Jenny Cussler's Last Stand (31 page)

“Hey!” Jenny said. “What’s so funny?” She pushed against him to sit up and grab her clothes, but Clint pulled her back into his embrace.

“Don’t go, honey. Don’t go. I’m sorry.” He gulped for air and grinned at her as he tenderly brushed her hair from her face with his free hand.

“You know, that’s one of the reasons I love you. You seem to be incapable of lying or hiding the truth...for long. That...and your white woman’s red hair. I love the color of your hair in the sunlight of the meadow. It even sparkles in the moonlight.” He kissed the top of her head and pulled her closer still. “I’ve got the same problem. It’s quite possible that I just love you for your fiery hair...or your round blue eyes.” He chuckled, seeming not at all concerned.

“But how will we ever know?” Jenny asked as she relaxed back into his arms. He loved the color of her hair. He called it fiery.

“I don’t think we can separate our heritage from who we are. As long as I love everything about you...along with your red hair and freckled skin, and as long as you love me, Clint Hastings, along with my dark skin and dark hair, then we’ll be just fine. We’ll love each other for all the right reasons.”

Jenny wrapped her arm around him as far as it would go and buried her face in his neck. His hair smelled of a lightly scented shampoo.

“Oh, Clint, I thought you were going to toss me into the river,” she mumbled against his neck, “or at least jump up and take off. After what you said before.”

“That’s not going to happen, lover,” he whispered against the top of her head. “I acted like an idiot before...spouting stupid things based on a few silly experiences that at the moment I can hardly remember. You’re not getting rid of me that easily.”

“I don’t want to. Not ever,” she pressed against him. “But how are we going to—”

“Shhhh,” he whispered as he bent to press his lips against hers. “Not tonight. Tomorrow will come soon enough.” His caresses made Jenny forget about everything except renewed passion.

Chapter Twenty-One

Clint unwound his left arm from Jenny’s body and kissed her forehead.

“Wake up, sleepyhead. It will be dawn shortly.”

Jenny blinked and started for a moment as if she didn’t know where she was.

“Gracious! I can’t believe we fell asleep down here again, by the river, without any clothes on.”

Clint reluctantly let her go as she pulled herself to a sitting position. She reached for her nearby clothes, and he sighed. He crossed his hands behind his head and watched her unabashedly. Jenny didn’t seem to notice as she focused on buttons and zippers.

“I wish we could stay here forever,” Clint said as he looked up at the dark purple sky. “It seems so...uncomplicated down here.”

Jenny chuckled.

“And you’d pitch a teepee up there on the hill?”

“You bet I would,” he grinned. “I can throw up a teepee. Nothing to it.”

Jenny returned his smile. She stood to pull her jeans on. Clint didn’t look away, but watched with appreciation.

“You’re not embarrassing me, you know,” she said. “After running about in the woods at the sweat lodge, I don’t know if I’ll ever be bashful again.”

“Good!” Clint said as he rose to retrieve his clothes. Now, it was Jenny’s turn to eye him, and he found himself unaccountably embarrassed. He hoped she liked what she saw. He wasn’t all that young anymore.

“Geez,” he said as he jumped into his jeans. “Now, I’m about as shy as a schoolgirl, wondering what you think of me!” He felt better once his jeans were zipped.

Jenny wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him close to her.

“I think you’re the most handsome man I’ve ever seen...with your clothes on...or off.”

He lifted her off her feet as he hugged her.

“I just can’t seem to get enough of you.”

“We have to go,” Jenny whispered, “before everyone is up and moving at camp.” As they slipped their shoes on and climbed up the hill, Jenny said, “Now tell me about this teepee you think we need to have here on the river. Where would you build it?”

****

The rest of the day passed in a wonderful haze of openly staring at Clint in the group room and mentally undressing him as she remembered the feel of his lips on hers. He looked toward her occasionally and caught her staring at him. His high cheekbones seemed to bronze with a blush, and her heart melted at his sudden vulnerability.

The camp was alive with excited anticipation of the powwow. During the break and lunch, Jenny watched as the staff prepared the area around the fire pit. Speakers were set up, tables were brought out from the dining hall, barbecues were set up, and more logs were brought for the fire.

To Jenny’s dismay, Clint advised them that group would conclude for the last time around two p.m. She had the distinct sense of running out of time, and she felt harried, short of breath. Clint conducted a short smudging ceremony to wish the participants well and brought the burning sage around the room to each person. When he reached Jenny, his hand seemed to shake slightly as he waved the smoke in her direction. She didn’t dare meet his eyes for fear of melting into an infatuated heap at his feet—or worse yet, clinging to his legs like some besotted schoolgirl—so she kept her head lowered and fanned the smoke about her person.

Kate, standing next to her as usual, followed suit, and Jenny was able to resume watching Clint as he moved on to the other attendees. Since everyone was watching the smudging, she did not feel conspicuous ogling him and admiring his...Indian-ness.

A particularly forlorn idea occurred to her. What if she never saw him perform a smudging ceremony again? What if she never saw Clint in this element again, as the quintessential modern Native American man, comfortable with the spiritual traditions of his culture and his forbearers and equally at ease with the customs of the culture of the society forced on his people?

His people... Jenny bit her lip. What about her? Could she ever, really, truly be close to him if she could still think of Clint and his fellow Yakama as “his people”?

She tried to force herself to look at him objectively...not as her lover, Clint, but as the Native American man he was...raised in a culture often more different than similar to hers, with traditions, customs, and ceremonies she could only witness but never really fully understand. She’d never grown up on a reservation, had no true understanding of the lifestyle inherent in living on a reservation. She had never known discrimination or stereotyping because of her ethnic background, nor alternatively had she ever attracted someone of the opposite sex because of her ethnicity.

She sighed. Why did everything have to be so complicated?

“Big sigh,” Kate whispered at her side.

“Yeah.” She sighed again as she watched Clint put the burning sage into a large shell at the front of the room and signal the end of the group.

“Let’s go have a girl talk,” Kate said as she guided Jenny toward the door. Jenny threw a look over her shoulder to see Clint speaking with several of the attendees. He was occupied, and she wasn’t quite sure when she would see him next. She followed Kate out of the building and to the community area, which continued to swarm with preparations for the powwow scheduled to begin in a few hours.

Kate sat down at a large picnic table under the awnings of boughs, and Jenny followed suit.

“Look! They’re hanging lights,” Jenny said as she watched several young Native American teenage boys hooking small white lights similar to Christmas lights on the boughs and beams of the picnic shelter. She’d never seen the boys before.

“They’re really going all out for this powwow.” Kate watched for a moment. “I had no idea this was such a big thing.”

“Me either.” Jenny shook her head. She watched as Lisa passed by and stopped to talk to the boys. Lisa had an unusually bright smile on her face, and laughed as she talked to the boys. She seemed to know them well...even though she was from another reservation.

“Have you ever noticed that everyone here seems to know everyone else, although they seem to be from different tribes?” Jenny asked. “Do you think they all really do know each other, or is it just some shared ethnic identity that allows them to greet each other with ease? Kind of like, ‘Hey, I’m Indian... You’re Indian... How’s it going?’ That sort of thing?”

Kate snorted a laugh. “I imagine it’s a pretty small world amongst Native Americans.” She followed Jenny’s eyes toward Lisa. “Lisa seems pretty happy. I think you made a match.”

Jenny returned Lisa’s wave as she spotted them. She moved off toward the dining hall, where Steve awaited her by the side of the building. Steve grinned broadly and waved toward them as well before he greeted Lisa. They turned to walk out of the camp...perhaps to the river?

“I hope I did,” she said as she watched them walk away, close together yet keeping their hands to themselves. “I hope everything works out for them,” she almost whispered.

“Why shouldn’t it?” Kate asked, turning her head to watch as the couple disappeared into the birch trees.

“Because they’re from different worlds,” Jenny said almost shrilly. “They seem smitten with each other, but will that be enough?”

“Why ever not?” Kate asked. She leaned forward to put a hand over Jenny’s fists as they were clenched together on the picnic table. “They’re going to be fine,” she said with a toss of her head in Lisa and Steve’s direction. “It’s you I’m worried about. What are your plans? I’ve been watching your face. You’re mooning over the guy one minute, and then you look like you want to cry the next minute.”

Jenny stiffened at first and then slumped.

“I don’t know,” she said with a shake of her head. “We really haven’t talked about our plans. We’re stalling, both of us.” She patted Kate’s hand gratefully with one hand and pulled away to rest her chin on her palms as she stared toward the trees. “We just met a few days ago. This all seems rather farfetched and impractical.” She tried to channel her inner adult.

Kate nodded. “I know,” she said. “And so romantic.” She beamed and batted her eyelashes.

Jenny blushed and laughed. “Yes, romantic, indeed.”

A group of Native American children ran by. Nearby car doors slammed.

“Lots of new people are showing up,” she said as she watched strangers begin to fill the picnic area, many of them families, and all of them Native American.

Jenny’s eye was caught by a tall, elderly tanned man with well-groomed short hair approaching from the direction of the parking lot. He appeared to be Native American and was the only male Indian she had seen in the camp without hair at least to his shoulders. There was something distinctly familiar about him, but Jenny was sure she’d never seen him before.

“Well, it’s beginning to fill up, and I think I’ll head over for a shower.”

Jenny took a final look at the man, who seemed to be searching for someone.

“I’ll go with you,” she said as she rose.

“Hey, where are you two off to?” Clint said from behind her. “I finally got away from the goodbyes.” He chuckled.

Jenny involuntarily jerked as Clint put a hand on her shoulder. He pulled his hand back quickly.

“Did I startle you?” he asked diffidently.

“Yes,” she nodded. “No, I mean...I just didn’t think...” She looked over at Kate.

“I’ll leave you two lovebirds alone,” Kate chuckled. “And don’t worry. I’m sure the whole camp knows by now anyway.”

Jenny sank back down to the picnic table, and Clint sat astride the bench to face her. He took one of her hands in his. Jenny resisted momentarily, but Clint did not give in.

“Did you jump because I startled you, or because you don’t want anyone to see me touching you?” he asked with a smile.

“Both,” Jenny admitted. “I’m afraid of what they will say.” She jerked her head in the general direction of the dining hall, but she meant to encompass the entire camp.

Clint ran his thumb along the back of her hand.

“They’ll talk, and they’ll get over it, just like any other small town. Or are you worried about more than that?”

Jenny looked down at his brown hand holding her freckled one, and nodded. She faced him with troubled eyes.

“I am worried about more than that.” She took a deep breath. “I’m worried they’ll wonder what you see in me. I’m worried they’ll wonder why you’re with me at all.”

Jenny knew Clint understood what she was saying, though he chose to ignore it.

He shrugged and tightened his grip on her hand.

“As long as we’re happy, I don’t care what other people think.”

To look at his confident face, she could almost believe him. Maybe he really didn’t.

“I do, Clint. I worry about what your community...your people will think of you.”

“My people?” he asked as he quirked an eyebrow.

“I think she means the Yakama, Clint,” a deep voice resonated above them.

Jenny’s eyes shot upward and encountered the dark, almond eyes of the stranger she’d seen earlier, the one who had seemed vaguely familiar.

“Dad,” Clint exclaimed as he stood up.

Chapter Twenty-Two

“Hey, what are you doing here?” Clint asked with a broad smile as he wrapped his arms around his father.

“I just came up for the powwow,” his father responded. He gave an answering squeeze and patted Clint on the back before letting go.

“Really?” Clint asked. “Why didn’t you say something before? I could have gone down to pick you up, or at least sent someone to get you.”

“I can still navigate these dusty old roads,” Clint’s father responded. “It wasn’t all that long ago we were riding up here on horseback.” He shook his head. “I can’t believe they still haven’t paved the roads all the way up here to camp.”

“Maybe they’re just keeping it natural, Dad.”

“How about just keeping it cheap,” his father snorted. He turned to Jenny. “Well, who’s this?”

Jenny made as if to rise, and Clint caught her hand to help her. Her expression was apprehensive. He could have wished for the familial introductions to have waited till later, when they were on surer footing with their relationship, but Dad was here now. He still wondered what brought him up to the powwow. He didn’t think his father had been to a powwow in years, not since his mother passed away.