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Chapter Fourteen

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The Elwood family and their newest addition sat at the kitchen table waiting for dinner when Shandra walked through the door with Ryan.

She and Ryan had agreed on the way to the house not to mention questioning Wendy. Shandra avoided her aunt’s questions about Pim by saying, “What is the big party happening tomorrow?”

Jo put her hands up as if surrendering. “I had nothing to do with it. Your Aunt Velma thought you two needed to see a proper drum ceremony. She invited everyone in the family, and the seven drums community, here tomorrow evening for a traditional fish dinner and thank you dance.”

“We’re cutting wood for the fire in the morning.” Andy motioned to his father. “You’re welcome to help,” he added, smiling at Ryan.

“I wouldn’t mind helping out,” Ryan glanced at Shandra. “What will Shandra learn to do?”

“Prepare the food,” Andy said.

“And practice her dancing in the evening,” Aunt Jo added.

“This sounds like fun. A hands-on look at my heritage.” Shandra was happy Velma had come up with the idea. It would also mean Wendy and Tripp would be here. She had more questions for them. “How many people do you think will attend?”

Uncle Martin glanced at his wife. “A hundred or more. Some come to get free food, others come out of curiosity. And the family is not small.”

Shandra stared at Ryan. A hundred or more people at the ranch. She had hoped it would be more like fifty. “That’s a lot of people! Will we have enough food?”

Aunt Jo patted her arm. “Velma will have gathered donations from family. There will be enough. She has been planning this ever since I told her you were coming.”

Shaking her head, Shandra said, “That woman can keep a secret like one hundred people coming to a dinner and ceremony but can’t keep secrets that could do her harm?”

Aunt Jo’s laugh turned serious. “What has she been saying now?”

“Nothing. I meant the times she and I have questioned people. She doesn’t give anyone any slack.” Shandra glanced at Ryan. Except her daughter. There were things Pim had said that Shandra wanted clarified, but she didn’t feel Aunt Jo was the one to answer her questions.

The timer went off.

“Dinner is ready.” Aunt Jo popped out of her chair and headed to the oven.

Andy moved to the refrigerator and placed a plate of carrots and celery on the table and poured milk for himself and Fawn.

When dinner and the dishes were done, she would corner her cousin. He would be the one most likely to tell her the truth. And she still needed to read the letter from Grandmother.

~*~

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Ryan sat in one of the chairs circled around an outdoor firepit in the Elwood’s backyard. It hadn’t occurred to him when he set out to make sure Shandra stayed out of the murder investigation that he would end up just as deep in it. There were so many unanswered questions.

From the banging of dishes and the murmur of voices as Shandra and Jo did the dishes, he knew it would be a while longer before Shandra joined him.

Andy arrived with an armload of wood. “Want me to start a fire?”

“Don’t start it on my account, I’m content to listen to the birds and insects.” Ryan raised his glass of iced tea to the darkening sky.

“You want a beer?” the young man asked.

“No, I’m good.” Ryan studied Andy. Shandra thought a lot of her cousins. From what he’d witnessed so far, she had good reason to be proud of them. “Will there be drinking tomorrow night?”

Andy dropped into a chair across from him. “Only if people bring it. We don’t offer it to anyone when there is a celebration here. They get crazy and everyone thinks they are a cowboy, jumping on the horses or going in the pastures and whooping and chasing them.” He shook his head, scowling.

“I can see where that would be a problem.” He wasn’t sure how to phrase his next question. “I know this will be a ceremony more to show Shandra and I what one is like, but do some people come to use it as a place to hook-up?”

Andy’s face reddened. “There are some that do. They are also the ones who usually bring the booze.”

The next question would be even touchier. “Does Tripp drink?”

“Tripp? Not if he’s drumming. And you better believe Aunt Velma will have him drumming to keep him away from Wendy.”

Ryan grinned. “I’ve been trying to decide if Velma likes Tripp dating Wendy, or not.”

“She doesn’t.” Andy kicked at the rock fire pit. “If she had her way, she’d lock Wendy in the barn and not allow her out until Aunt Velma picked her the perfect husband.”

“Why does she allow Wendy to date Tripp?” Ryan would have thought the Velma so many feared would have chased Tripp away by now.

“Because Tripp has become interested in tradition. He’s learned to play drums, become a Seven Drums follower, and shows Wendy respect.” Andy shrugged. “Tripp has dated a lot of girls, but he does act different around Wendy.”

“I learned today he was dating Pim Solomon and Nelly took him away from her. You know anything about that?” Ryan finished off his tea and set the glass on the ground beside his chair.

Andy shook his head. “Coop and Sandy would know more about that because Tripp is their age. They’d know more about Tripp’s love life. I just know rumors, no facts.” He kicked at the rock again with the toe of his cowboy boot. “They’ll be here tomorrow night. Velma made them promise.”

“Coop and Sandy?” He hadn’t seen the two since Shandra and he proved Coop didn’t kill Arthur Randal. The name echoed in his head.

“Pim said one of the boys Nelly slept with to start him buying from Duke was Arthur Randal. Does that sound right?”

Andy shrugged. “We know Arthur was selling, but Nelly hated Arthur for banging her around. I can’t see her sleeping with him, unless that’s when it happened.”

Shandra and Martin wandered out to the fire pit.

Ryan pulled a chair closer to his and Shandra sat down.

Martin took the chair next to Andy. “What are you two talking about so intently?”

The younger man shot Ryan a “this is between us” look.

“I was asking Andy what to expect tomorrow night.” Ryan put a hand palm up on the arm of Shandra’s chair. She pressed her palm against his and he wrapped his fingers around her hand.

Martin started explaining the events.

Andy excused himself and Shandra tried to release Ryan’s hand.

He squeezed.

She peered into his eyes.

He shook his head slightly. She would ask Andy the same questions he had already asked.

Martin continued until the mosquitos became unbearable. “You’ll see tomorrow what all it takes to prepare for a traditional feast.”

“We’ll see you then,” Ryan helped Shandra to her feet and they walked back to the house hand in hand.

“You talked to Andy?” she asked.

“Yes.” He relayed what he’d learned from her cousin. “He says Coop and Sandy will be here tomorrow night and they would be the best people to ask about Tripp, Pim, and Nelly. They are closer in age and would have been in school with them.”

“Good idea.” Shandra led him upstairs to the room they shared.

She pulled the letter from her grandmother out of her purse and tapped it against the palm of her other hand.

“Read it. I bet it’s nothing more than telling you she knew you’d come back,” Ryan kissed her cheek and grabbed his pajamas and shave kit. He’d take a shower while she read the letter.

Shandra watched Ryan walk out of the room. She didn’t know why she was reluctant to read the letter. “Maybe because of the guilt I feel for not getting to know her before she died.”

She picked up Ryan’s pocket knife that was sitting on the bedside table with his phone and wallet, and sliced the envelope open.

Granddaughter,

When you were born and I held you, I could tell you would grow up to be beautiful and strong. You had to be strong. Your mother took you from us and you had to deal with life alone.

If you are reading this letter, you are no longer alone. You have come back to your family. Use that same strength to find peace with the past and embrace the gifts the Creator bestowed upon you.

My only regret is not fighting harder to keep you in our arms. But you are back, and I rest well.

I will see you in your dreams,

Ella

Happy tears spilled down her cheeks. Grandmother had known she’d find her way home.

~*~

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Shandra stared out the kitchen window. Men, women, and children wore their best shirts and dresses adorned with ribbons. “Everyone looks so festive in their ribbon shirts and dresses.” She’d noted both Aunt Jo and Velma had worn a ribbon dress. Velma’s was covered with a thick cloth apron at the moment.

Velma grabbed at the wooden ten-inch-long skewers Shandra held in her hands. “It’s a celebration, of course everyone would wear their ribbon clothing. Right now, it’s our job to get this salmon ready to cook.”

Shifting her attention back to the job, she watched as her aunt skillfully ran a four-foot-long one-and-a-half-inch in diameter stick up the full length of a salmon fillet from the head end to within four inches of the tail end.

“You have to keep this in the widest part of the meat along the spine and not stick it through the skin.” Velma had told her the sticks were made of ironwood and had been passed down through her family to be used for cooking salmon.

“Where did all these salmon come from?” Shandra asked. She’d been in awe when a young man had arrived early this morning with two large coolers in the back of his pickup. All the salmon he’d arrived with were now filleted and waiting to be skewered on the ironwood sticks.

“I asked the men of the family to catch them for this celebration.” Velma held the first fillet she’d worked the stick into. “This is what you will do. Watch carefully. When I get a stick in one like this. You are going to use these small pieces in your hand, like this, to keep the fish on the stick.” Her aunt pushed the smaller sticks through the fillet from side to side, further attaching the fish to the larger stick. “Then stack them in that cooler. The boys will come get them when the fire is ready.”

As the two of them worked on the salmon, women came and went in the kitchen, putting foods they brought together or gathering items that would be needed for the feast.

It took Shandra half a dozen fish before she finally inserted the skewers without the fillet looking like a porcupine on a bad hair day. When she didn’t have to concentrate as hard, she decided to question her aunt.

“Wendy and Tripp make a nice couple,” she said, by way of starting the conversation.

Velma stopped shoving the stick in the fillet and stared at her for several seconds, then went back to work. “Wendy could find better. I’m hoping while she’s teaching in Spokane she will find a nice man.”

“She could find one there who will take her away from the reservation and her traditions,” Shandra hedged.

Velma slapped a fillet on the large wooden board she’d brought with her. “She would never fall for a man who does not believe in our traditions.”

“Sometimes love is blind. You get sucked into the thought someone could love you for who you are and then realize too late they are changing you.” She didn’t like to talk about herself, but she was the poster child for starting her romantic life off in a bad relationship.

“She’s too strong for that to happen.” Velma shoved a stick into the fillet with more force.

“Do you think I’m strong?” She hadn’t told her aunt what had happened to her but from past conversations, Velma knew. Her sight had told her when Shandra had been at her worst.

“You are, and you got out.” Velma didn’t look at her, but her motions were less violent.

“I was lucky someone helped me find my strength. Tripp seems to love Wendy and doesn’t have a problem with her teaching the traditions at the college. How could you not like their relationship?” She was siding with the two young people to get her aunt’s reactions. Deep down she wondered at the odd couple.

Velma handed her another skewered fillet and grabbed one out of the cooler. “He has changed. Others of the Seven Drums have noticed it. He’s calmer, less prone to angry outbursts. His drumming has been healing for his soul. But his past... I don’t want my daughter hurt by his poor choices in high school and beyond.”

“I understand. But maybe he deserves this second chance?” She glanced out the window and spotted Ryan visiting with Logan. The big tribal policeman word a red shirt with blue and yellow ribbons. “Will Mrs. Rider be here today?”

“She was invited. If Logan isn’t working, I’m sure he will bring her.” Velma had six fillets piled up for Shandra to put her skewers through. “Hurry. These are the last of them.”

“Is this enough for all the people?” She didn’t think they had enough salmon to fill everyone.

“Jo is also making a large pot of deer stew. No one will leave here hungry.” Velma picked up one of the fillets. She had two finished with the cross skewers by the time Shandra finished one. “The more you do this the faster you will become.”

Shandra glanced at her aunt. “I know this is a tradition, but I doubt I’ll be cooking a salmon on an open fire any time soon on Huckleberry Mountain.”

Velma smiled. “You will have many celebrations to help with the salmon. You are young.”

She had an odd sensation her aunt had dreamed something.

Velma hurried out the door as Shandra washed her hands.

Two young men entered. Each one grabbed an end to the cooler with the prepared fish, picked up the cooler, and walked out the door.

Curious about what was happening outside, Shandra tucked her phone in her back pocket, grabbed her sunglasses, and plopped her cowgirl hat on her head. One step outside the house and she found herself pulled into the tide of people walking to the field a half a mile away.

Two teepees stood in the middle of the field. Smoke rose from a fire burning between the two structures. Makeshift tables of hay bales and lumber stretched out in a line. There were already bowls and platters of food on the tables along with stacks of paper plates and plastic utensils. She smiled at the use of modern conveniences at a traditional celebration feast.

Jo stood by the fire stirring what Shandra figured must be the deer stew in a large cast iron kettle.

Children played games of hide and seek and a stick game she remembered Grandmother teaching her the summer she’d run away to the reservation.

Teens and young adults were gathered in groups talking and looking at their cell phones. The older people sat on bales of hay, visiting.

She finally found Ryan, Andy, and Coop. All three walked up to the fire and dumped armloads of wood next to the pit. Old Moses was tending the fire.

Before she could make her way to the three men, a pickup pulled up with Velma in the back and the cooler of fish. Andy and Coop lifted the cooler down and Velma’s husband stepped out of the front of the pickup and helped Velma down. She nodded to her husband and followed the cooler to the fire. Her aunt had taken off the apron. Her sky blue dress with pink, purple and orange ribbons was festive.

After Coop and Andy raised the lid, Velma stepped forward and grasped the salmon on top. She walked over to the fire and set the stick into a metal frame that ran the perimeter of the fire. She placed six fillets on all four sides of the fire and picked up a long stick that she used to move the logs on fire closer to the edge. When the middle of the fire was cleared, she gently tossed more wood into the center.

Aunt Jo walked up beside Shandra.

“How long does it take the fish to cook?” Shandra asked.

“About an hour.”

“She only put half of the fish out there.” Her stomach was already growling.

“We will start eating when the first batch is done and continue to eat until it is all gone.” Aunt Jo moved back to the large kettle and stirred the contents.

Shandra scanned the immediate area for Ryan. She caught a glimpse of Wendy and Tripp disappearing through some of the parked cars.