Native Born (16 page)

So he had been in court that day.

“My daughter goes free. You promised.”

“She is free.”

“You expect her to walk back to Tucson?”

“You think I don't know they're out there? I ain't that stupid.”

If that were true he wouldn't be dressed in a combination of body armor and hockey gear driving a mail truck, she thought.

“Fine. Let's go.”

He stopped the truck as if he knew where the sharpshooter might be and managed to get into the chopper without making himself a target.

Cassidy took her seat and started flipping switches. “So what happens when we reach Mexico?”

Parker gave her a chilling look. “You stop breathing and I meet my brother.”

“Not much incentive for me.”

“Or,” said Parker, “I run your daughter down with the mail truck and shoot you here and now.”

Cassidy started the engine and the damned prop rotated. She considered tipping the bird and dropping Parker to the ground, but he clipped himself in tight before she was off the ground. And then it came to her and she knew exactly what she would do.

Chapter Twenty-One

“Come on, Cassidy,” Clyne whispered. “Give me the shot.” The cheek piece touched his face like an old friend. He had the sights adjusted and the target, well that was the trouble. Damn little weasel wouldn't pop his head out of the burrow. Clyne cursed under his breath.

Jovanna huddled behind the glider and Cassidy was in the chopper preparing to lift off. But he could tell by the slight inclining of her head that she'd heard him. He waited, knowing this was a shot he could not miss.

The chopper lifted a foot off the ground. She swung it around, hovering so that the large clear plastic windshield gave him a perfect view of them seated side by side. He aimed and squeezed the trigger.

Parker jerked in his restraints and sagged. What was left of his head sagged forward. Cassidy set down the chopper and slipped to the ground, running bent over and low to keep clear of the whirling blades. She ran to her daughter, shouting her name.

“Jovanna! Jovanna!”

They met and clasped each other, sinking to their knees in the dust and he wondered how he had ever thought to pull them apart.

Gabe had been right and he had been a fool. But one of the good things about mistakes was that you could often make amends. Above him one of the FBI choppers roared across the clear blue sky toward Cassidy and Jovanna.

Clyne stood and dusted the sand from his shirt. Then he disassembled his scope and tripod from the rifle and stowed them neatly away. For the last time, he hoped.

Number thirty-seven, he thought. But somehow he knew that this kill would not haunt his dreams.

Clyne started walking toward Cassidy. He had an important question for her and for Jovanna.

* * *

C
ASSIDY
SAW
C
LYNE
walking along with his rifle case looking like a soldier coming home. She left Jovanna with Luke and ran the last thirty feet that separated them, throwing her arms wide and leaping at him. He dropped his case and caught her easily, whirling her around and round until settling her against him in a bear hug of an embrace. Kisses followed, raining down on her eyelids and cheek and finally finding her mouth.

She drew back, her hands still locked behind his neck and his clamped behind her lower back. She didn't care that every single member of her field office was there or that her daughter was seeing her kissing her brother. None of that mattered. Just this and her daughter's safety. It was more than enough.

“You did it!” she said.

“Thanks for giving me a target.”

“We make a good team.”

He nodded. “But I think you are blowing your transfer.” He inclined his head toward her boss, who regarded her with hands on hips.

“I'm not accepting a transfer,” she said.

“No?”

“Nope,” she said and kissed him again.

Clyne drew back as Jovanna made a tentative approach. Clyne scooped her up in his arms, making her squeal with delight. Then he settled her on his hip and touched his head to hers, speaking in Apache.

“What did you say?” she asked.

“I said that you need to learn Apache!”

Jovanna's brow furrowed.

“And I thanked the one above for your return.”

She grinned. “So...you and my mom.”

“Yeah. What do you think?” he asked.

Cassidy held her breath and her daughter's gaze went from Clyne to her and then back to her eldest brother.

“I'm good with it.”

Cassidy blew out a breath and her shoulders sagged a bit. Clyne set Jovanna down. But she kept a hold of him and reached for her mother. The three embraced and Cassidy began to cry.

“It's okay now, Mom.”

It was and that was precisely why she was weeping.

The Bureau took them by helicopter back to Black Mountain, where they were greeted by Glendora, Clay, Izzie and Kino's wife, Lea. Gabe and Kino were driving back and would be arriving soon. Johnny Parker had been retrieved and had already been returned to federal custody to await trial.

“Catalina's for lunch,” said Clay after his grandmother had finished fussing and weeping over the return of her granddaughter.

Cassidy set off with them, walking the short distance from tribal headquarters to Catalina's restaurant but slowed to take another call. She listened, finger in opposite ear, nodding and then said a quick thank-you. She tucked away the phone.

“That was Luke. He heard from Red Hawk, the police chief on Salt River. The council met last night and voted to turn Hare over to federal custody.”

Clyne absorbed that news. She knew it was a difficult thing for a tribe to release one of their own.

“We will have a much better chance of getting his cooperation now,” she offered.

“We? So you're staying?” he asked.

“It's my case.”

He smiled.

“Yes. I know,” said Clyne.

Cassidy glanced toward his family, who were just disappearing into the restaurant. Clyne did not move except to shove both hands in his coat pockets and sway from side to side.

Cassidy eyed him suspiciously. “What's wrong?”

“Why does something have to be wrong?”

“Because I know you and you're nervous.” She pointed at his sweating upper lip.

He wiped it with his sleeve and tried for a calming breath. “I went to see someone, as you recommended.”

“A therapist?”

He nodded. “And he is also a medicine man. I'm going to go twice a week and try to work out my issues.”

“That's great. I'm proud of you.”

“You were the one who made me realize I had issues. Maybe in time the nightmares will go away.”

“Mine have.” She made a face. “Mostly.”

“You said down there that you aren't taking the transfer. What did you mean?”

“Just that. Jovanna is happy here, so I'm staying.”

“Even after she makes her choice?”

“I don't think she should have to choose.”

He felt the knot in his stomach ease. “Neither do I.”

“That's a switch,” she said, her smile bright as sunlight on Black Mountain.

“I've made a lot of switches lately. I want you here with us. Not just for weekends or when Jovanna has a nightmare.”

She cocked her head and her smile faded. He was making an ass of himself. Babbling. He was usually so composed, but Cassidy just stripped him bare.

“What do you have in mind? Joint custody?”

“Not exactly. I want to marry you, Cassidy.”

He'd succeeded in shocking her judging by the way her mouth dropped open as if it was on a hinge. She snapped it shut and her pale brows lifted on her forehead.

“I'm not an Apache woman.”

He chuckled. “Yes. I noticed.”

“But what about your position on the tribal council and in the community?”

“Cassidy, my heart has to come before my position and my ambitions. And you are my heart.”

“Your what? Clyne, I don't understand.” She glanced in the direction his family had gone. “What about your brothers? Your tribe? What will they think?”

“Cassidy, I still care about their opinions, but they come second now to my own. I know what I want. The only question left is what do you want?”

She still resisted, drawing away. His heart squeezed in his chest as the seconds slowed to a stop.

Finally she spoke. “Are you doing this for Jovanna? So she won't lose me?”

“Yes.”

Cassidy's face fell.

“And no. I realize it will be best for Jovanna. I know I can be both brother and father to her. Long ago, when my mother left my dad, I supported this family. I can do that again. But I asked for you to marry me because I love you.”

Tears rose, filling her lower lids and making her blue eyes seem to swim.

He released her hand and then unclasped the medicine bundle from his neck. It took only a moment to fish the ring from the mix of sacred objects he carried with him. His mother's ring, already purified and blessed by the smoke of sage and cedar. He had polished the white gold band and cleaned the central diamond flanked by two additional smaller stones. Then he took a page from the white culture and dropped to his knees right there behind tribal headquarters.

“Cassidy, will you be my wife?”

She reached for the ring he offered.

“It was my mother's. I always planned to give it to my wife, but you can choose another if you like.”

She hesitated and then offered her left hand. He slipped the ring over her left index finger. She righted it with her thumb and then extended her finger for him to admire. He kissed the back of her hand.

“You're blowing my cover,” she whispered.

“Is that a yes?” he said.

“Yes.”

Cassidy lunged as he rose and they held each other as their mouths joined for a kiss filled with possession and promise.

She now held the heart of the man that made her want to put down roots. Instead of saving the world, Cassidy now wanted only to save this small corner of it. She could help him protect this family, his people and this place. His family would become her family, the one she had always longed for. Another blessing. A place, a purpose, a home, a family and a husband.

He stroked her cheek, smiling down at her.

“You make me want to sing.”

“And play the flute?” she asked.

He laughed. “Yes. I will play it for you.”

“I'm so lucky to have found you,” she said, resting her cheek on his chest. “All of you.”

“Do you still want to go to Washington?” he asked. “Because I would go with you if it makes you happy.”

“You would do that?”

“If it is what you want.”

“Maybe when Jovanna is a little older, for high school. We could go for a few years, then come back.”

“I could see about a job in DC. I have some contacts there.”

She raised her eyebrows. “Really?”

He shrugged. “Sure. Lobbyist, activists, even BIA has Native Americans on salary.”

“I didn't know that.”

He smiled.

“Well, right now I think Jovanna needs her family and community the most. She needs Black Mountain.”

“Bear born of Eagle,” said Clyne.

She glanced toward the restaurant.

“Look.” She pointed.

There was her daughter in the center of the picture window, standing between her grandmother and brother Clay. Beside them, his brother's wives crowded close. All of them were looking at them and cheering. She met the gaze of Selena Dosela, who stood beside Glendora. Her daughter's mentor, she realized and smiled.

Clyne tucked her close to his side and stood tall. “You ever been to an Apache wedding?” he asked.

“Ours will be my first,” she said.

He laughed and set them in motion toward their family.

Epilogue

Four months later

Cassidy stood beside her husband in the circle of onlookers as her daughter prepared for the third most important day of the four-day ceremony. Jovanna had successfully completed ceremonies and rites with her mentor and the medicine man. On Thursday the men had made the wikiup for Jovanna where she received instruction. That night there was dancing and songs. The next day Jovanna was ritually molded by Selena into a new woman and then she danced for over six hours. She had danced and sang thirty-two songs. Once the ceremonies began, her daughter could not touch water and so was fed through a reed by her mentor. Saturday morning, Jovanna greeted the sun, still dancing with both Selena and Clay's wife, Izzie, at her side. Lea, now a new mother with a three-month-old baby, had joined them on and off but had been there at sunrise.

Then, after only a few hours rest, Jovanna was preparing to dance for the last time. Glendora had made her ready for the blessing. Soon she would transform to Changing Woman to bring good health and fortune to the people assembled.

Earlier Cassidy had stood in the juniper wikiup with her new husband, Clyne, and their immediate family as the medicine man presented her daughter with the crooked oak cane that would give her strength for the rigorous dancing to come. Bright ribbons fluttered in blue, yellow, black and white from the wooden staff. Clyne had told her that these colors represented the four directions.

Jovanna still wore the colorful camp dress of the first and second day when she had carried the food she had prepared to the sweat lodge where the medicine man and her brothers prepared the sacred objects for this rite.

Cassidy's husband, Clyne, stood beside her, whispering words to explain the Apache prayers. She was beside herself with curiosity to hear the name the medicine man would give her daughter. But that would come tonight after the songs were sung.

Her sisters-in-law had shared their Apache names. Gabe's fiancé, Selena, was Sunflower Woman. Clay's wife, Isabella, was Medicine Root Woman. Kino's wife, Lea, was Morning Star Woman.

This evening Jovanna's dance would be the most sacred as she and the five Crown Dancers joined to transform her into the physical embodiment of Changing Woman.

The medicine man left them and Cassidy went with the women to help Jovanna dress for her final dance. They returned to the wikiup where Selena stripped Jovanna out of her camp dress. Now her grandmother slipped the elaborately decorated white leather buckskin over her granddaughter's head. The fringe, representing the rays of the sun, fluttered as the top piece settled into place. An eagle feather was tied to her hair by Selena, Jovanna's mentor. Next Glendora tied the symbol of Changing Woman to a lock of Jovanna's hair so that the tear-shaped abalone shell sat centered on her forehead.

Her daughter was transformed before her eyes, standing proud and straight as prayers were spoken and instructions given.

Jovanna moved to stand in the opening of the wikiup. The medicine man sprinkled yellow bee pollen over Jovanna's dark head, the fine powder trickling down as bright as sunlight on dark water. He smudged more pollen on her cheeks.

Then they move from the domed hut of juniper and out to greet the guests, who cheered. Selena and Glendora remained in place. This was a dance that Jovanna would perform with only the Ga'an, the crown dancers.

The drums began and Jovanna bounced, bending both knees in time to each beat matching the drummers' pounding rhythm with a strike of her sacred cane. Her brothers disappeared, going, Cassidy knew, to change into the Ga'an, the mountain spirits who would paint Jovanna's skin white and make her Changing Woman.

The drum sounded. Jovanna bobbed, dipping over seven hundred times by Cassidy's count for just one dance. Where did she find the strength?

The jangling of thousands of sleigh bells announced the appearance of the Crown Dancers. Cassidy turned to see them approach. Each of the four Cosen brothers now wore a black hood that completely covered their heads. They also wore moccasins and leather aprons. Strands of bells circled their calves and waists. Their torsos were now painted entirely in white, a mixture of corn flour and clay that Jovanna had ground with her own hands for this purpose. In addition there were symbols painted on their chests and backs by the medicine man. Each man carried a white wooden sword and Cassidy noted that each was different, as were their wooden crowns. The fifth dancer looked similar to the others but for the white mask and the different headdress. Also his body had been painted black. This was Luke, she knew, who was for this dance the Sacred Clown.

The crowns of the dancers did not resemble what she thought of as a crown except that they fit on their heads. They rose high and were constructed of painted wooden frames. She thought they looked like wooden fencing and were shaped like an open fan. She recognized something that resembled a moon on the top of one and something similar to a snowflake on another. One was a medicine wheel, or was it a hoop? She wasn't certain.

Jovanna greeted their arrival by joining them as they circled. The dance went on and on, with all the players moving in coordination to the chanted prayer and the beating drum.

She knew they were spirits now, but she recognized the men beneath. Gabe was the most heavily muscled and his chest held the pattern of a wolf print, which she found appropriate for a police chief. Kino, the slimmest, had a symbol of what looked like two snakes on his chest. Clay, the tallest, had a series of large black spots on his chest. Cassidy finally stared at Clyne. Tall and handsome, his crown bobbed as he lifted his wooden sword. The others followed. What was the triangle on his chest symbolizing? It puzzled her and then she knew because of its flat top. Not a triangle. Black Mountain, the place closest to his heart, the land he had returned to in order to be at peace.

The men now surrounded Jovanna. The bowl of paste made from clay and cornmeal was given to Jovanna and she held it in two open hands. Clyne used a grass brush to paint his sister white. Down over her face. Across the beautiful leather dress, into her long loose hair went the paint, covering the dusting of bee pollen that had been sprinkled on her head and smudged on her cheeks, until even Cassidy had to admit, she could not recognize her child. She had transformed into a strange mysterious female—Changing Woman. White Painted Woman. White Shell Woman. Mother to all the Apache People. A sacred goddess.

Cassidy had a chill as she watched her move about the ring of spectators who stood in reverence at her passing.

Jovanna would not touch her face and no one would touch her now as the group made their way about the circle. Clyne used the brush of reeds to fling white paint from the bowl held by Changing Woman onto the assemblage. The Apache believed that her daughter now had the power to heal, bring rain and cure illness. Many in the crowd opened their hands to receive the blessings of Changing Woman as she passed.

Her daughter, who had come to her as a small girl, had at this moment become a woman.

Cassidy found herself bobbing in time, supporting her daughter as did they all. Encouraging her to have strength to endure the rigors of life.

Jovanna was surrounded by a circle of her family, clans and tribe. Only her grandmother, Diane, was absent, having decided to move back east to her family after Cassidy and Clyne's May wedding on Black Mountain.

Jovanna moved in time with the beat as she danced about the inner circle giving her blessing to the gathering and received their blessings in return for fertility, happiness, health and long life.

After the dancers had circled they danced again. But none would touch Changing Woman until all the sacred songs and dances were done. She did not know where her daughter found the strength. Perhaps from the mountain itself. But she went on and on as the sun set.

As her daughter passed again, the white paint flew from the bundled grass brush. Flecks of white splattered on Cassidy, Glendora and the wiggling baby Tao, who gurgled in his great-grandmother's arms, the blessings falling upon them like rain.

A runner entered the ring, lighting the central bond fire.

The Crown Dancers, bobbed, their bells jangling, now dark silhouettes against the fire's light. As they chanted and spun, the orange flames illuminated their painted bodies until Cassidy thought they did seem more spirit than man.

Suddenly and with no warning Cassidy could recognize the drums ceased. Silence echoed.

It was done. The Ga'an spirits disappeared from the ring, returning to the mountain.

The medicine man spoke, giving blessings to all who supported this woman as she danced for them. At last he gave Jovanna her name. First he said the names of her family and Cassidy heard her name uttered with the Cosens'.

As he spoke Glendora translated.

“He says, she is Bear from her father and Eagle from her mother. He says, this woman has returned to the place of her birth after vanishing like the moon above.”

Glendora listened and smiled, nodding her approval of the name.

“Your daughter has earned the name Mountain Moon Woman because she is strong as the mountain and, like the moon who disappears, she always comes back.”

Clyne appeared beside her, slipping his arm about his wife's waist.

“That was wonderful,” Cassidy said.

Jovanna came toward them. Cassidy clasped her hands before her to keep from reaching out.

“It's okay,” said Glendora. “It's over. You can touch her now.”

Cassidy drew her arms around her daughter, who sagged in weariness against her. Clyne's arms encircled them both.

“Welcome home, Mountain Moon Woman,” said Cassidy and kissed Jovanna's painted forehead. Then she released her daughter so she could accept congratulations from others.

Clyne dropped a kiss on Cassidy's lips. He tasted of chalk and smelled of sweat and leather. She wondered if now would be a good time to tell him that he was soon going to become a father to not just Jovanna, but the new life kicking inside her.

“I think some of that bee pollen got on me,” she said.

He smiled and nodded. She swept her hand down over the slight swelling of her stomach.

Clyne's eyes went wide as understanding dawned and he gave a cry of pure joy and elation as he swept her up in his arms.

He set her down before her and spoke in Apache.

“What did you say?” she asked.

“I said that I love you, Cassidy Walker Cosen, now and forever.”

* * * * *

Keep reading for an excerpt from
WARRIOR SON
by Rita Herron.

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