Wild Mustang

by Jane Toombs

  All that embroidery she’d done around the truth must have been the reason for Jade’s words. She’d made it sound to her brother and sister-in-law as though she might have married Shane sometime in the future, anyway. Which of course was a lie.

  And she still didn’t know why she’d done it.

  Her last chance to be happy? Jade’s words disturbed her. Happy with a man she had no intention of staying married to?

  Chapter Six

  As it turned out, the camping expedition had to be postponed because the next morning Shane, as one of the spokesmen for the Pyramid Lake Paiutes, was summoned to a joint meeting with the Walker River Reservation. He told Laura it concerned water rights.

  “We may not get through this for a couple of days,” he added.

  Sage, who’d been listening, said, “That’s okay. Now Laura can help me with my powwow stuff.”

  Laura did want to help Sage, plus she knew there’d be little point in her venturing out alone to look for the mustangs. In any case, though she’d die before admitting it, all that riding had left her a bit stiff. A few days out of the saddle would be welcome.

  “I don’t mind,” she told Shane, meaning it.

  He nodded and had started toward the door when Sage asked, “Aren’t you even going to kiss Laura goodbye?”

  He paused, raising one eyebrow at Laura. Quickly, she offered her cheek but, with a forefinger under her chin, he turned her face and brushed his lips over hers, much as he’d done at the wedding.

  Once again, the brief contact triggered a tingling response inside her.

  “And don’t tell me Hank doesn’t do it that way,” Shane warned his sister. “That renegade’s caused enough problems already.”

  Watching Shane leave, Laura wondered how she might react if sometime he decided to really kiss her.

  Sage, giggling at her brother’s parting remark, said, “Hank kisses his wife like he means it. Even if there are other people around. Shane wouldn’t ever do that. In front of people, I mean.” She paused. “At least I don’t think so.”

  “I wouldn’t know,” Laura said, then hastily switched topics, asking about the powwow.

  “Grandfather says this one is to celebrate the coming of summer. He told me in the olden days the people always danced when the seasons changed. Then it sort of stopped for a while, but now he says we’re reclaiming our culture. Some of the boys are learning to make reed duck decoys, and Donna’s grandmother’s teaching us girls to weave baskets. Whoa, talk about hard! But she says I’ve got nimble fingers. Only she uses the people’s word.”

  “So you’re learning to speak Paiute, too?”

  “I can already do that pretty good ’cause Grandfather taught me when I was little. I’m really, really glad you and Shane got married so I won’t ever have to leave here.” She smiled shyly at Laura. “I know you’re actually my sister-in-law, but it sort of feels like you’re my new mother.”

  Moved, blinking back threatening tears, Laura said huskily, “I’m afraid I’m not very good at being a mother.”

  “Sure you are. You listen to me lots better than Donna’s mother listens to her. And you hug me a lot. Maybe you’ll dance with me at the powwow, too.”

  Laura blinked. “Dance with you?”

  “I guess you don’t know the women always dance separate from the men. One of our dances is for mothers and daughters.”

  Although she certainly hadn’t planned to be a participant in the powwow, Laura saw now she couldn’t refuse. “But I don’t know any of your dances,” she protested.

  “I can teach you. We got two days yet. It’s not hard, mostly keeping in step with the drums and rattles. Grandfather’s got a drum, and he can play for us while I show you what to do. It’s supposed to be a secret, but Donna’s mother’s already making your costume.”

  “She shouldn’t have to do that.”

  “Well, I think she sort of expects you to embroider her vest.”

  Laura smiled. A fair trade-off. Whether she’d wished it or not, Shane’s community apparently wanted to accept her, and this gave her a warm feeling.

  That evening, she found herself missing Shane. She’d known he was staying overnight at the Walker River Reservation, but she hadn’t expected to so much as notice his absence. Fond as she was of Sage, and much as she respected Grandfather, it seemed to her as if the heart had gone from the ranch house without Shane there. Which was foolish as well as fanciful.

  She was busy enough. Rhonda had come over with Donna in the afternoon to have Laura try on the dress she was making for her, and she’d brought not one, but two vests, along with floral patterns for Laura to embroider on them.

  Grandfather, sitting in his usual evening silence in the living room while she worked on the vests, suddenly said, “Do you know what you and Sage are promising when you dance together?”

  “I told her it was mother and daughter,” Sage commented.

  Grandfather gave her a look. Sage rolled her eyes, but kept her mouth shut after that.

  “You make a promise to the earth to renew,” he said, “as you are renewed in your daughter, as the change of seasons renews all that grows. Sage will promise to do the same when her time for the renewal vow comes.”

  Laura thought it over, not exactly sure what she could renew but rather liking the idea of a promise to the earth.

  “I’ll do my best,” she told him.

  He grinned at her. “You stay long enough and we’ll make a Paiute out of you, yet.”

  “But she is going to stay a long time,” Sage insisted. “This is her home, too.”

  Up until that moment, Laura had assumed Shane or Grandfather, or maybe both had explained to Sage about the nature of the marriage—had told her that once Shane’s custody of his sister was secure, Laura would be leaving. Either no one had done this or Sage preferred not to believe it.

  Sage looked at her, hazel eyes expectant. “You are, aren’t you?”

  Unable to bring herself to tell the girl the blunt truth, Laura temporized. “You know I have a job to do, that all the wild horses aren’t here in Nevada.”

  “I guess so.” Sage didn’t sound too happy about it. She remained unusually quiet until Laura claimed she needed more dancing practice.

  Once Grandfather brought out his small drum and Sage began demonstrating the steps, the girl’s usual exuberance returned. But she hugged Laura extra hard when they said good-night.

  The following night Shane returned. Everybody had gone to bed except Laura, who’d told herself she was staying up to finish the embroidery on the second vest. But the moment she heard Shane’s pickup in the driveway, the leap of her heart told her she’d lied. She’d been waiting for him.

  In fact, as she hastily put away the embroidery gear, she realized the cookies she’d had Sage and Donna help her bake in the afternoon really had been for his homecoming. She was waiting in the kitchen when he came in the back door.

  “Hungry?” she asked.

  He offered her his slow, teasing smile. “Depends on what’s available.”

  Heat rose to her face as she tried to ignore what she knew must be his double meaning. Yet what he’d said didn’t frighten her. Somehow she’d gotten over any fear of Shane.

  “I made some cookies,” she said. “And coffee will only take a minute.”

  Once the coffee was ready she joined him at the table, sipping from her mug as he ate a chocolate-chip cookie. When he started on the second one, she smiled. “I sneaked oatmeal into them.”

  “Doesn’t seem to have ruined them,” he said, reaching for another.

  “Oatmeal’s good for you. It sort of makes up for the not-so-good-for-you chocolate and butter.”

  He chuckled. “I like your way of thinking.”

  She searched for the right word to define how it felt sitting here with him, just the two of them, and came up with cozy. Never had she thought to use that word in connection with a man. She didn’t even feel cozy with her own brother, for heaven’s sake.


  “Did your meeting solve anything?” she asked.

  He shrugged. “We always hope so. Water rights are a touchy subject in Nevada. Like the mustangs.”

  “Speaking of mustangs, I don’t feel a bit guilty about taking tomorrow off,” she said. “I wouldn’t miss the powwow for the world. The horses will still be there—wherever they are—the day after. Did you know Sage taught me one of the women’s dances? We’re going to dance together to welcome summer. I have a costume and everything.”

  Shane thought she sounded as young and eager as Sage. “I knew you were helping out, but I didn’t realize you were going to dance,” he said.

  “Sage explained about how the women dance separate from the men, and it sounded like fun. Grandfather warned me it’s spiritual, and I’m all right with that, too. Earth should be honored by all of us—it’s our home.”

  “You don’t have to convince me. I’m dancing, too.”

  He’d be with the men, of course. What she evidently didn’t know was that after the ceremonial dancing was over, there’d be a celebration. With luck, the res combo would be in good form, and there’d be party dancing, meaning couples.

  Would she dance with him? Let him hold her close? The idea was arousing. Somehow this don’t-touch-me gal had gotten under his skin.

  She’d waited up for him tonight. Laura didn’t strike him as being particularly dutiful, so he took it as a sign she was beginning to accept him as something other than a male to be feared.

  “When we met,” he said, “I figured I was being saddled with another typical eastern greenhorn. We get quite a few, off and on, doing some kind of study. Turns out you’re not what I thought.” He offered her a half-smile. “Turns out I like you.”

  “After that meeting, I didn’t think I’d ever come to like you,” she admitted. “But I was wrong.”

  From her, that was something. “Then I guess you didn’t lie to your brother, after all,” he said.

  “It’s getting late,” she said, rising and picking up the dishes to take to the counter.

  He figured she was retreating from her own realization that she’d begun to like him. Maybe even trust him. He’d been wondering about a good-night kiss, but decided not to risk it. Best to consolidate his gains at this point. She couldn’t be rushed any more than you could tame a mustang real quick. It took time, patience, and gentleness.

  Which he was willing to allow. The problem was his body didn’t seem to be working in sync with his mind.

  “I’m tired myself,” he said, which was more or less true. Getting up from the table he touched her lightly on the shoulder. “See you in the morning.”

  Her “good night” sounded relieved.

  Morning was a rush of preparation for the powwow. Much of what the men wore to dance went on over their ordinary clothes, so Shane was dressed pretty much as usual in jeans and a T-shirt, except for the moccasins on his feet. Grandfather had on his beaded buckskin outfit, worn only for ceremonials, and wore his hair in two braids.

  Laura had braided ribbons into Sage’s long hair and had her own shorter hair done up in what Shane recognized as a French braid. The sight of her in the dance costume of his people touched a chord in him that he hadn’t realized existed. It had nothing to do with lust, attractive as she looked. This went deeper, and he wasn’t sure he could find a name for it.

  “Sage says we need to bring other clothes for afterwards,” Laura told him, “so I’m taking this flight bag.”

  He nodded. “Good idea. Let’s hit the road.”

  The community center was already bursting with sounds and color. There was nothing drab about powwows. The good smell of Indian bread cooking made Shane’s mouth water. Outside, booths offering other food and handmade items flanked the dance arena. Obsidian wind chimes tinkled in the warm breeze, mingling with the sound of gourd rattles shaken by toddlers.

  Someone blew an eagle whistle, so high-pitched as to hurt the ears. Another was drumming, changing rhythms with smooth speed.

  “I had no idea it would be like this,” Laura said. “I can’t make up my mind what to look at first.”

  “Come and meet Donna’s sister Jessica,” Sage said to Laura. “She flew in for the powwow, and she’s going to dance, too.”

  Shane had already been hailed by some of the men and was talking to them, so Laura followed Sage, recalling that the girl had told her before that this sister used to have a crush on Shane. It made her wonder how Jessica would react to his new wife.

  They found Jessica braiding ribbons into Donna’s hair in the Patsona family camper. Laura, who’d pictured her as nineteen or twenty, was surprised to see she was older, maybe about her own age. Even more surprising, Jessica was stunning—tall and dark, with eyes as green as cottonwood leaves.

  “They tell me you breached the Bearclaw defenses,” Jessica said to her after they were introduced. “I hear he succumbed without so much as a whimper.”

  Laura found herself momentarily speechless. If Shane needed a wife, why on earth wouldn’t he have wanted to marry this gorgeous creature?

  Jessica laughed. “I don’t mean to embarrass you. But your coup did set the entire res agog, you know.”

  Finding nothing appropriate to say about her marriage to Shane, Laura changed the subject. “Sage said you flew in for the powwow. Where are you living now?”

  “Albuquerque at the moment. My San Francisco-based company sends me wherever they need an MBA to straighten things out. It doesn’t pay for me to buy or rent a place—I just come home here between assignments.”

  An MBA? “If you’d asked me what I thought you did, I’d have said modeling,” Laura said honestly.

  “Modeling did help me get through college.” Jessica made a face. “It’s such an unreal life, though. Numbers, now, they’re something to hold onto.” She finished the braiding and Donna flashed her sister a smile before hurrying off with Sage.

  “I’m really glad Shane found you,” Jessica said. “I gave up on him long ago when I saw how he’d closed himself off.” She glanced through the open back door of the camper, lowered her voice and then added, “It was all due to that cheating wife of his—a regular little res blanket-warmer she turned out to be. It wasn’t surprising he decided women weren’t to be trusted.”

  Laura swallowed. All she’d known about his wife was that she was dead. No wonder he hadn’t wanted to marry again.

  “I see you didn’t know what she was like,” Jessica said.

  “No.”

  “Anyway, it’s good he’s come out of his shell and great for Sage to have the big sister she’s always wanted. She’s a neat kid. You’ll be good for both of them.”

  Jessica spoke with such candor that Laura decided she really wasn’t carrying a torch for Shane.

  “Are you considering getting married?” she asked.

  Jessica shook her head. “I’m not ready to settle down. Anyway, I haven’t met the wild and wonderful man of my dreams yet.”

  Laura smiled at her, liking this blunt and beautiful woman. “I hope you meet him unexpectedly in some wild and wonderful place.”

  “That won’t be Albuquerque, I’m afraid.” Jessica glanced at her watch. “I’d better get into my dancing clothes.”

  “I’m going to look around before the dancing begins,” Laura said. “This is my first powwow, and I don’t want to miss anything.”

  “See you later, then,” Jessica told her. “I’m glad we met.”

  “So am I.” Laura spoke the truth.

  As she left the camper, she smiled to herself, thinking about the last part of their conversation. She and Shane had certainly met unexpectedly. To her, Northern Nevada was both wild and wonderful. And Shane? Since she didn’t want any man, she’d never conjured up a dream man. But if she had, he might have been a bit like Shane.

  Later, dancing with Sage and the other women, Laura concentrated at first on not making a misstep, but soon, in harmony with the beating drums, she began to relax, freeing her
mind to think about the meaning of what she was doing. Renewal, Grandfather had said. There hadn’t been much of that in her life, but maybe finding the courage to apply for and get that government grant had been a form of renewal.

  What unexpected results had come from it!

  She couldn’t understand the chants, but assumed they had to do with the earth, and so she made up one for herself, blending it in with the rest, getting so carried away she wasn’t even sure what she’d said. Or was it promised? Promise was the word Grandfather had used.

  The marriage ceremony had pretty much been a blur to her, but, as she recalled, there was something in it about promising to love and honor. The thought troubled her.

  Honor was easy enough. Shane was certainly worthy of honor. But love? How could it ever be possible for her to love any man?

  Though she enjoyed being a part of the dancing, it had stirred up troublesome thoughts that made her glad when the women finished and men began.

  She’d intended to go and examine some of the crafts, but she found herself, with most of the other women, watching the men. She, though, focused solely on Shane. The male dancers used a different step, the drums throbbed with a quicker tempo, and the dance itself had a certain wild aspect the women’s dance had lacked.

  Shane, who’d led the dancers into the arena, was magnificent in a beaded headdress that held a single eagle feather. Unlike the Native Americans from the Plains, the Paiutes didn’t wear warbonnets. Like the other men, his face was painted with alternating lines of black and red, no two faces painted quite the same.

  He looked totally unlike the man she’d married. A wild and wonderful stranger danced before her, speeding her heartbeat, making her breath come short and totally bemusing her.

  She had no idea how long she’d stood watching him before Sage startled her by taking her hand.

  “I’m getting hungry,” the girl said. “Shane always lets me buy tacos—they’re really good here. Donna told me we got some buffalo meat from friends in Montana so the tacos’ll be awesome this time.”

  Shaking off the spell of Shane’s dance, Laura allowed Sage to lead her to the booth area. Sitting at a picnic table under an awning eating tacos and drinking orange soda, Laura shook off the shards of the spell.