by Geeta Kakade
They all looked at each other after they heard the door between the apartment and the garage close.
“How is she doing?” asked Mark.
“She’s been having these dreams,” Jacob told them. “She keeps seeing women reaching to her for help and a gun in her hand.”
Christy’s heart sank. “You mean what really happened is manifesting in her dreams?”
Mark had finally told her and Bridget about Laurel’s incident on base.
“Laurel would never shoot anyone,” Bridget said fiercely, her faith in human nature at its strongest. “Never.”
“Steady on,” Andrew told his wife. “We know Laurel as she is not the person now that she was before the accident but though I’m no expert in the field I still think some intrinsic behavior patterns don’t change. I agree with you. She wouldn’t use a gun unless it was a last resort.”
“True,” Jacob concurred, “but she’s still answerable for whatever reason she had for pulling the trigger and her dreams are telling me that the breakthrough could come at any time now.”
Mark looked at the twin looks of concern in Christy’s and Bridget’s eyes, “We have to just keep reassuring her that no matter what we are all her family now and here for her. On the official end, Uncle Paul will do all he can to help her too.”
With that they all had to be content.
“I’m going to the Reservation this afternoon.” Jacob told her the next day as they finished breakfast. He’d brought back a tray and told her Christy and Moira were attacking the kitchen floor as if they had to get it ready for a white glove inspection. I offered to bring back dinner from Pollos and Christy told me what to get.”
“Do you think I could come to see Ama too?” Laurel asked.
“Sure.” He looked pleased about her decision and she went in to change into her sweats and pick up the second journal. She would read for an hour and then when it was warmer she would go for a run.
In the end she got so into the journal that she skipped her run. The stories were fascinating and a wonderful record of life during the times too.
Laurel had stopped by the kitchen at eleven and Moira and Mrs. Kemp were both there emptying the cabinet shelves and wiping them down. She told them where Jacob and she were going and they insisted she take a basket of food to Jacob’s grandmother.
At the Reservation they went straight to Ama’s house. She was lying in bed. Her eyes lit up when she saw them.
“What’s the matter Ama?” Jacob asked.
“I had a fall yesterday.”
“How?” he demanded.
“Just fell,” she said. “People do at my age.”
“Where?”
“As I was walking home from church. It was dark and I couldn’t see properly.”
“Where are you hurting?”
“My back,” she sounded tired.
“I want to look at it and then I’ll give you some medicine for the pain but I want you to rest. Where’s Sylvie?”
“Hasn’t shown up today but don’t worry. I can manage. Mary, my friend from next door helps when Sylvie doesn’t come. My back was just an excuse to talk with you. I want none of your medicines. I have my own. I don’t do pills.”
Jacob did not look happy, “Very well but turn over so I can take a look.”
Laurel stood up, “I’ll be in the other room.”
She quickly unpacked the food and put it away glad that there was a mini loaf of fresh baked bread and soup in a container. She checked the cabinet and the refrigerator. Ama had enough food for today. Maybe, Laurel thought, she and Jacob could get some food in town tomorrow and come back again.
Jacob came out a few minutes later frowning. “She’s scraped her back badly but there’s nothing broken. Not that she’s willing to go to hospital and have an x-ray.”
He sounded helpless.
“There’s no reason her own medicine won’t work, Jacob. She’s an experienced doctor in her own right. After all she’s what? In her seventies?”
“Eighty five,” he said.
“Really? She doesn’t look it.”
“She walks miles every day, eats healthy and stays busy. She has friends she enjoys being with and loves what she does. ”
Jacob’s rules for a healthy mind and body. Maybe he could write a book on the subject too.
“Are we leaving?” she asked as she saw him put his stethoscope into his medical bag.
“I need to see her friend Mary next door and make sure she helps her with meals. I also want to give Aunt Mary some money because Ama’s too stubborn to take any from me and she might need something. If I know Aunt Mary she’ll want to talk for at least half an hour and will want me to give her a check up too. Want to come?”
Laurel hesitated. “I’d like to stay here with Ama if you don’t mind.”
“See you in a bit then.”
Laurel went quietly into the other room not wanting to disturb Jacob’s grandmother if she was sleeping.
The latter’s eyes were wide open. “Come and sit by the bed,” she invited.
She looked at Laurel’s face so intently Laurel felt she had to say something.
“Tell me how you really fell.”
She’d heard the miniscule hesitation in Ama’s voice before she’d answered Jacob.
“I was pushed,” Ama didn’t sound happy to tell her.
“By whom?” Laurel was shocked.
“I think it’s the boy who made Sylvie pregnant but I can’t be sure. It was getting dark. Joe Crutch smokes a lot and the person who pushed me smelled of smoke. He hates me because I tell Sylvie not to have anything more to do with him. He’s a no-good waster who doesn’t want to accept responsibility for the fact he got a sixteen year old pregnant.”
Laurel was angry too. He sounded like a bully and she hated bullies.
“But let’s not talk about me,” said the older woman. “Let’s talk about you and Jacob. How are you getting on?”
“Very well. He’s very kind.”
“An important quality in a man.”
“Can you tell me about White Feather?” asked Laurel trying to divert Ama. “I’d love to hear her story from you.”
The older woman’s lips tightened and then she shrugged like Jacob did.
“An Indian girl of fifteen summers fell in love with a white boy. They had grown up together and they started meeting in secret for a year. When the boy told his parents he wanted to marry White Feather, his father forbade the match and the boy left the area never to return. The girl was shunned by her own people and she and her grandmother moved away so she could give birth in private. She named her son Jacob after his father.”
“What happened to her?”
“Her grandmother taught her all she knew about medicine and she became a powerful medicine woman. White Feather never returned to her people. She finally settled here among the Eastern Washoe and told them that her husband had been killed by a bear. She became a legend in these parts for healing the sick, foretelling the future and she was a great basket weaver too.”
“What a sad life!” said Laurel her heart going out to the star crossed lovers.
“Look on that shelf,” Ama pointed to a high shelf on the wall opposite her bed. “There’s a basket there woven by White Feather when she was young. You should take it with you.”
“We can’t take all your things from you.” Laurel was shocked.
“Take it before someone robs it and we lose an important part of our history. I don’t want someone to break in and steal it when I am away from the house. It’s valuable. These days they steal anything to buy drugs or the liquor that kills them. They were scared of me because of my medicines but now there are some who don’t care. They see only an old woman who falls when she’s pushed.”
“What about the distant cousins Jacob mentioned? Won’t you be safer if you stayed with them?”
“I would go out of my mind,” retorted Ama. “I don’t want to be in the middle of their problems all the ti
me and I won’t let any of them live here. I tell them I can’t practice my medicine and help my people if I’m not alone to do it. They resent me for that.”
“Why don’t you come live with us till you feel better?” Laurel said. “Jacob will rent us a house or apartment and I can take care of you. We’ll bring you back as soon as you are up and about.”
“You are a kind girl and I’m glad Jacob found you. The road may be rough now but persevere on the path and you will meet with success. Has he told you why he hasn’t married?”
Laurel shook her head and Ama’s gaze became gentle, “Ask him my child. The closer you get to him now the better it will be later.”
Laurel wasn’t sure what Ama meant but she nodded. She could hear Jacob enter the house.
“Aunt Mary wouldn’t let me leave,” his smile was rueful. “Not till she told me everything she’s suffered from since my last visit.”
“That woman has more illnesses in her head than I can cure,” Ama replied. “It comes from watching all those medical shows on television but she’s a good neighbor and friend and I’m thankful for that.”
Laurel warmed the soup and toasted a slice of the fresh bread and Jacob insisted his grandmother eat before they left.
Laurel went outside to give them some time together and decided to walk a little behind the houses. She was at the third one when she heard angry voices and instinctively pulled into the shadows.
“Let go of me or I’ll scream.” Was it her imagination or did that sound like Sylvie?
“I’ll get you when no one’s around,” the other voice growled. “There’s no where you can hide from me.”
“Leave me alone,” the first voice shook with fright.
Laurel stepped out of the shadows only to see the two of them turn away and slide between the next two houses.
She turned back quickly not wanting them to see her.
Laurel told Jacob about it on the way back and he frowned and said, “I’ll have a word with Sylvie and ask her if she needs protection. I have a friend who’s a tribal policeman and Tim will watch out for her.”
She’d seen the way the people greeted Jacob and he had introduced her to one or two of them today. A cousin’s wife had insisted they had to stop by her place next time. A little boy had come up to the car with freshly baked corn bread and handed it to Laurel saying, “My mother says thank you doctor.”
Jacob told her later the boy’s mother had eight children and there was no father in sight so Ama made a point of helping the woman, Running Water.
They stopped for lunch in Fallen Leaf at a restaurant that overlooked the deep midnight blue lake; a real contrast to Lake Tahoe and Silver Lake’s aqua color. While they ate Jacob noticed that Laurel was very quiet and realized the incident with Sylvie had upset her.
“Penny for your thoughts,” he said lightly.
She looked at him her gaze blank for a minute and then said, “I was just thinking about the stories Ama told me while you were with Aunt Mary. I want to write them down before I forget anything.”
She hoped he didn’t see through her words. The truth was Sylvie was worrying her more than Laurel could understand.
CHAPTER NINE
Ma knew she had pointed Laurel’s thoughts in the right direction. The suggestions would help her random flashbacks connect once when the time was right.
Agnes mentally ticked off her checklist. Jacob and Laurel were getting so close to each other, they weren’t going to give her a problem in the romance area. It was just resolving the mystery that surrounded Laurel’s accident that she had to be careful about. Knowing Phillip’s fondness for guns she wondered if he’d had anything to do with the incident involving Laurel and the gun on base at Camp Heart. He wouldn’t overstep his boundaries and intrude on her territory. Would he?
She had to protect Ama too till all this was over and see no harm came to her.
Agnes was amazed at the way Phillip and Stephen had come around to think about love. They truly regretted interfering with their children’s love lives and were doing their best to make amends.
As for Moira, she needed more than a little push now to put Holt out of his misery. Using Frank might not be a bad idea.
Agnes sighed. Christy and Bridget were the two aces up her sleeve. Thank God she could rely on them through all this.
Phillip didn’t tell Agnes he had followed her to the Reservation. He had seen Joe Crutch and knew that young man had to be watched carefully. Crutch had obtained a gun illegally and also owned two knives. He wasn’t to be trusted as far as he could throw the man.
Pa wasn’t worried. He knew his way around guns but Agnes didn’t. He was going to stay close to Joe Crutch.
What he felt deeply ashamed of was that Jacob held no resentment for the way his fifth great grandmother had been treated.
It was a humbling experience to learn from the youngster how mistakes of the past didn’t have to be carried like a hump by the present generation.
“ Bridget and Andrew have invited us to dinner tonight with Mark and Christy so we’ll get the Mexican dinner some other time. Holt’s taking Moira, Frank and the Kemps out for pizza. Mark just texted me.”
“That’s nice. Let’s get something for Bridget and Andrew.”
“What did you have in mind?”
“Well I don’t know till I see their house what they would really like but we could take them a box of chocolates or some fruit.”
“Sounds good to me.”
They stopped in Silver Lake City at the store Norah had opened next to her café. Her newly widowed sister, Cora, ran Silver Lake Foods. The store had homemade chocolates, cookies and cakes, local fruit and pies.
Laurel asked for two baskets of assorted stuff.
“One’s for Christy and Mark,” she told Jacob. It was larger as besides the things for Christy and Mark, she’d asked for a packet of nuts each for Mr. Kemp and Toby, cheese and crackers for Holt, chocolate for Frank and a new barbecue sauce for Moira to try.
While he paid the young helper at the register, Laurel looked around carefully. Cora and Norah came up to ask her how everyone at the Lodge was doing and how the dogs were.
Giving in to impulse Laurel talked to them about the idea that had popped into her mind as she’d looked around.
“What a great idea!” Norah looked really excited.
“We’d love that,” Cora seconded.
“Love what?” asked Jacob as he joined them with the two baskets.
“It‘s in connection to a project I have in mind but don’t say anything to anyone till I brainstorm with Christy about it.” Laurel pleaded.
“Okay.”
Cora and Norah assured her they wouldn’t say a word till her project got the green flag either.
Bridget and Andrew’s house was three miles away from Cupid Lodge. It was set higher up and had a view of the lake.
Andrew showed them around the four bedroom rental, Sheba the white Labrador at his heels, while Bridget, Christy and Mark gathered in the kitchen.
“How’s it going with Laurel?” Bridget asked Christy as she took a covered pan out of the oven. “She puts up such a cheerful front it’s hard to know what’s going on but then you catch this depth of sadness in her eyes from time to time and it just wrings your heart.”
“She’s been having more little flashbacks and Jacob thinks the breakthrough will come at any time. He’s concerned about what she’ll discover then.”
“Sister Winifred would say it’s an ordeal by fire she’s going through. Poor Laurel.” Bridget paused a minute as memories of the nun who’d raised her at the orphanage of St. Michael’s flooded in. “Sister Winifred called and said someone had stopped by the Convent and asked to meet me.”
Christy looked surprised. “Sister Winifred never calls unless it’s really important. Wonder who this man is and if he’s the same one asking Norah about you.”
“I know,” Bridget said. “I’ll go and see her tomorrow and get the details.”
Mark made a mental note to look into the matter too.
“We have to help Laurel as much as we can.” Bridget looked around for her pot holders.
“We have to make sure she knows we are all there for her so no matter what she has to face the knowledge will help her.” Mark picked up the tray of drinks he had prepared into the family room as the others came in from the hall.
“It’s a nice house and that quilt on your bed is amazing. So is your doll collection.” Laurel smiled at Bridget.
“Thanks,” Bridget sat down and sipped her lemonade. “We haven’t furnished the whole house because we are not sure how long we’re going to stay here.”
“Are you thinking of moving?” Christy flashed an alarmed look at Bridget and Andrew.
“No,” Bridget said quickly and after she looked at Andrew and he gave her a small nod she said, “Andrew and I have been talking about buying a piece of land in the area and have a house built on it to our design. He’s going to sell his farm in Michigan now that real estate is picking up and use his inheritance from his aunt and uncle for the project.”
“That’s a great idea,” Christy looked excited, “as long as it’s not far away from us. I’ve just found you and I don’t want to lose you.”
“There’s no chance of that,” Andrew told them. “In fact Bridget told the realtor she didn’t mind away from the lake but she wants it within a three to five mile radius of Cupid Lodge.”
As everyone talked about land and houses in the area Bridget turned to Laurel.
“The quilt’s one of the wedding presents we got from Christy and Mark. It was made by our great, great grandmother.”
That was very generous of Christy thought Laurel wondering when she would get a chance to talk with her about her idea.
“Let’s eat shall we?” Bridget suggested in a while and they moved toward the round table in the dining room.
“Bridget wanted a big table so when we all get together I can put the extra leaf in and it will seat ten to twelve people around it.”
“Andrew’s regimental buddies gave us money and we used it to buy the dining set,” Bridget said to Laurel as they sat down. “In fact the whole house is furnished with gifts. The family room furniture is from the Kemps, the flatware, plates and dishes are from Christy’s Mom and Uncle Paul gave us the crystal. Moira and Frank got me the best set of bake ware available and Toby gave us the lamps for the living room.”