Desert Hearts by Marjorie Farrell Page A

she couldn’t put a name to. It was as though she had been left behind somewhere. But that was foolishness. Thomas was a most considerate lover, never just turning away from her to go to sleep, but cuddling her to him and making her feel she had given him something back for all he had given her. She had never wanted to know what other women seemed to know: the almost out-of-control loving they intimated they received and even gave back. For her, loving Thomas and being loved by Thomas was all she needed. Anything else might have reminded her too much of the day before he found her.
     

Chapter Nine
     
    By the time of the next race day, the puppy’s eyes had opened and Elizabeth had charmed Cooper out of one more week with the puppy’s mother. Whenever she had time to spare, she visited the stables and had even started feeding the puppy with milk from a makeshift bottle. “Just so he’ll be used to it when he comes to us,” she told Private Stack.
    She had been looking forward to seeing Serena again and telling her about the new “addition” to their family. She was very disappointed when she couldn’t immediately find her among the women who were showing their blankets. She was sure she had seen Antonio ride in today, but perhaps he had not brought his wife with him. She was just about to join the other officers’ wives when she saw Serena standing quietly by herself, watching the men getting ready to race.
    Elizabeth hurried over to her. “Serena, I am so glad you came today.”
    The bilagaana woman’s face was open and smiling and Serena looked at her warmly.
    “You didn’t bring any weaving?”
    “I have no great need of trade goods, so I only do it occasionally,” said Serena. “Today I am just here to enjoy myself and watch my husband beat the bilagaana soldier. The one whose horse looks like it has been sprinkled with ‘sweet salt.’ “
    “Sweet salt? Oh, sugar! Yes, the mare does look like that. It was a close race last time,” acknowledged Elizabeth. “I hope your husband does win. Sergeant Burke needs to be taken down a peg or two.”
    Serena frowned. She didn’t understand the expression, but she understood Elizabeth’s tone well enough. “You don’t like this sergeant? My husband thinks he is very unusual for a bilagaana and counts him as a friend.”
    Elizabeth didn’t want to insult Antonio’s taste in friends, so she only explained, apologetically, “He is Irish, a people I was taught were dirty and ignorant.”
    The Navajo woman just raised her eyebrows and said nothing.
    “But I don’t want to waste our time talking about Sergeant Burke,” said Elizabeth. “I wanted to show you something,” she said with a touching eagerness that Serena’s heart responded to instantly. She guessed she was only a few years older than this Mrs. Woolcott, but somehow she felt very motherly toward her.
    “I am sure we can get back before your husband races,” Elizabeth reassured her friend.
    Elizabeth led her through the gates and toward the stable. Serena had not been inside the fort, although Antonio and the headmen had. It was an interesting place, something like the Zuni town. She could not imagine living so squeezed together, but obviously some people didn’t mind.
    She wondered what there was in the stable. A new horse, perhaps?
    “Look at him. Isn’t he a handsome puppy?”
    The maternal crooning was irresistible as was a woman’s instant pull toward babies of whatever species and Serena was as entranced as Elizabeth with the black-and-white puppy.
    “He doesn’t look much like his mother,” Serena said with a smile.
    Elizabeth grinned at her. “No, he is a Navajo dog.”
    “Diné,” Serena corrected her.
    “Diné,” Elizabeth repeated. “Mr. Cooper was going to drown him, but I convinced him to give him to me. I’ll be taking him home later this week.”
    “Mr. Cooper?” The name sounded familiar to Serena.
    Without thinking, Elizabeth said, “He is the yellow-haired