“So he and the ex still talked?”
“Ad nauseum. There I was, in peril of death from the Rottweiler and trying to keep it from eating my private parts. Meanwhile Romeo's got the phone welded to his good ear, discussing the technicalities of vaginal repair with his ex. So, I say to myself, Lila, what is wrong with this picture? I walk out of the house, bare naked, and get into his Mercedes.”
“Did you ever see Yosemite?”
“Nope. I threw that ancient fish back in, pronto.”
“So you don't advise dating an elderly man, even if he is rich?” asks Jenny.
Lila shrugs. “Not unless plastic dicks with liver spots are your thing.”
The solstice parade does not get quite the turnout hoped for, as the weather is not cooperating. By noon, the whole thing is over. Mid-afternoon, Marlena boards a city bus alone. She is on her way to Solid Hollow Lane to see Coddie. She is feeling a tad uncomfortable for having allowed things to slide for so long; they are still legally married. Though she will never return to him, neither has filed that signed, final paperwork for a California divorce.
It feels odd to be knocking at the door, but Coddie is delighted to see her. Dakota Lawless is lounging on the screened patio, a newspaper across his knees. He puts away his cheroot when Marlena comes in.
“You two met?” asks Coddie.
Both nod in a neutral way, having met a few times in Alta. Marlena is thinking about her mother's comment after seeing Dakota. “There is something weird about that half-breed Indian Bates has hired. He gives me the willies. I know, I know. Native American. But he still gives me the willies.”
After a few minutes of polite conversation, Coddie comments they are almost out of wine. Dakota offers to go to the corner store and pick up a bottle. Once they are alone, Marlena asks Coddie what he knows about the young man.
“Tough life, but he has great talent. He runs numbers in his head like an adding machine. Never saw anyone who could do such a thing.”
It occurs to Marlena her mother has that same talent, which strikes her as a humorous coincidence. Who would think the Native American would have anything in common with Faith Bellum?
Now that she is seeing firsthand what great pals Coddie and Dakota have become, Marlena feels guilty about having ignored the Native American newcomer. She makes a point of grilling him when he returns.
“What brought you to our corner of the globe, Dakota?”
He shrugs. “It's a free country.”
“But Alta is such a tiny place. There must be a reason.”
“My father had a relative who lived in Alta. I came to look him up, but he was already dead. I got a job at the hotel washing dishes and stayed on.”
“I heard you do carpentry work now for Bates.”
He gives a single nod.
“Just like that, Master Bates offered you a job building custom coffins? Our dour undertaker is famously tight and not easily impressed.”
His answer is a fleeting smile. So, she thinks, Coddie is right. There is more than meets the eye to Dakota, not that his eyes aren't dazzling to look at. She was having difficulty keeping her eyes from his.
“Where are you from, Dakota?”
“Around.”
“Any family?”
“I lost my mother a month after I was born. My father died in Rapid City in 1976, ma'am.”
“I am sorry. Well, consider us your family from here on out. Please start by calling me Marlena. Ma'am is a name for an old lady. Are you planning to stay in Alta?”
“Yes, Marlena. But I would like to find a different line of work, something outdoors.”
As he expresses his wish, he looks her directly in the eye. There are points of light in his topaz eyes that mirror hers, giving his gaze a preternaturally bright, mesmeric quality. She finds the experience uplifting, like a shot of adrenaline.
“My friend Apollo Nelson is giving up his cowboy post at Mill's Creek. Now he is involved with Bryce Scattergood's operation, he doesn't have time for it. Might you be interested?”
Dakota gives an assenting grunt.
On the plane ride home, Marlena recalls the power of Dakota's gaze. There was a repelling force when their eyes first connected, like the collision between two magnets with positive poles. Afterward, they chatted like old friends.
She decides Faith is wrong in her suspicion of Dakota. Though he is mysterious, he is a kindred spirit and definitely not nefarious. She, of all people, should be sensitive to what a closed society Alta can be. She resolves henceforth to champion Dakota. She will make him a pet project.
As soon as Marlena gets home, she speaks to Chloe Vye about hiring Dakota Lawless as Apollo's replacement at Mill's Creek. She is not altogether pleased to hear from Ron that in her absence, Zaddie played Mozart on the zither.
Chapter Forty-Six
The Sacrifice
June 21, 1980
Alta, Wyoming
The joyous occasion is the second birthday celebration of the twins, and a gala luncheon event is held at Mill's Creek. Members of the immediate family have formed a receiving line. The extended family is all present, including out-of-towners Coddie Dimmer, Sally Honeywell, and Sally's girlfriend Stretch.
The extended family now includes Dakota Lawless, whom Marlena sometimes asks to look after the twins (when Faith is not looking). Dakota's residence is a former shepherd's hut on Hatter's Field, or he is welcome to use Chloe's barn whenever he likes. He never complains. Indeed he says very little to anyone, except for Marlena, with whom he has developed a close friendship. She regards him as a kindred spirit.
Though initially Dakota was viewed with suspicion in Alta, he is now viewed by the natives as merely an anomaly—an industrious Indian. He is grudgingly admired for his stature and physical strength, which have wreaked havoc with the composure of the young ladies, a trial which he seems not to be aware of.
Coddie pecks Marlena on the cheek, pinches the twins, and then wanders through the house, seeking Dakota Lawless. He doesn't find him because the young man is raking leaves from the pond.
Dakota is attempting to avoid Apollo Nelson, the only member of the extended family to have developed an antipathy toward him. Though nothing is said, every time they meet, the vibe is dark. Apollo now has full-time employment with Bryce Scattergood. He is also married to one of the Fairwell girls, who regards herself as the luckiest girl in town to have landed him. A wedding reception for two hundred was held at Mill's Creek. Upon Marlena's strong recommendation, Apollo's ranch-hand duties at Mill's Creek were handed over to Dakota.
“How was the honeymoon?” Marlena asks Lila, who blushes like a bride, as well she might, having just returned from her wedding trip in Provence after marrying Bryce Scattergood. The receiving line is disbanded and the two friends have settled into Adirondack chairs by the pond.
They are sipping fresh mint juleps; mint grows profusely in Chloe's vegetable garden. Zaddie is out there now, wandering through the lush mint and talking to herself.
“My pussy is the same color as your hair,” Lila purrs. “Terminal beard burn.”
Upon spotting Lila, Coddie makes an abrupt deviation in his aimless wanderings. He offers Lila congratulations on her marriage, followed by an elaborate apology for his abysmal behavior on the night of Harry Drake's death, back in 1977. It appears Coddie is once again drunk on arrival, a habit he got stuck on during the tumultuous events of that memorable Christmas week.
“No worries, love,” Lila tells Coddie. He shambles away.
Sally Honeywell and Stretch, having flown in from Key West last evening, are now holding court in the kitchen. Sally dandles Gordie on her lap. He is mesmerized by his gift from Tiffany's, which is a miniature sterling silver tomahawk engraved with his name.
Faith Bellum is hovering nearby, keeping a watchful eye on her grandson. From her wheelchair in the foyer, Annie Witherspoon is keeping tabs for Chloe on the hotel caterer, the African-American photographer, and the Mexican musicians.
&
nbsp; Alta Hotel banquet services announces at noon that lunch is served. The sixty guests are led to a birthday luncheon spread under a white tent in view of Chloe's garden. At its conclusion, the twins entertain the crowd by delving into two birthday cakes, obligingly smearing their faces and their clothes with blue or pink frosting, and grinning for the camera.
“I talked to a pretty lady in the garden,” Zaddie says to Grammie Bellum while she is cleaning her face.
“What did I say about telling fibs, child?” chides Faith. “God knows the truth, and there was no one out there except you.”
At one o'clock Coddie stands up at his chair, swaying, and taps on a wine glass until there is little sound except the ever-present wind.
He offers three rambling toasts. The first is to his hostess; the second is to the twins; and the third is to his protégé, Dakota Lawless, whom he declares “will one day be the CFO of Pioneer Architectural Designs. My young friend is an Einstein with numbers.”
He slumps down in his chair and then lurches back up again.
“I gotta shay one more thing. I have arranged a fall internship for Dakota at PAD. Been waiting for the right occasion to spring it on 'im. Whaddya say to that, buddy boy?”
The crowd murmurs and claps.
Dakota's face remains impassive, but he feels as though he has just walked over an IED and had it detonate in his face. It was not for an accountancy internship that he washed dishes at the hotel for a year and then worked another year for the sour undertaker, patiently waiting his chance. The position he holds at Mill's Creek is right where he wanted to be, and where he must be in the foreseeable future.
Ironically, if it were not for Mr. Dimmer, he wouldn't have made it into Mill's Creek and the bosom of the viper's family. Yet all his efforts will be for nothing if he is forced to leave Wyoming because of Dimmer's interference.
After he and Coddie have shaken hands and awkwardly embraced over the internship surprise, Dakota speaks in his usual taciturn way to his mentor.
“Got a surprise for you, too.”
“Really?” Coddie's eyes tear up.
He wonders sometimes if Dakota would consent to being legally adopted. By taking the last name of Dimmer, Dakota would become the son and heir Coddie could never otherwise have, as the doctors tell him he is shooting blanks. Coddie has not mentioned his fantasy to anyone, not even Dakota. He downs his drink at a gulp, looking as though he might burst into tears. His drinking malady often makes him maudlin. Dakota is the only one who can tolerate being around Coddie when he is in his cups.
“Remember that motorcycle trip through the mountain you were talking about?”
“You bet.”
“Still hot for it, man?”
“You bet.”
“There are a sister and brother here who have two killer Harleys. They rent them out for weekends.”
“No shit.”
“Yeah, I think your ex-wife went to school with them, the Anderson twins.”
“Then what are we waiting for? Let's sign up the bikes and get on the road tomorrow. I've got the dime, if you've got the time.”
“Yeah? Cool. That's what I was hoping you would say.”
“Make hay while the shun shines, and the shun, if I am not mistaken, is a-shining on us, my lad. See what I mean?”
“Yup.”
Coddie smiles, his eyes watering. Reaching one arm over his head, he ruffles the young man's long, black hair until the burnt-red ends glint in the sunshine.
At sunset the next day, Coddie Dimmer's lifeless body is carted off Alta Mountain. The mangled motorcycle is hauled away by Cowgirl Towing, a first responder to the scene of the fatality.
His cheeks wet with tears, Dakota looks the sheriff straight in the eye and describes the gruesome accident.
Coddie shouted a “wahoo!” as they approached a series of sharp turns, and then Coddie looked backward, grinning at him. Dakota says he shouted to his friend to watch where he was going, but his warning was too late. Five seconds later, Coddie slammed head-on into the face of Alta Mountain. Coddie was dead by the time Dakota got to him. His head was smashed in.
“Was he drinking?”
“Not to my knowledge, sir.”
Quinton grunts. “I'll take that as a yes, son. Go on.”
“That is all.”
Sheriff Quinton shakes his head with a cluck of disapproval. “Never look back when you're ridin' through the mountains. Anyone knows that. Who would figure a book- educated man for bein' such a dumb-ass?”
“Bad luck.”
“Damn bad,” says Quinton. “You say he was a friend of yours?”
“Best I ever had,” Dakota says huskily.
Indeed Coddie was his best friend and the only responsible father figure he has ever known. Yet, he has found it necessary to sacrifice his best friend.
In the future, Dakota's memory will play back in exact detail how it actually went down, how Coddie turned and looked back at him when he heard Dakota shout his name, how he then transfixed Coddie with a powerful gaze, holding him in the trance until Coddie crashed at full speed into the mountainside, the motorcycle sliding out from under him.
After he closes Coddie’s lifeless eyes, Dakota dances slowly in a circle to release his friend's spirit.
Then he reviews what has led him to this sad moment.
He had vowed on his father’s grave that Cassandra Vye's family would pay dearly for her abandonment of his father. He had not counted on making this unwanted sacrifice of his good friend’s life. But he had to kill Coddie, because Dakota could not leave the family he had insinuated himself into, nor could he reveal who he was without putting the sirens on their guard. He must stay close by Marlena and her children in order to wreak a full lifetime of revenge. Coddie’s interference, the internship sprung on Dakota as a surprise and the gracious offer of sharing his home, would have meant his leaving Alta for San Francisco. How could he logically turn down such a offer? His only alternative was to kill his friend.
Of course, if it were not for his vow to revenge his father, he could have taken his rightful place within the family and carried on his friendship with Coddie. But he had made a sacred promise. He reminds himself that an adequate revenge for disrespect is not a simple matter. Rather it is a matter of taking one’s time and keeping the flame burning within. Time is one precious commodity Dakota has plenty of. After all, he has survived three decades of privation.
Based on this latest trial of his willpower, the young demon has a new perspective.
Not being put together like others may be a curse, but it also comes with considerable power. And, he has noticed something else. As is the case with his eight hundred muscles, the more he exercises his demonic power, the stronger it becomes.
THE END OF BOOK TWO
About the Author
Anne Carlisle is the author of the HOME SCHOOLING Trilogy, erotic-paranormal romance novels featuring a family of sirens in human form. Anne Carlisle holds a doctorate in 19th Century British Literature from Case Western Reserve University. Currently Professor and Course Chair at UMUC, she teaches college writing worldwide to U.S. military students. Formerly she served as a dean for Golden Gate University in San Francisco. While working as a newspaper columnist, magazine editor, and theatre reviewer, she authored a book on writing and hundreds of articles. Her homes are in Key West, Seattle, and Wilmington, NC.
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