“Have you discussed this with Jamie?”
“Not yet. But the whole process isn’t going to happen overnight. And besides,” she added with another icy glare at her sister, “living with you guys is great and all, but I’ll be happier in my own place anyway.”
“Fine,” Dr. Mitchell snapped.
“Good,” Melinda fired back.
“Okay, then,” Rebel agreed. “This could work. Except for the sheriff …”
“I’ll deal with him,” Dr. Mitchell said in a huff. “That idiot gangbanger isn’t exactly in a position to press charges and the clinic needs to operate at full staff again before we start making people sicker than they already were. Sheriff Means will listen to me.” The way she said it made it pretty clear that the poor sheriff wouldn’t have the option to say no. “But you have to get the child to agree first. I’m not going to be party to pulling a kid out of his home against his will. I won’t have it.”
Then, unexpectedly, all three of them turned to look at Nobody. “Okay?” Melinda said, stroking her thumb over the back of his hand. “You’re still okay with the plan?”
Nobody looked at them all. Melinda’s hopeful, encouraging face and the warmth spreading from where she was touching him. Rebel’s calm, knowing smile—like he’d seen this was how it was going to go down all along. And Dr. Mitchell’s arrogant sneer that would have scared the hell out of him if she hadn’t just said she’d go to bat with the law on his behalf because she needed him back at the clinic.
This—this must be what having a family was like. People who didn’t always agree with what you were doing or why, but who stuck up for you anyway. People who cared what you thought, what you had to say.
He didn’t know if he liked it. He didn’t know if he wanted to like it.
He put his arm around Melinda’s shoulder and hugged her to his side. It pushed against his stitches, but he didn’t care.
“Okay,” he said. “It’s a plan.”
*
“Why are we here?” Jamie asked.
Nobody could tell the boy was trying to sound dismissive, but underneath he heard something else.
Jamie was scared.
“Melinda wants to talk to you,” he replied.
“About what?”
“About your folks.”
“What about them?” This was, hands down, the snottiest Nobody had ever heard the boy talk to him.
“She doesn’t want them to hurt you anymore.”
“So?”
Nobody wanted to wince, but he didn’t. This was exactly why he needed Melinda. He was doing a piss-poor job of explaining the plan to the boy. All this talking …
For a moment, he wanted things to go back to the way they used to be—back when no one noticed him, much less asked his opinion or demanded his life’s story.
But then, if he went back to that, he wouldn’t be looking forward to seeing the woman with the fire-red hair again. And he needed to see her again.
“She has a plan,” he said. “And you best watch your mouth around her. Drop the attitude.”
Jamie made a noise that probably went with eyeball rolling. “Just because you like her doesn’t mean I have to.”
“No, it doesn’t,” he agreed. Damn it all, this was going to be a disaster.
He glanced back at the boy, ready to tell him to keep his mouth shut and his head down, but he caught Jamie rubbing at his ribs. “What happened?”
“Nothing,” the boy lied. “Doesn’t hurt.”
Damn it all to hell. That kid could sit there and pitch a fit about how he didn’t like Melinda and how he didn’t want to hear the plan but when it came down to it, he didn’t have a choice. Melinda was right about that much. The longer Jamie stayed with his parents, the better the chance he’d be killed in a drunken rage.
Nobody pulled Red to a stop and twisted around to stare at the boy. “You will listen to the plan. You will be polite. You will let her help you because she cares about you.” About both of us, he added mentally. “Because otherwise, you’re going to have to stay with your dad and slowly let him beat you to death.”
The blood drained out of Jamie’s face. “I just want to stay with you. I like it with you and the horses,” he said, his voice barely above a whisper. “Why can’t we keep doing that?”
“Because,” Nobody replied. It came out more as a growl than regular talking. But then, he wasn’t so good at that regular talking thing. That’s why he needed Melinda. He took a deep breath and tried again. “Because you’re rubbing your ribs. Tomorrow it could be your face again. And after that? Might be something that doesn’t heal. We can’t keep doing this because it doesn’t work and I’m not going to wait while he kills you.”
“But I want to be like you—no one messes with you.”
He’d failed. That much was obvious. To be like him meant the kid would have to be forgotten and starving, too hurt to save himself. He’d have to do hard time and watch his only friend bleed out on the floor of the prison cafeteria. He’d have to fight and fight and fight without an end in sight. He’d have to be so utterly alone that he couldn’t talk to a woman, couldn’t even touch her without being afraid he’d hurt her.
“You don’t want to be like me, kid. I won’t let you.”
Then he turned and urged Red forward at a dead run. He made it to Rebel’s place in record time. To his credit, Jamie had kept up on Sock. Nobody had been afraid the boy would bolt, but he hadn’t.
They dismounted in the shadows of the trees and rubbed the horses down without speaking. Then they walked toward the fire.
Melinda came bounding out of the house, her smile bright. “You’re here! I was getting worried. Everything okay?” She pulled Jamie into an awkward side-hug and ruffled her hair. Nobody could see the boy’s face crease with pain, but he didn’t say anything and he didn’t pull away from her. Had Lou Kills Deer broken ribs? Damn it, not killing that man was going to be a hard promise to keep.
Then Melinda let go of Jamie and crossed to him. He didn’t know what to do, so he just stood there as she slung her arms around his neck and pulled him down. “Thank you for bringing him,” she said in a low voice as her lips brushed his cheek. Just his cheek.
Nobody didn’t like this combination of embarrassment and disappointment—embarrassed because she’d kissed him in front of the boy, disappointed because that barely counted as a kiss. He wanted to wrap his arms around her waist and push her up to his mouth and taste her sweetness again and again.
He didn’t. He couldn’t. Not with people watching.
Rebel and Dr. Mitchell came out, holding hands. Why did it look so normal, so easy for them but it felt like a mountain he’d never get finished climbing? “Ma’am,” he said with a nod of his head to Dr. Mitchell. “Can you check the boy’s ribs?”
Jamie glared at him extra hard, but no one seemed to pay any mind. Yeah, this wasn’t exactly going well.
“Come on,” Dr. Mitchell said to the boy. “Let’s get you checked out.” She led the way back into the house, Jamie following her with his head down, his feet dragging.
Once they were safely inside, Rebel turned to Nobody and Melinda. “So it’s going well,” he said with a smile.
“He acts like we’re torturing him,” Melinda replied. She sounded nervous.
“He’s scared.” The moment Nobody said it, he wished he could take it back. Jamie would hate him if he knew Nobody was telling people that. “I mean …” But he didn’t know what else he could possibly mean. So he let the words trail off.
“Something happened to his ribs?”
“He won’t say what, but yeah.”
Melinda sighed. “We’ve got to get him away from those people.”
They sat around the fire and talked while they waited for the doctor and the boy to come back out. Rebel filled Nobody in without asking his opinion.
Rebel liked the site Melinda had picked out. He’d already contacted Jacob Plenty Holes about the project. Jacob would be coming out
on Wednesday night and he’d appreciate it if Nobody was here to finalize the details.
His wife had already talked with the sheriff once. Rebel reported that Sheriff Means hadn’t exactly promised that he wouldn’t arrest Nobody if he saw him, but he’d indicated that he wouldn’t be specifically looking for him at the clinic. Anywhere else was still fair game. He’d pulled Jack off stakeout duty, at least.
Nobody was—well, yeah, he was impressed. That was a lot of people going to bat for him—and the boy—but for him. But there was something else to it, something that gave him that itchy feeling that always used to send him running for the safety of the shadows.
There was a lot riding on getting Melinda a house, getting Jamie into it. A lot. He wasn’t used to anyone expecting anything from him beyond predictable violence and a clean clinic. Now he had to meet with Jacob Plenty Holes and persuade Jamie that this was for the best and not let Melinda down. Especially that.
Just as the panic was truly starting to take root in his chest, though, she leaned against him. Her head was light against his shoulder, her body warm against his side. It felt … normal. Easy, even.
He couldn’t do this alone, he realized.
But he might be able to do it with her.
*
It was odd to Melinda, how well she could read this man. Nobody sat next to her, his back straight, his eyes focused on the fire. To anyone else, he probably looked like he’d shut off—not only was the light not on, but no one was home.
She knew better. He was all but vibrating with tension as Rebel ran down what had happened over the last few days.
She put her hand around his waist and just held him. Jamie wasn’t the only one who was scared about this.
Finally, after what felt like a long time, Madeline and Jamie came back out. His face was pinched and pale and, from the way he moved, it looked like Madeline had wrapped his ribs.
Nobody stood and went to him. He didn’t say anything, but Jamie answered the unasked question. “Didn’t hurt,” he said in a voice that was so much like what she imagined a little-kid Nobody had sounded like that it filled her chest with pain.
They had to get that kid away from his parents. They just had to.
Nobody nodded and put his hand on the boy’s shoulder. They came back to the fire together and sat a little ways away from Melinda.
She shot a questioning look at Nobody, but she understood. If the boy was nervous, he’d need to feel that he had someone on his side—in this case, literally his side of the fire. So she gave Nobody a reassuring smile and started to talk.
“Jamie, what would you say if I asked you to come live with me?”
He shifted in his seat. Nobody put his big hand on the boy’s shoulder again. Not a threatening touch, but a reassuring one. No matter how hard he tried to hide it behind silence and physical intimidation, that man cared deeply.
“Here?” He gave Madeline the side-eye. It was not a warm and fuzzy look.
“I’m going to get a house on the other side of this hill,” she explained, trying hard to find the right balance between caring and patronizing. “You’d have your own room and plenty of space for your horses.”
“So …” Jamie looked around the fire as if he expected everyone to jump up and shout ‘Surprise!’ “You want to adopt me?”
“No,” Melinda corrected. “Foster you. Give you a safe place to live all the time, where Nobody can still visit you. I’ve fostered a kid who’s dad was in jail before—gave her a place to live until her grandmother could get a better house. This could be a short-term thing, like until your parents stop drinking, or it could be longer.”
The boy eyed Melinda suspiciously. “And I’d have to stay with you?”
She nodded, trying not to be insulted. “I don’t hit. I don’t even yell. I like to cook and I don’t drink very much, if at all. I like messy art projects and goofy movies. And riding horses,” she added, looking at Nobody. “This isn’t about taking you away from Nobody. This is about making sure you’re safe when he can’t watch you. That’s all.”
Jamie’s head bobbed back and forth as he thought about this. “You won’t make me change my name, will you? I don’t want to have to be a white kid.”
Rebel shot her a knowing look. Okay, so he was right about that. “This isn’t about being a white kid or being a Lakota,” she said gently. “This is about not having to have your ribs wrapped or your eyes blackened—about not having to worry about those things happening. Just because I’ll be looking after you won’t change who you are. You’ll still be Jamie Kills Deer. You can still disappear off to the woods to ride horses and fish and you can still read books.”
Jamie looked at Nobody, who nodded. Then he looked at Rebel. “This is the best way,” he said in that mystical sounding voice he had—calm, but powerful. “You will only change if you want to. We will always be here to guide you.”
Jamie looked at the ground and scuffed a foot against the dirt. “What if I say yes? Then what? ‘Cause my dad isn’t going to like that. My mom, neither.”
“I’ll take care of it,” Nobody said. Then he looked up a Melinda. “And the sheriff will help. We’re not running and hiding. If you come here, the law will protect you. Right?”
“Right,” she agreed, but the words felt empty. The law should have been protecting Jamie already, but it wasn’t. Instead, the sheriff was more concerned with hunting Nobody down.
Jamie glanced around. Rebel and Madeline were quiet but watchful. “I don’t want my dad to hurt anyone,” he whispered. He touched his side. “I don’t want him to hurt … me anymore.”
Melinda’s heart broke for Jamie. “We won’t let him. But this isn’t a free pass. You’ll have to go to school every day, do your homework and you’ll have chores.”
Jamie rubbed his side again. He could protest that it didn’t hurt until he was blue in the face but that didn’t change the fact that he was, in fact, hurting. Melinda looked to Madeline, who gave her a weak smile. Then she mouthed the words, Three ribs.
Melinda turned her attention back to Jamie, who was clearly struggling with the choice. “You’ve got time to think about it,” she offered. “It’s going to take a while to get my new house set up and go through social services. Like Nobody said, we’re not running and hiding.”
“I can’t …” He swallowed, his gaze on the ground. “I can’t stay now?”
That was a yes and everyone knew it. “Not yet, honey. But soon. For now, you keep coming to the center and staying with Nobody as much as you can, okay?”
“And you’re always welcome here,” Rebel added. “In fact, we’ll need your help getting the house set up. Maybe you can come home with Melinda on Wednesday? We’re having friends over to plan.”
Jamie sniffled, but he nodded.
She exhaled in relief. Thank God.
Now they just had to keep him safe until they could get him away from his parents.
She knew that wasn’t going to be easy.
Chapter Sixteen
Melinda was surprised by how quickly things moved after that. The Jacob that Nobody and Rebel had been talking about turned out to be a mildly terrifying man named Jacob Plenty Holes who wore half a mask on his face. If Melinda hadn’t had Nobody standing next to her when she was introduced to Jacob on Wednesday night, she probably would have run and hid from the cowboy in the mask who sat around the fire as the sun set, discussing sewer lines like he did it every day.
But on the bright side, Jacob was married to another white woman named Mary Beth—that made three of them on the rez, as far as Melinda could tell. Mary Beth had a ragged scar on her neck, but compared to the cowboy in the mask or Nobody’s scars, it didn’t seem like a big deal.
Plus, Mary Beth turned out to be the vet, which meant that at no point did Madeline talk down to her. In fact, the two doctors seemed to be friends. Who knew Madeline actually had friends?
If that weren’t weird enough, Jacob and Mary Beth had adopted a little girl who
was an actual, real albino Lakota Indian named Kip. Kip was about the same age as Jamie. The only reason Kip didn’t come to the child care center, Mary Beth explained, was that they lived on the far side of the rez. “She’d love to play with some of the kids,” Mary Beth said as the men argued over sewers. “It’s so hard for her to make friends. She’s a little …”
Melinda looked at the pale girl sitting next to Nobody on the other side of the fire. They weren’t talking—just sitting there together, watching the last of the sunset bleed from the sky. Jamie sat on the other side of Nobody, but instead of watching the landscape, he was staring at Jacob. And, more than likely, his mask. “Different?”
Mary Beth looked at her adopted daughter. “Nobody used to keep an eye on her from the shadows,” she offered. “He does that.”
“I know.”
“I always thought they understood each other on another level.” Mary Beth grinned as she rubbed the scar on her neck. “Because they’re both different. Kip can do things …” she shrugged. “Then again—everyone here is a little different, you know?”
The little girl could do things? What things? No, maybe it was better not to know. Even if Mary Beth could tell her, the odds were good that Melinda wouldn’t be able to make sense of it. Hell, Nobody had shown her how he blended into the shadows and she still didn’t understand how he did it. “I’m not that different. I don’t have any superpowers. Yet.”
Maybe she was wrong. She could see Nobody, after all. Maybe that qualified her as different enough to run with this crowd.
Mary Beth grinned at her. “How’s the boy doing?”
“Okay, I think. He’s still really nervous that his dad’s going to show up and do some damage.”
Mary Beth clucked. “He’ll have to get through Nobody first and that’s saying something.” She looked Melinda up and down. “It’s a good thing you’re doing. It’s hard to come out here. I used to think I was crazy for leaving behind a normal life to come out to what felt like the Land of the Misfit Toys, you know? Then I met your sister. And you.” Mary Beth grinned. “Now I know I’m not the only one nuts enough to do this.”
Nobody (Men of the White Sandy) (Volume 3) Page 20