“Give me a call when you know.” Dan took off.
Winona turned to Jason. “Want to assist me in putting a splint on this little girl?”
“You bet.”
* * *
“Today was a good day.”The smile on Winona’s face put a hitch in Jason’s chest, the last rays of the sun giving her skin a bronze glow. “We saved a bear cub. I got to snuggle Shota and see Naomi.”
Jason took her hand, shared his highlight. “I got an appointment for Monday with the security company. We had lunch with your brother and his family, and Chaska didn’t punch me.”
That made Winona laugh. “He’s a good guy—I promise.”
“I believe you.”
They’d grabbed a pizza from Knockers, and Winona had given him directions to a place above Scarlet Springs that she called Caribou where they could eat and watch the sunset. Now, they sat on the back of his truck, tailgate down, the pizza devoured, the sun dipping behind the high peaks.
“Isn’t it beautiful up here?”
He could barely take his gaze off her. “Yeah. Incredible.”
Itwasbeautiful and peaceful, the air crisp and fresh, the scent of pine on the wind. He couldn’t even hear traffic from here or see a single power line or a house or a road. She’d told him there was an old silver mine a little farther on and that Joe and Rain had their home somewhere up here, but, apart from the road, he couldn’t see any sign that people had ever lived or labored up here.
“Why did Naomi ask you about baskets?” She’d been changing Shota’s diaper and had missed most of the conversation.
“O’odham women are known for weaving beautiful baskets. She wondered if I knew any artists who might want to sell baskets through her store. I told her I’d ask around.”
“Your grandmother made them, right?”
“She did. She was a master.”Jason pulled out his phone, scrolled through his photos. “These are hers.”
Winona leaned closer. “Oh, Jason. They’re beautiful! Your grandmother had talent. That one looks just like your tattoo.”
Jason scrolled until he came to a photo of his grandmother. “My grandmother had a hard life. Her father married her off when she was fourteen, but her first husband died falling off a horse soon after. To be honest, I think she was relieved. Then she met and married my grandfather. She gave birth to eight children at home, no medical help, no pain relief. They all died before she did.”
“That must have been so hard.”
“Grief took its toll on her, but she always had a smile for me.”
“Grief took a toll on you, too, losing your parents so young.”
That was the truth.
“She and my grandfather lived by the old ways—farming, hunting, harvesting food from the desert. She made baskets, and he hunted. After my parents were killed, I was consumed by rage. I lost myself for a while. But they took me in, taught me traditional O’odham skills, taught me our history, our stories. They saved me, stopped me from becoming a statistic.”
“They must have loved you very much.”
Jason slipped his phone back into his pocket. “My grandfather passed first. My grandmother lasted for almost two years without him. As she lay dying, she made me promise not to abandon my O’odham people. I knew that she wanted me to keep our family name and our culture alive by passing on everything they’d taught me. My sisters took off, so I’m the last one in our line still living in Sells.”
“That’s why you won’t leave the reservation.”
“Yeah.” The word was bitter in Jason’s mouth.
He had made that promise to his grandmother at a time when he couldn’t imagine wanting to do otherwise, when he and Elena were together and it had seemed like the path for the rest of his life was laid at his feet. He would never have imagined that the promise might one day come at a cost. But now…
Another twist in the road, another unexpected turn.
For a time, they sat there, neither of them speaking, the mood changed.