Night Waler's Woman

Rex stood on the front porch, looking out over the dry and hot Texas Hill Country. It never ceased to amaze him how much life this semi-arid region could support. Its thin layer of topsoil meant that it had evolved plant life all its own to survive the mostly dry and sometimes flooding terrain.

He smiled as he looked across the yard at the Texas live oak that he had once climbed as a boy. How old was the damned thing? He knew that Grandfather before him had climbed it. And after today, he was beginning to hope that his little girl would someday soon climb it too.

His little girl? How could he think of her like that after such a short time? Only a few weeks seemed too quickly. The truth was that it had happened the moment he laid eyes upon her. Oh, he had listened to his friends talk about the moment they had first seen their children. The instant bond, the unconditional love.

But that was a biological thing, after months of pregnancy and anticipation. He had needed neither, just the sight of her soft brown skin, those big brown eyes, and that hair flying as wildly about her head as he hoped she would one day fly about the ranch.

He shook his head as he thought about the hours of arguing that he, Angel, and Grandfather had with Jaycee. The woman was stubborn. He chuckled, that word did not come close to covering it. No doubt, if she had been a Skinwalker, her skin would have been a mule.

"What is so funny, my son?" That voice of wisdom spoke from over his shoulder.

"Nʉ Sʉmʉ," was all he needed to say to his grandfather. He knew the man would understand instantly.

The old man echoed his chuckle, "I will not say that I envy you, my grandson. That one is..."

Rex laughed as he turned and accepted the steaming hot cup of coffee that his grandfather held in his weathered and gnarled fingers. He flashed back to that Sunday morning before he met her. It seemed a lifetime ago. His grandfather had been right, of course. He need not have been worried, Fate and the Great Ones had it all under control. He hoped they did know as well.

"What am I going to do, Grandfather?" he repeated the question.

"What you are meant to do - love and protect them," his grandfather's wise advice seemed so easy. It was anything but. If Jaycee had insisted once, she had done so dozens of times since that afternoon. Angel could not accept such a precious gift from them. He and Grandfather had both tried to explain, but how could they? Tell this woman of logic that the skin belonged to the child, or maybe the child belonged to it.

He was reminded of another mother, his own. She never did come to understand. To this day, his mother dismissed all her father's ways. She clung to the 'one truth' of her mother's family. Even more, she clung to the science and experiments she conducted in her labs every day. She could never accept that it was the spirit world which she denied and not the medicine that she forced on him for years that had finally brought him the peace he sought.

He chuckled again, not that he had much peace since she came into his life. If he could never convince his mother, what made him think he could convince his mate? Even now, she resisted. Refused to see that they belonged together. Resented the way that he knew her thoughts. Denied the very existence of the bond that provided his only hope for true peace from the beast within. The beast that threatened to consume him as it had that other man. The Chupacabra.

There was no other choice. He had to succeed this time. They had to, he thought, looking at his grandfather. It was not just his life that rode on this outcome. But his child's as well.

He remembered that first day, the violence that had threatened to pull her tiny body limb from limb. He had to make Jaycee see what she refused to admit. Her daughter had had only one of the seizures since they came here, one of the small ones the first day. He hoped that would count for something when the time came.

He feared it was coming soon. Too soon. He needed more time; he wanted to ease her into things, help her to come to accept the truth that she could not see.

His Grandfather put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed softly, "Like I told the child, there is time. Not much time granted. Perhaps even shorter for you, my son. But as with Angel, it will be enough."

His shoulders sloped as the reality of the battle ahead loomed larger than even the comfort of his grandfather's words. He hoped there was enough time. He hoped he could reach this woman as he never had his mother.

He hoped he was man enough to be what she needed. To protect and love the woman and child that he had been given. He hoped Grandfather was right one more time.

***

Jaycee watched them through the screen door. It was hard to believe that the two men were related at all. The older one with skin almost darker than her daughter's and long straight hair that even through the white, you could catch glimpses of the midnight black it must have once been.

She smiled as she thought about the picture that she had seen of the man. He had been an actor in Hollywood. The wedding photo of the darkly handsome young brave with the platinum blond starlet had been another shocker. The other face was instantly recognizable. She would have never guessed.

That photo and the one of the little girl with light caramel skin and straight light brown hair began to explain how Rex had come to be so fair. She had found no photographs of the woman and her son, none of Rex's father. But undoubtedly, he was as fair as Rex's grandmother had been.

Rex might not look like his Grandfather with his sandy blond short hair that curled just a bit at the tip if you looked closely there was grey blended in. Of course, his Native American heritage could account for some of the healthy copper tan.

Her breathe caught in her chest as she thought about seeing him without a shirt that first day as they had unloaded the horses in the late Spring heat of the Texas Hill Country. The tan extended into the waistband of his jeans that clung like a second skin to firm thighs and a tight ass. But it was the smooth muscled expanse of his chest that had cradled her head the night before that had tormented her dreams every night since. She sucked in a deep breath just at the thought of it.

"Damn it, woman," came the pained exclamation as the center of her thoughts turned to face her. She had forgotten that as weird as it was, he seemed able to read her mind. Or she would like to forget it anyway. Better yet, she would rather he did not.

"I'm sorry to disturb you," she apologized as she dropped her eyes to the wooden floor. She hoped they could not see the way her cheeks flamed red in the pale moonlight. "It is just that Angel wants Grandfather to read her a bedtime story."

Not me, she thought as she choked back tears. She knew that she should be grateful. Happy that her daughter, and she, had more good people like Hector and Lupe in their lives.

It seemed that there were so few of them in this world as she thought about all the people she had once thought her friends. Back when she was married to Sean, back before Angel got sick. It seemed another lifetime ago.

So, why was she jealous? Why did she resent them so much? She had been grateful for the help that Hector and Lupe offered. Even though she had always insisted that they let her pay them something for their trouble, she knew that they did not do it for the money but out of the goodness of their hearts, just like Rex and his Grandfather. So why the difference?

Because she had never really had to share her daughter with them, hell, she had never had to share her with anyone, not even her ex-husband, Angel's father. And that frightened her. What would she do if Angel came to need them more than her? She had given up her life, most of it anyway, to care for her daughter. What would she have then? What would she do?

Maybe it went deeper even than that. Angel was the only thing that was ever truly hers. The only person that she knew would love her as unconditionally as she loved her child. She choked back a silent sob as they opened the door.

The older man came through first. "Please join us. I would like you to hear this story too, my child."

Jaycee frowned as the man walked past her down the hall to the room that she shared with her daughter while they were here. She was not certain she was ready for anymore of the man's lessons today.

She had finally acceded to her child's demands to keep the old dress when she recognized that Angel was spiraling out of control, fast approaching one of her meltdowns.

She had not had one since they came here. Jaycee frowned; she had not had a seizure either. Not even in her sleep. After five years of vigilance, it was strange lying in bed next to a peacefully still child. She frowned as she tried to think of even one time since that first seizure when she was a baby that she had gone this long without a single one. She could not.

There had to be some explanation. Maybe as a couple of the doctors had suggested, Angel was outgrowing them? But most of the experts they had consulted had not been so hopeful. Not as severe and frequent as her seizures were, not as young as they started. What then?

She sighed and shook her head. She would have the whole night to think about it. It was better than more wet dreams about his bare chest and tight ass. Or worse yet about the hard ridge that she had felt in his jeans during their brief stolen moments on her ranch. Before all this.

She felt the hand on the small of her back like a red-hot poker. Her nipples hardened painfully. She felt the moisture as it ran into her panties. Damn, why did this man have this effect on her body every time?

He captured her hand in his and brought it to his soft lips. He kissed the palm as he stared into her eyes. He slowly lowered her hand then, but instead of releasing it. He brought it to the front of his jeans, "Because it is mutual, Nʉ Sʉmʉ. My body craves yours as much as yours desires mine."

He smiled down at her, "But Grandfather summoned us, and we should not keep them waiting."

Jaycee nodded mutely, glad for any excuse to escape the heat and need she felt building for this man.

This was the first time he had touched her since they had come here. She had even begun to think that he was having second thoughts. That seeing what her life was truly like day in and day out, he had decided that he was not that interested in her after all. She would not have blamed him.

He shook his head, "Never. That little girl is not a burden. And even if she were, she would be mine to bear right alongside you, Nʉ Sʉmʉ."

He bent and brushed a kiss atop her head, "I just knew you were mad at me. I wanted to give you time. But never think for a single second that I do not want you. Need you. I do. And I always will."

Jaycee nodded. She did not want to admit it, but his words came as a relief. She was glad to know that he still wanted her. She was half tempted to put her hand right back on the front of those jeans to prove to herself how much.

He chuckled, "Damn it, woman, your timing sucks." He growled, and for all the world, it sounded like a wolf. Like the old pelt, his grandfather had shown her daughter that afternoon, come to life. His hand at the small of her back urged her forward, "Later."

Was it a promise or a threat? Not that she cared one way or the other. Her body anyway. It was starved for his touch, his kisses, his caresses.

He pushed her through the door where the soft glow of the lamp seemed to embrace them all, young and old. His grandfather looked up as they came in. Was that smile just a bit too knowing?

***

"I am glad you could join us, my children. I was just about to begin without out. Tonight I promised our Angel that I would tell her a very important story, another lesson. About skinwalkers..."

He saw the frown on her face. He knew that all of this was hard for his grandson's mate. He understood better than he wanted to remember. He recalled just how difficult it had been for his Jane. He had not dared to tell her the truth of his ancient heritage and gifts. She had discovered them for herself, coming into the old barn one night to announce dinner just he took off his wolf. Even then, even having seen for herself, she struggled to believe.

He knew that their daughter did not believe the legends and never would. Perhaps he could have or should have shared the truth with Raine when she was younger, but they had had so much more to cope with. Her mother's death had left them both devastated.

While he was admired among his kind for fighting back the darkness that always descends with the loss of a mate, he had done it for their child, because he knew that it was what his Jane would want. Still, he wondered all too often if he had not failed there too, just as he had failed to keep his mate safe.

But that was all the past. This was the present. And the future. Not merely his future. Or even Rex's. But the miraculous little girl whom he had come to know and love as perhaps he never had any other. And ultimately, he believed as the legend foretold, this was the very future of this planet. A new breed of skinwalkers sent just as humanity and the Mother Earth needed them most.

The question was - could this woman embrace and support the gifts of those closest to her? Raine certainly had not done so for her son or father. Even his Jane had never fully dealt with his other. While she acknowledged its existence, the compromise was that other than that once, she never again saw his wolf. Maybe that would have changed over time; he always liked to think it would. But he would never know, less than two years later, and his Nʉ Sʉmʉ was gone, dead.

This was his second chance. Something that most people never got, and even fewer dared to take. But he would. For his grandson's sake. And this precious little gift. And even for her, Jaycee, herself. She had a role to play in this too. If she would?

"There are many stories about how the world was created, my little Angel. I am sure that you have heard of the god who made her in six days. And perhaps of this Big Bang and evolution as well."

The little girl nodded her head to each. Those intelligent and compassionate brown eyes bore into his soul as Angel hung on each word he spoke. "My peoples have two varieties of the creation story. Both believe in a Great Spirit; some call her mother. But unlike the Judo-Christian god or many other myths, the creator spirit is distant. Once creation is complete, the spirit leaves this world to others. The sun, the moon, the wind, and other 'lesser' gods."

"How did She make the earth, Grandfather?" Angel gripped the blanket tightly about her. Perhaps this was not the best bedtime story. It seemed to ignite that magnificent mind of hers.

"Ah, here is where the stories differ. In some peoples, the earth and life arise from the ancient seas. Creatures collect bits of mud to form the land; then, others crawl up on to it to live. The historians, sociologists, and anthropologists that attempt to piece together the fragments of our stories and beliefs that their white ancestors did not manage to destroy, call this the earth-diver myth. Is it not strange that hundreds and thousands of years ago our peoples held this belief scientists call evolution?"

Angel nodded her head, but Ray was more interested in the reaction of her mother. Jaycee leaned against the wall by the door. She stood stiffly, barely inside it. If not for his grandson's presence filling that doorway, he feared the woman would have left already. He sighed, knowing that it would not get any easier from here.

"But it is the second belief, the emergence myth, as the white 'experts' call it, that I want to tell you about tonight. In these stories, and there are many, many of them, among peoples as diverse as the Choctaw, the Blackfoot, and the Hopi, humans came from deep, deep, deep within the Earth."

Her little brows furrowed as she tried to comprehend how that was possible, "The Earth was made of many layers, deep caverns. Humans would climb from one deep cave up into the next. They would live there happily for a time; then something would force them to move on, a flood or lack of food. Some god or hero would come along to lead them up out of that place to a higher one."

He paused, looking once more towards the woman. So far, everything he had said was verifiable. Carefully couched as legends or myth recorded by the white man. Still, he noted the increasing tension in her face and stance. Rex had stepped closer into the room. His arm was lightly resting about his mate's waist.

"When humans lived in those deeper caves, they were more animal than man, but with each cave, they climbed higher towards the surface, they lost some of their animal characteristics. Until when they finally reached this world, the surface, they walked upright, were fully human."

"Isn't that like evolution, too, Grandfather?"

He smiled; her mind never ceased to amaze him. This child was gifted in so many ways, destined to be a great leader of their people, of all people. If they could help her learn to focus, to control those gifts so that they did not tear her frail body apart. Over the past couple of weeks, he had come to hope that was possible.

But he knew that the situation was precarious. Without the full understanding and support of her mother, well, his grandson's self-doubts illustrated where that path led. And this child's path was so much more vital and dangerous than his or Rex's had been. No, they, he and Rex, must somehow bring Jaycee around, help her to embrace the reality of their truth.

He inhaled deeply and nodded, "Yes, Angel, it is. Except that our people believe that animal lives inside of us." She frowned again as if trying to grapple with some hard truth. He paused the story, giving the child time to do so.

He was much more worried about her mother. Jaycee was shifting nervously from foot to foot. Her shoulders were squared. She had even pulled away from Rex's gentle embrace. The frown on her face marred the woman's natural beauty. Ray knew that she wanted to argue with him, wanted to remind them this was just a legend, nothing more. But the others in the room knew otherwise.

He resumed the tale, more slowly this time. "For some of our peoples, this animal is a spirit guide. Young men go on vision quests before they become men, warriors. They go alone into the desert or wild. They pray and meditate, seeking their spirit guides. Their animal side. In some traditions, especially the Pacific Northwest, this is called their totem and is immortalized in cravings."

Angel giggled, "You're a wolf, aren't you, Grandfather?"

He nodded and smiled, "Whatever made you guess that?"

"I can see it. I see your wolf standing behind you."

It was Ray who was shocked. This was unheard of. "And Rex? What is he?" he tested.

"He's a pony. Much prettier than mine. So many colors, but his mane and tail are pure white." The little girl turned towards his grandson and her mother, "Mommy is a bear." Angel frowned, "But she's different. Her bear does not stand as close. And she's turned away. Like she doesn't like Mommy. Why is that?"

Ray knew that he had to take back control of this conversation. As much as he wanted to follow the trail of this brilliance, now was not the time. This night, this story had always been more about his grandson's mate than her daughter. And he felt the confusion and anger growing in Jaycee. He had only moments to smooth the way for Rex if that. He and Angel would have days, weeks, months, and years to explore her talents. Or he hoped they would.

But not if they could not win this mother bear over. It made perfect sense, though he might have guessed the turtle with its self-reliance, tenacity, and slow progress. No, a mother bear with her strength, courage, and leadership fit this woman much better. But bears were known for their solitary natures as well. And it was up to him and Rex to draw her bear into their protective circle. At that moment, the task seemed insurmountable.