Thanks a lot, he thought wryly, but not with a feeling of being offended. He liked Mooncrow; more than that, he trusted the old man, far more than he had trusted Mooncrow when he had been a child. Then, the old man had just been Jennie’s grandfather who told good stories. Now he was a Teacher, a Medicine Person. …

Hmm. I wonder if he was suggesting that as Jennie’s grandfather, or as Mooncrow, Kestrel’s Teacher? It would make a difference. …

He could even be suggesting it as both.

He would have been a lot more surprised at the oblique suggestion that he heat the situation up, if he hadn’t already gotten the same “hints” from another of Jennie’s relatives. Although he had never thought he’d hear Mooncrow suggesting he should share Jennie’s bed! The other “hints” had been a lot more pedestrian. …

“If I didn’t know better, Little Old Man,” he said lightly, “I’d suspect you of being a shoka from Jennie’s father.”

“Oh?” Mooncrow replied, far too casually. “Why is that?”

David made a face. “Because I happened to ‘run into him’ three times in the last week—probably because he heard on the grapevine that I’m in your spare room. He dropped a few bricks—I’m sure he thinks they were hints.”

Mooncrow chuckled at that. “My son was never known for subtlety,” he told David. “Some day I must tell you how he proposed to Jennie’s mother. But what were these unsubtle hints about?”

“Nothing much—just that it seems that the entire family would really approve if Jennie and I patched things back up again.” He shook his head, ruefully. “If these were the old days, I have the horrible feeling that instead of me riding out to capture a bride, I’d be the one hog-tied and bent over Jennie’s saddlebow, gift-wrapped by her loving family!”

And at that, Mooncrow broke into loud and hearty laughter, much to David’s embarrassment, and the surprise of all the kids, who turned to see what on earth could be so funny.

David blushed a little, but felt impelled to tell Mooncrow all of it, however embarrassing it had been.

“He said that Jennie’s mom and brothers always did like me, and that everybody wishes things would go back the way they were between us when we first started college.” He sighed. “Back before we had that big fight, and I threw that stupid Huey Long quote at her, anyway. I guess she told her father about that.…”

“Only recently,” Mooncrow said serenely. “She told me about it later, after she had brought home the Hell’s Angel—”

“What?” David yelped, taken completely by surprise.

The kids turned to look at them again.