Forbidden Spirits

by Patricia Watters

  "What part of me will you be massaging?" Tyler asked.

  Rose looked up to find him smiling. "Your back, neck and head," she replied.

  Tyler set the mug on the nightstand. "You'd stimulate my blood flow faster if you massaged the front side of me."

  "Keep dreaming." When Rose went to take the mug, Tyler grabbed her arm and pulled her down on the bed beside him and kissed her, and although Rose had decided earlier that they needed to slow things down she couldn't seem to stop herself from wrapping her hands around his neck and kissing him back. But after their lips parted, she looked at him soberly, and said, "How is the dizziness now?"

  "Better," Tyler replied. "Kissing seems to help."

  "It's the ginger tea," Rose said. "Not only does it stimulate circulation, but it also aids in digestion, metabolism and liver function."

  Tyler gave her a cryptic smile. "You left out the most important benefit."

  Rose eyed him, dubiously. It was unlikely that he'd know the benefit she purposely failed to mention. "What benefit?"

  "Ginger's a good aphrodisiac," Tyler said.

  "Where did you hear that?"

  "Is it?"

  "Well, yes, but how did you know?"

  "I've been reading about medicinal herbs," Tyler replied. "It was pretty interesting. I read that the warming effect of certain aromatic herbs like ginger increase perspiration, which in turn increases heart rate, which increases blood flow to all the extremities, including the most important extremity of males of all species. I figured it might come in handy if I'm lost in the woods." His smile grew wider.

  "What, finding herbs that make you… umm…"

  "Horny?" Tyler gave her a quick kiss. "I'll tell you a little secret. It doesn't take ginger to make me horny. It happens every time you're around. But for now, I'll settle for a few hours of heated kisses to bring down the level of CO2 in my blood, and by morning, I'll be ready to pick up where I left off today… except that the place will be boarded up and off limits to me."

  With his last words, all the lightness of moments before was gone.

  Looking at him soberly, Rose said, "I'm sorry I had to mess up your project but I was worried about you."

  "No, you were worried about me desecrating a spring," Tyler replied.

  "They are one in the same," Rose said. "Your defiling a sacred spring can create problems for you that you can't even begin to imagine right now, but maybe one day you'll understand and forgive me."

  "I don't have a choice about that," Tyler said. "I'm stuck and can't get out."

  "Well, maybe I'm stuck too because I ignored the warning signs the day I first met you at the spring and didn't walk away from you when I knew what you were about to do."

  "Then why didn't you?" Tyler asked. "You hadn't yet known about my horses, which is why you said you started liking me."

  "But I'd already been told about the dream with you in it, and even though I didn't know it was you at the time, something kept telling me it was you. It's hard to explain."

  "Then don't try." Tyler pulled her to him and kissed her again.

  It was some moments before Rose broke the kiss, and said, "What about your dizziness? It seems like kissing uses up oxygen, and Marc said it was important for you to breathe deeply to bring down the level of CO2 in your tissues and bloodstream."

  "I am breathing deeply," Tyler said, "and so are you." He kissed the side of her neck. "In fact this is the best way I know to bring down the CO2 level." He kissed behind her ear. "Better than ginger. And I could use that massage right now."

  Rose drew in a long, calming breath to try to settle things down, and when Tyler persisted in keeping her hormones rising to dangerous levels by nibbling his way down her neck and behind her ear, she braced her hands on the hard wall of his chest, and said, in a breathy voice, "I'd better feed and grain the horses and check on Tundra first."

  Tyler kissed the hollow of her throat. "Then I'll get a massage when you're done?"

  "Yes," Rose said, even knowing that giving Tyler a massage was the last thing she should be doing while in her present frame of mind, because if Tyler got carried away, she'd without doubt get carried away too because that seemed to be the nature of things from the moment she first set eyes on him, and nothing had changed.

  CHAPTER 15

  While Rose was feeding the horses, Tyler glanced out the window and saw that Diana was gone, no doubt because she'd rid the field of mice and voles and was ready to move on. Still, he couldn't help wondering at the coincidence—Rose's grandmother claiming the hawk was there to deliver a message, maybe a message of warning that there were poisonous gases in the cavern? But, the world was filled with coincidences. At least he'd always thought that was the case. Unless there was some kind of spiritual being behind each so called coincidence?

  Hearing the mares coming into their stalls, he lowered his feet over the side of the bed and stood. He still felt lightheaded, but the room wasn't spinning anymore, and his stomach had settled, so he figured the worst was over.

  But as he made his way to the passageway, things started moving again, not spinning as before, but more like the feeling of being on a boat, so he stopped where he was and breathed deeply. Still, he wanted to see his mares, so padding one hand against the stalls to maintain his balance, he made his way to where Luna was standing in her stall with her head in her grain bucket. On seeing him, she gave a little whinny and walked over to poke her head over the door.

  He stroked her muzzle, and patted her neck, while saying, "I'd come in with you, baby, but I'm not doing so well today. Maybe by tomorrow things will have stopped spinning." Giving her one last pat, he moved to Estelle's stall. "Hey, gorgeous," he said. As with Luna, Estelle walked over to greet him. After scratching behind her ears and stroking her muzzle, he said, "The world's turning right now, angel, but I'll give you a good brushing tomorrow." But when he made his way to Gypsy's stall he found her standing near the outside door, with her head lowered.

  Unlike Luna and Estelle, Gypsy stood where she was and made no attempt to walk over to greet him. Alarmed, he rolled open the stall door and saw that her weight was clearly off her right front foot. "Baby, you're hurting," he said. "Let's see what's going on." He nudged her to move, and when she took a few steps, her head bobbed and she walked with a limp.

  "Okay, angel, you don't have to walk, but I need to find out what's wrong." Slowly he ran his hand down the length of her leg and lifted her foot, then bracing it between his knees, took a close look. Seeing no sign of a rock caught between the pad and the shoe, and finding nothing that looked like damage to her hoof, he set her foot down and ran his hand up her leg but felt no heat to indicate inflammation. After palpating her shoulder, and getting no pain reaction, he said, "We'll have Rick take a look when he gets home today, but you've got to eat something."

  He was in the process of nudging her over to her grain bucket when he felt a cold sweat coming on and all around him things began to swim. Bracing his hand on the stall door, he closed his eyes and waited for the dizziness to pass…

  "What are you doing?" Rose called out. Moments later she was beside him, one arm around his waist, the other holding onto his arm.

  "Something's wrong with Gypsy's leg," he said. "Was she limping when she came in?"

  "She came in with the others so I didn't notice," Rose replied.

  "I need to get ahold of Rick," Tyler said, as he took several unsteady steps out of the stall.

  "You can do that when you're in bed." Rose rolled the stall door closed behind them and took Tyler's arm. "You're sweating again. You need to lie down and let things pass."

  Tyler said nothing, just allowed Rose to help him down the passageway and into bed, where he slumped back against the pillow and let the room turn. After a few minutes, when things started slowing down some, he said to Rose, "Get my cell phone. I need to call Rick."

  Rose handed him his cell, and after he managed to leave Rick a message to come as soon as he got home, he lay b
ack and said, in a weary voice, "How long is this supposed to last?"

  "Marc said it could be a few days before you're completely back to normal," Rose replied.

  "It can't be that long," Tyler said. "I've got a performance up in Washington in a couple of weeks, and Gypsy's got something wrong with her leg and I need to figure out what it is."

  "She probably bruised her foot on a rock and will be fine by tomorrow, but that's what Rick will find out when he gets here," Rose said. "Meanwhile, you need tending to."

  Rose headed into the bathroom, and a couple minutes later, returned with a damp wash cloth in her hand. Sitting on the bed, she said, while dabbing the wash cloth against Tyler's forehead, "Sweating means your body's getting rid of toxins, but a massage will help get rid of the toxins faster, so I'll warm my oils and fix you another cup of ginger tea since you need lots of fluids."

  "Don't you have to get back to the museum?" Tyler asked.

  "Not this afternoon. Marc hung out the CLOSED sign. He knows I need to be here with you," Rose said, while passing the cloth along the side of his face. "You also need to eat. I made a kind of nut soup for you. It will help your lymph system cleanse your blood."

  Tyler looked at a woman he could imagine growing old with. It was an odd thought to be having while he was lying in bed, struggling to see a beautiful face that kept moving in and out of focus. But if this was a sample of what he could expect from Rose as his wife, he'd be the luckiest man alive. He found himself smiling, even though his world seemed to be going to hell in a hand basket.

  Catching his smile, Rose said, "Okay, what's with the big grin?"

  Tyler let out a little snicker. "I'm not used to being babied."

  Rose eyed him with amusement. "I'm only doing what Indian women have been doing for their warriors for generations."

  Tyler laughed. "Some warrior I am… " His words drifted off as she began passing the wash cloth over his chest, and even with her face moving in and out of focus, he could tell that her eyes were following the path of the cloth.

  He also saw that she was breathing heavily, which had him doing the same, which was good in one sense because it would help the dizziness pass, but hell in another because what Rose was doing made him want to drag her down beside him and strip off her clothes and do all the things he'd visualized doing when he was sitting in the spring and imagining her being with him.

  He was about to reach for her, when she stopped what she was doing, and said, "I'll be back in a few minutes to massage your back. Meanwhile, strip down to your underwear and turn onto your stomach." Placing her palm on his chest, she bent over and kissed him lightly and left.

  After Tyler stripped down to his briefs, and while he was lying in bed contemplating the woman in the kitchen, whose presence made his life seem whole, and whose absence made him feel lonely and restless, he decided he needed to take an entirely different approach with Rose in convincing her that the they belonged together. From his viewpoint, they weren't far apart in their basic philosophies. He communicated with horses, she communicated with spirits. He lived in a way that had little impact on the environment, Indians prided themselves on living close to nature. Her passion was weaving baskets, he lived surrounded by the materials she needed. She fit perfectly in his arms, and he could hold her forever…

  "Okay," Rose called out from the kitchen. "Roll over onto your stomach."

  Tyler turned on the mattress, and a couple minutes later, Rose entered the bedroom carrying a baking sheet with a hand towel over it and something mounded high beneath. She pulled the desk chair over to the side of the bed and put the tray on it, then sat beside him.

  After gathering his horsetail and moving it to out of the way, she ran her hand slowly across his shoulders and down his back, while saying, "What I'll be doing is called hot rock therapy. By placing hot stones on key energy points, the warmth of the rocks will go deep into your muscles and relax them before I start the massage. The rocks I'm using are ones I picked up on the beach the morning I saw you there, so they have special meaning. They're also filled with healing energy after being polished by the sand and surf."

  Tyler wasn't sure about all that, but when Rose ran her hand over the small of his back and adjusted his briefs half way down his butt, he had no intention of questioning anything.

  Rose removed the towel from the rocks, and little by little, Tyler felt patches of warmth making their way across his shoulders and down his spine. "Is this something Indians do?" he asked, while wondering how many other benefits one woman could bring to a relationship.

  "No, it's what my college roommate did," Rose replied, while placing rocks in the small of his back. "She was studying how to be a masseuse and she practiced on me."

  "Can I practice on you too sometime?" Tyler asked.

  Rose laughed. "We're a long way from that, but maybe someday."

  "What has to happen between now and someday?" Tyler asked.

  Rose placed her hand on his shoulder and replied, "I need to understand you better."

  "About what's in my head?" Tyler asked.

  "Not in detail, but enough to understand why you might do something that wouldn't make sense to me, but would be completely reasonable if I understood the process you go through to learn things, if that makes sense."

  Tyler let out a little soft laugh. "You ever try working a giant jigsaw puzzle without a picture to follow? That's what goes on in my head."

  "But you have learned, and you do things well, and I take it you can add up numbers and do basic math."

  "Sure, I can now, but not from the way the school taught it, but because when I was in grade school Marc sat me down and explained to me, why I had to do something, not just how I had to do it. Before then, memorizing sequences of disconnected facts didn't register because they couldn't be put into sequential pictures, so out the window went the multiplication tables along with long division. Then when we got to fractions, words like numerator and denominator meant nothing to me. If a certain fraction looked top heavy, I'd turn it upside down and continue trying to solve the problem. With word problems, the difference between taking half of something, or taking half from something was mud in the eye for me."

  "So, how did Marc get through to you?" Rose asked.

  "He used English instead of mathematical terms to explain it," Tyler replied. "And Ryan's the one who got me past the left and right hand problem. He came up with the idea of thinking in terms of east and west like on a map, which I had no problem reading and relating to, so instead of telling me to turn left, he'd say turn west, and right was east. It didn't matter what direction I was going, it worked every time because in an instant I'd visualize a map and know which way to go. Then Maddy was the one who helped me to understand kidding. My brothers kidded me the way they kidded each other, but I didn't understand teasing because my brain didn't work that way. Maddy finally explained how it worked. By then I was a teen, and pretty embarrassed that I never got it until my little sister pointed it out. Maddy's good that way, even if she can be a big pain in the butt in other ways."

  "You said you were clumsy around the house, but never when you're with your horses. How do you explain that?" Rose asked, while toying with his hair.

  "My horses helped me with spatial organization," Tyler replied, while feeling tingles moving down his body from what Rose was doing with his hair. "Before I started working more than one horse, I needed a lot of space to do things because things looked closer or farther than they really were, but riding while standing on horses forced my brain to organize space in a different way, while also teaching me how to use my hands and feet together instead of as separate parts of me. But it's my connection with my mares that gives me confidence. When I'm away from them, like inside the house, space sometimes has different dimensions and I'll trip over a chair or set a mug too close to the edge of the table and it falls off. I could work at it some, but it doesn't matter, except that all my plates and mugs are mismatched."

  "I could live
with mismatched mugs and plates," Rose said. "It's kind of funky."

  Tyler realized Rose was talking long term, and with her hand resting on his back like she cared, he found himself saying, "Do you think you could live with me? Most people can't."

  "That's what I'm trying to find out," Rose said. "You're an amazing man in that you've learned to read and do math in spite of the obstacles you've faced, and I'd like to have a little insight in to how you did it."

  "Uh boy, it's a little complicated to explain," Tyler said.

  "I'm listening," Rose replied, while combing her fingers into his hair to move it back from his face.

  Tyler couldn't see Rose directly because his head was turned sharply against the pillow, but he saw her in his peripheral vision and knew she was looking at him, like he mattered to her, so he continued. "Okay then, my thinking's backwards in the terms of the way my brain is wired. I think of the endpoint first then work my way back to the starting point. So I came up with a system of using all my senses—my eyes, my ears, my hands—to layout neurological networks to the part of my brain that's lacking. My thinking's still the same, but with a network to follow, I can understand forms of language, and emotions are as easily recognizable as names."

  "Human emotions?" Rose asked. "Or just animals?"

  "My mares are no problem, but I'm not so good with humans," Tyler replied. "We've established that you have the hots for me but I don't understand why, and I don't know why you even want to be with me, knowing what my life is like on a daily basis."

  Rose shrugged, and said, "My grandmother had a dream."

  One by one, Tyler felt rocks being lifted away, and offering nothing more, Rose took the baking sheet and rocks and left the room.

  Tyler was still puzzling over Rose's short answer when she returned a couple minutes later, carrying a bowl. "This is hot water to keep the oil warm. What I'll be doing is based on an Indian technique called feather stroking. It's used to simulate rain dropping onto the body."