The sun was high above the horizon as they made their way out the front door, down the steps, and out to the sidewalk, turning right and going downhill.
Old Man spoke first. “It’s a good thing you’ve done—saving this woman’s life, helping her to find her father. I see goodness in her. You love her.”
There was no denying that. “With everything I am.”
“It will be hard for you to be away from her.”
“I want to tell her what happened, how I was led to her. I want to tell her I love her. But I don’t want to interfere with her life. It is right for her to go home, to meet her family, to meet her people.”
“You must come up and visit her—and me.”
“I will.”
“What about your own father?”
Aiii.
Chaska ought to have known there was a trap in here somewhere.
“You know how I feel about him.”
“He dishonored the Sun Dance. I agreed with you. I agree with you still. But for you not to see him and not to speak with him—is what he did so terrible that you would treat him as if he no longer exists?”
Chaska had no answer for this.
“One never knows how many journeys around the sun anyone will get. My son isn’t as young as he once was. He knows what he did was wrong. He misses you.”
“Is he still drinking and smoking weed at Sun Dance?”
“I do not know, but if you were to dance next month, you could find out.”
“Next month?” Chaska laughed. “I don’t think I can get a month off right now, even if I wanted to be part of his Sun Dance.”
Sun Dance lasted twenty-eight days from start to finish, with the actual dance being four days. Chaska hadn’t done any of the preparation.
“You made a four-year commitment, and you need to complete it.”
It was the first time Old Man had spoken so bluntly to him about this.
“I’d have finished my commitment if you hadn’t stepped down. I don’t want to be part of a ceremony run by a hypocrite.”
“Whether your father is a hypocrite is on him. Whether you finish the commitment you made to Wakan Tanka is on you.”
Chaska fought back his temper. He would never speak harshly to his grandfather—not now, not ever. “I hear what you say. I will think on it.”
“That’s all a grandfather can ask.” Old Man turned around. “Let’s go back inside. It’s hot out here.”
“Grandpa, you live near the Badlands. How can you think this is hot?”
Old Man just chuckled.
Naomi sat on the porch, watching while Doug loaded up his vehicle. A few days ago, she’d never heard of him. Now it was hard to watch him leave.
The front door opened and Grandpa Belcourt stepped outside.
He sat beside her. “The hummingbirds are busy today.”
“Even though they’re small, they have to eat a lot to keep up their energy.”
“How do you make those pictures? It looks like the birds are frozen in place.”
“It’s all about the settings on the camera. They need to be fast enough to catch the light for just that split second when the wings are open.”
He nodded as if this made sense to him. “I am glad I was able to meet you.”
“I’m glad I got to meet you, too.”
“My grandson cares for you. I am happy for him because you have a good heart, and I am happy for you because Chaska is a good man, a true warrior. I saw how he protected you last night. If he had to, he would sacrifice flesh and blood for you.”
“I love him.” Why was it easier to tell Chaska’s grandfather this truth than it was to tell Chaska himself?
Grandpa Belcourt nodded. “I know my grandson. He loves you, too.”
Naomi closed her eyes, hoped this was true. She had no right to ask him to wait for her. They’d made no commitment to each other.
“Soon, you’ll be out on the land, the land of your people. Some might find the idea of going to a new place and meeting new people to be scary.”
Naomi didn’t think she could fool Grandpa Belcourt. “I am scared. I don’t know what to expect. My life is changing in so many good ways, but it is all so sudden.”
He reached over, put a weathered, wrinkled hand on hers. “You lived through much difficulty, even as a newborn baby, and you survived. That is the story of the Lakota people, too. I do not think the difficulty that lies ahead of you will be more than a woman of your strength can handle. When times get tough, remember that medicine wheel you wear. It has already gotten you through many dark days. Remember always that you are the great-granddaughter of Maggie Otter Tail.”
Naomi’s eyes filled with tears, her fingers finding the medicine wheel. “I’d never thought about that. I’m her great-granddaughter.”
“That’s right. That old woman didn’t take crap from anyone.”
Naomi laughed, understanding why Chaska and Winona loved this old man so much. “Pilamayaye, tunkasila.” Thank you, Grandfather.
She had looked that up online and spent five minutes memorizing it so that she could thank Grandpa Belcourt. He’d been the one to recognize the medicine wheel and track down her father, after all.
He chuckled, patted her hand. “That is good. Waste.”
Doug jogged up the front steps. “We’re all loaded up. You ready to go?”
Naomi followed Grandpa Belcourt down the stairs, joining Winona and Chaska to say goodbye, the two of them speaking in Lakota to their grandfather.
“There’s no word in Lakota for goodbye,” Grandpa Belcourt told her. “Just say, ‘I’ll see you soon.’”
She gave him a hug. “Thank you for everything. I’ll see you soon.”
Doug stood there, looking uncertain about what to do or say. “A week ago, I had no idea you existed. Now, you feel like a part of me. I can’t wait for Star to meet you. I know I haven’t been there for you, but I’m going to do my best to make up for that if you’ll let me.”
“Thank you for coming all this way. Thank you for caring, for insisting on the paternity test. There are probably a lot of men who would have turned away.”
“It’s easy to care about you, Tanagila.”
“See you next week.” He gave her a kiss on the cheek and then walked around the vehicle and climbed in.
“Where’s that CD of sick powwow tunes?” Grandpa Belcourt asked.
“We are not listening to powwow songs all the way home.”
Doug started the engine, whatever Grandpa said next lost when they rolled up the windows. And then they were gone.
“Your grandfather is a real character.”
Chaska put his arm around her shoulders. “A real character—and sometimes a pain in the ass.”
Chaska drove Naomi to Estes Park and got a room at the historic Stanley Hotel. He wanted some time alone with her before he went back to work on Monday. They checked into their room and then went for a drive along Trail Ridge Road, Naomi getting out of the car time and again to take photos.
He knew it was frustrating for her to be stuck viewing the mountains from the front seat of his truck rather than from the trails, but there was nothing to be done about it. “Next time you’re in Colorado, we’ll come back. You’ll be able to walk then.”
He drove her over the top of the Continental Divide and back again, then found his way to Bear Lake in the shadow of Hallett Peak, dropping her off near the trailhead, then going to park his truck. He reached in the back, grabbed his jacket, knowing the temp would start to drop as soon as the sun was behind the mountains.
He found her sitting on a bench, waiting. “Bear Lake isn’t far. If you don’t feel like you can make it on your crutches, I can carry you as I did on Sugarloaf.”
But the trail was wide and not too steep, and she made it with no problem.
He found a bench on the edge of the lake, one that gave them the best view of Hallett Peak—and the sunset. They sat there for more than an hour, talking, Naomi leaning bac
k against him and taking the occasional photo as the sun dipped behind the mountains. Sitting there with his arm around her, Chaska could feel the minutes slipping away along with the daylight, each second precious and so quickly gone.
“This is incredibly beautiful. Thank you, Chaska. Thanks for all of this.”
He kissed her hair. “You wanted to see mountains, right?”
He drove them back to the hotel after that, promising they’d come back to the park tomorrow morning. They ate dinner at one of the hotel’s restaurants, then went up to their room, where they made love until they were both replete and ready for sleep.
The next morning, they had a quick breakfast, then made the short drive back to Rocky Mountain National Park, where he hoped she’d be able to see the bighorn sheep that often came down from the steep slopes at dawn and dusk to eat the mineral-rich grass and drink at Sheep Lakes.
“Where are these alleged sheep of yours?” she asked, looking down at the lakes, which sat slightly downhill and just off the road.
“There they are.” He pointed with a jerk of his head toward the slope opposite the lakes.
As if on cue, a herd of dozens of bighorn ewes and lambs ambled down the mountainside and into the road.
“Oh, my God! Look! There’s so many of them!”
The sheep made their way nonchalantly across the road and down the embankment to the lakes, where they grazed and drank.
Park rangers did their best to keep tourists from encroaching on the sheep, cars piling up along the roadside in no-parking zones.
Naomi leaned out the window, her camera buzzing. “Where do they spend the rest of the day?”
“They live higher up, where it’s cool and rocky. I’ve seen herds of a dozen or more males with the big horns up above timberline.”
After the sheep had cleared the road, Chaska drove her to a few of the more remote overlooks. They stopped a couple from Germany and asked them to take a photograph of the two of them with the mountains behind them. And then their mini-vacation was over, and it was time to head back to Scarlet.
On Monday morning, Rain stopped by the house when Naomi was alone.
“This is for you.” Rain held out an envelope.
The fundraiser.
Naomi had completely forgotten about it.
She opened the envelope—and the blood rushed to her head.
Inside was a check for twenty-three thousand dollars.
“Oh, my God!” Tears blurred her vision. “I can’t believe this.”
“People were really touched by what happened to you. They wanted to help. Hopefully, that will cover everything. If there’s any left, you can donate it to the Team or the hospital—whatever you choose.”
“I don’t know how to thank you all.”
“There’s no need, Naomi. People here take care of each other.”
They talked for a while, Naomi answering Rain’s questions about how she was found, about Peter and Ruth, about the medicine wheel that had led to Grandpa Belcourt finding her father.
“Sorry to ask so many questions. It’s just … I feel like I have a personal connection to what happened to you.”
Naomi waited for Rain to explain.
“I had a baby when I was sixteen, too. I gave birth alone in an old VW van while my musician boyfriend, the baby’s father, performed a set and then got drunk, dropped acid, and screwed around with other women. I never once considered abandoning my baby girl. I cannot bear to think of you or any other baby being left to die like that.”
Then Rain showed Naomi photos of Lark, her daughter, a lovely young woman with a bright smile. “She’s twenty now. It’s hard to believe.”
“She’s beautiful. She looks just like you.”
“Thanks.”
Rain asked about Naomi’s jewelry making, which led to Rain wanting to see Naomi’s website—which gave Naomi an inspiration.
“Rain, can I ask a favor of you?”
The next five days seemed to fly by. Naomi spent most of each day with Winona at the clinic, taking photos, sketching, or helping with the animals when she was physically able. Her nights were spent with Chaska, cocooning in his room. They discovered new ways to please each other, his body her own personal paradise.
But all too soon it was Friday.
Chaska picked up Doug from DIA after work.
He swept Naomi up in a hug. “Star and the kids can’t wait to meet you. They’re helping to decorate your bedroom as we speak to have it all ready for you.”
“That’s so sweet.”
As good as it was to see Doug again, Naomi couldn’t shake the deep sadness she felt about leaving Chaska.
She lay in bed with him that night, her body sated, her heart heavy. “I don’t want to be away from you. I’m afraid …”
“You’re afraid of what?”
She had nothing to lose at this point by telling him the truth. “I’m afraid that the next time I see you, you’ll be with someone else—Nicole or Rose or any one of the women from Scarlet who adore you.”
For some reason, this made him chuckle.
“I know we haven’t made each other any promises, but…”
“But what?”
Her heart gave a hard knock at what she was about to say. “I love you, Chaska. I don’t want to go away and wind up losing you.”
She looked up to see him smiling. “What?”
“How about I tell you why I know that won’t happen.”
“Okay.”
“That day when we found you out there, Win and I were out taking Shota for a run. She was bugging me to ask out Nicole, telling me it was time for me to meet a woman. I told her didn’t want to go out with Nicole. Win said something like, ‘Don’t you want to be with a woman?’ I told her I did, but that I would wait till the right one came along. Then I said, ‘Creator can feel free to put her in my path anytime.’ It was at that moment that Shota took off running. When we found him, we found you.”
Naomi sat up, gaped at him. “You didn’t tell me this before.”
“I wasn’t sure how you’d react if I’d said, ‘Hey, Naomi, I was led to you by Creator, so we’re meant to be together.’”
Okay, she could see his point there. “That does sound a little crazy.”
Chaska nodded. “Win didn’t offer you a place to stay only because you needed one. She felt in her heart that I had been led to you. I was happy to have you stay with us, but I didn’t buy the whole idea that the Creator had anything to do with it. It’s been a long time since I believed. But even before you and I made love for the first time, I decided Win was right. I was led to you.”
“Why are you telling me this now?”
He sat up, brought his face close to hers. “I don’t want you to be afraid. If you and I are meant to be together, nothing can pull us apart. Creator led me to you and saved your life, and I believe we’ll be together again one day. But you need to go now and meet your family and find out what it means to be Lakota, to have roots. That’s something you’ve never had before. I’ll be right here when you’re ready to come home.”
Home.
“Is this my home?”
“It is if you want it to be.” He tucked a finger beneath her chin, raised her gaze to meet his. “I love you, Naomi. That’s not going to change. When you leave tomorrow, leave with your head high, knowing that nothing can keep the two of us apart.”
Chapter 24
Chaska and Naomi smudged together the next morning, holding hands, smoke swirling between them as Chaska prayed. “Watch over Naomi, Tunkasila, and guide her on this new path. Help her to find her way as a Lakota, and help her to know that I love her. Bring us together again in a good way. Mitakuye Oyasin.”
Tears rolled down Naomi’s cheeks. “Mitakuye Oyasin.”
Ignoring the lead weight in his chest, Chaska worked together with Winona to get a good breakfast on the table. The four of them made pleasant conversation, as if no one’s heart was breaking.
Snap out of it,
kola. You wanted this for her. You helped make this happen.
Yes, he had, and he was happy for her. He was a little less happy for himself.
After breakfast, he stood to clear the dishes away.
Naomi caught his arm. “Please, Chaska, sit. I have something for you and Win.”
He took his seat once more, waiting while Doug stood and went to get something from the guest room. He returned and handed two small packages to Naomi.
“This is for you, Win.”
“For me? Exciting!” Winona opened it—and held a hand over her mouth, tears filling her eyes. She gaped at Naomi. “Are you sure?”
Chaska watched as Win took the bracelet with the raven flying in front of the setting sun out of the box and put it on her wrist. She had loved that bracelet when she’d seen it on Naomi’s website, and Naomi had remembered.
Naomi reached over, adjusted the band to make it fit Winona’s slender wrist. “There. It’s perfect for you.”
“It’s more beautiful in real life than it was online. Thank you, Naomi.” Win came around the table and gave her a hug.
“Can I see it?” Doug leaned forward, examined it. “That is amazing artistry.”
“Thank you.” Naomi handed the second box to Chaska. “I know you don’t really wear jewelry, but I hope you’ll like it.”
“I’m sure I will.” Chaska opened the box and found himself smiling.
Inside, was a silver and turquoise pendant at the center of which was a bear of inlaid onyx. The bear had one paw raised, as if it were walking.
Chaska drew out the cord, held the pendant in his hand, and looked up to find Naomi watching him, her eyes bright. “Is this to remember the day we saw the bears?”
Not that he would ever forget that regardless.
She nodded, smiled.
“Pilamayayelo. I love it.” He put the cord over his head, settled the pendant against his shirt, and turned so that Doug and Winona could see it.
“The manager of my apartment complex picked them up from my place and shipped them to Knockers. Rain dropped by yesterday and hid them in the guest room for me. You’ve both done so much for me. I wanted to do something for you.”