’ Edmund spluttered. ‘But she herself must be scarcely out of short dresses.’
    â€˜Fifteen years of age, the doctors advise.’
    â€˜Fifteen?’ Edmund’s voice had risen an octave. ‘And with child and she is coming here?’
    â€˜They were already en route by the time I received word of the daughter’s existence. Apparently Philomena would not be parted from her. There was quite a scene. And we must not forget that the daughter and unborn child are of Wade blood too.’
    â€˜Philomena is of Wade blood,’ Edmund corrected. ‘A captured white woman is one thing, Father. No-one would expect you to turn Philomena aside despite the insinuations the gossipmongers will delight in. But an Indian child? A baby? What do we do with them? We can’t very well introduce them into society. We may well be bringing Geronimo’s blood into our home.’
    Aloysius examined his hands as if the answer to the questions stored in his brain could be found in the creases of his palms. ‘Well, what would you have done?’
    Edmund didn’t reply.

Chapter 3
    November, 1886 – Dallas, Texas
    Aloysius waited impatiently in his study for Dr Harry Fitzgerald. Philomena and her daughter had arrived yesterday and, although he’d agreed to a period of rest after their long journey, he’d barely slept during the night. His mind kept returning to his youth, to a time when schooling and hard gallops on the outskirts of Charlestown were the extent of his and Joseph’s worries. Horses, reading, writing and arithmetic moulded their early lives. Arguments were frequent, their fights physically painful. Even then they were competitive, not for a father’s attention but for the sense of exhilaration that came from bettering one another. Wins were sweet when they came at the cost of beating your brother.
    A maid announced the doctor’s arrival and Aloysius beckoned the man to the chair opposite his desk. The doctor was of middling height and looks, and with no remarkable feature to single him out from the masses. Aloysius found himself wondering at his level of ability.
    â€˜How is my niece? Of good health, I hope.’
    â€˜Distraught, as to be expected, but otherwise quite healthy,’ the doctor advised, crossing his legs. ‘You have heard from Mrs Samuels, the owner of the boarding house?’
    â€˜I have, via a rather irate telephone call. She tells me that her tenants are complaining and threatened to throw my niece and daughter out. But tell me, how is Philomena really? When can I see her?’
    â€˜You employed me, Mr Wade, in my capacity as consultant physician to oversee your niece’s assimilation