Chapter Twenty: Coming Home
It wasn’t until Ellen and her friends were on the train heading back to San Antonio that Ellen finally got a hold of Nolan over the phone.
“Hey, sweet boy,” she said. “I’m so sorry we keep missing each other. I’m dying to know what you want to tell me.”
“Are you sitting down?” he asked.
“Yes.” She bit her lip, wondering what on earth he would say. Had he saved someone’s life? Had his residency ended? Was he moving back to San Antonio from Oklahoma?
“I asked Taylor to marry me, and she said yes!”
“What?” Ellen took a second to process what she’d just heard. Then joy coursed through her heart as she glanced over at her friends. “You’re engaged?”
“Yes, Mom. Taylor and I are getting married, and we’re hoping you’ll help us with the wedding.”
Ellen laughed out loud and squealed with excitement. Several passengers turned around to look at her.
“My son’s getting married!” she said to them.
They turned back around in their seats without so much as a congratulations, but Ellen didn’t mind. She was so happy for her son and was thrilled that he wanted her to be a part of this important time in his life.
Once the shock and surprise had worn off, she asked him, “When you say you want my help with the wedding, what does that mean? Because you know I’m happy to pay for it.”
“Thanks, Mom. I had a feeling you’d say that. Taylor and I were also hoping you’d help us to plan it. She wants a big wedding but neither of us have any time, and her parents, well, don’t repeat this to a soul. Taylor says they have no sense of style.”
“She thinks I have a sense of style?” Ellen asked. “I love her already and would be more than happy to help in any way I can.”
Ellen was tired and exhausted when the train finally pulled into Sunset Station in San Antonio late Wednesday night. It was the first week of August, and the Texas heat was merciless, even after dark. She and her friends found their bags, dismounted the train, and dragged their luggage toward the parking lot, where Dave, Tanya’s husband, would be waiting to give them a ride home.
Standing beside Dave and his silver Porsche under the light of a streetlamp was Brian.
As Ellen approached him with her mouth hanging open, he said, “I know you’re tired and that this probably wasn’t a good idea, but I couldn’t wait…”
She didn’t give him a chance to finish. She rushed into his arms and pressed her lips to his.
Over the next four months, Ellen, Sue, and Tanya made three different trips to Montana to meet with the contractor they’d chosen to spearhead the renovation of Talks to Buffalo Lodge. Between Nolan’s wedding plans and the renovations, Ellen discovered an improved knack for making decisions. She knew what she liked and was able to choose color palettes, fabrics, finishes, décor, and accessories like it was no one’s business. Both her friends and her family seemed impressed.
Ellen was overjoyed that both the wedding and the renovations allowed her to spend more time with friends and family. Sue and Tanya threw a bridal shower for Taylor at Sue’s house. Alison and Lane hosted a couples’ shower for Nolan and Taylor at Ellen’s house. One afternoon, Alison joined Ellen, Taylor, and Taylor’s mother and sister at the bridal shop, where they searched for just the right wedding gown for the bride. But it was the day that she, Lane, and Alison met Nolan at a tuxedo rental in Austin that Ellen had her big cry. Once they settled on the right choice, seeing her firstborn son wearing the tuxedo he would wear on his wedding day filled Ellen with overwhelming emotion. She wished Paul could be there, too, and hoped he was watching down on Nolan with pride and joy.
In between her trips to Montana and the wedding festivities, Ellen entertained Brian in San Antonio or traveled to Portland to see him. She had taken Paul’s words on the mountainside to heart. He’d told her that it was okay for her to move on without him. He’d set her free. She was still struggling with what that meant, but she was making progress.
One evening, she was lying in bed in Brian’s arms after a particularly romantic evening with him at her home in San Antonio when, out of the blue, she had a vision of the white buffalo. It approached her side of the bed for a fleeting second and disappeared.
She sat up and turned on the bedside lamp. “Did you see that?”
Brian yawned. “See what?”
Ellen jumped from the bed and looked around the room. She checked the hall and the master bath but saw no sign of her visitor.
“Everything okay?” Brian asked.
“I saw the white buffalo again,” she said as she returned to the bed and to his arms. “I wonder why he came to me.”
The next day, Brian found her answer. Over breakfast, he showed her a headline in the New York Times announcing the death of oil and gas tycoon, Sidney Longfellow.
“Do you think he came to say goodbye?” she asked Brian.
“Well, it couldn’t have been a coincidence.”
That afternoon after Brian had left, Ellen did two things. She wrote a letter to Sheila Ann, expressing her condolences and reminding her to pass the white buffalo fur to one of her children. Then she went to her studio behind her house and began to paint.
It took her a few days to finish the painting. In the end, she was pleased with how it turned out. She depicted the magnificent, luminous white buffalo as he had appeared to her on the mountainside beneath the starry night in the Two-Badger Medicine. She hoped her friends would agree to allow her to place it on the mantle over the hearth at Talks to Buffalo Lodge.
Nolan and Taylor were married in April the weekend after Easter, when the church was still decorated with Easter flowers. Although Ellen was happy to have Brian standing beside her as she watched her firstborn begin a new chapter in his life, she could sense Paul’s presence there, too. In that moment, Ellen realized that she could love Brian fully and completely, knowing that Paul was watching over her and witnessing the important moments in their children’s lives. She realized that to move forward, she didn’t have to let go of the past but to move on from it. She could cherish it and cherish Paul while moving forward to a future that included Brian.
The following June, nearly a year after Ellen, Sue, and Tanya had first traveled to East Glacier Park, Montana, the renovations of Talks to Buffalo Lodge were complete. Sue and Tanya and their husbands met Ellen and Brian for a final walk-through with the contractor.
Ellen and her friends had been careful to preserve as much of the original structure as they possibly could without compromising its integrity. For example, they used the good floorboards from the second story to replace the rotten boards downstairs, so the entire first floor was original. Then they refloored the second story with new planks similar in color and style to the old.
Although the roof and ceiling had to be replaced, they sheathed the new beams with wood from the old ones. The stone around the fireplace was also original and was brought to life by the simple use of a power sprayer. Up on the mantle, also made from one of the original beams, was Ellen’s painting of the white buffalo. And, in front of the hearth was the restored bench that once held the sacred hide.
The kitchen was the only room that strayed from the theme of historical preservation. Ellen and her friends had agreed that they wanted a modern look with granite countertops and stainless-steel appliances. The cabinets were painted a light gray that brought out the silver veins in the granite.
The three couples stayed in the house over the weekend, drawing straws for the master. Sue tried to avoid the random drawing, arguing that she couldn’t go up and down the stairs as easily as the others, but Ellen and Tanya insisted, and Sue won anyway.
Together, the three couples explored Glacier National Park. They revisited some of the places Ellen, Sue, and Tanya had seen on their first trip, and they ventured out to other areas, too. They even hiked to the lake where Rich Falcon had showed them the Grizzly Bears, and they were lucky to see a mother nursing two cubs on the shore.
Weeping Wall was one of the places Ellen was determined to revisit. She stood beside Brian gazing at it from across the street as cars drove through the falling water.
“It’s an interesting symbol for both the past and the present, don’t you think?” Brian said.
“In what way?” she asked.
“If you think about it, it seems to be lamenting the sins of the past while baptizing the passing cars with renewed life.”
Ellen shook her head and smiled. “I forgot what a poet and a philosopher you are.”
She kissed him on the cheek, feeling as if a burden had washed down her back just as the water washed down Weeping Wall. Hand in hand, she and Brian returned to where the others were walking along the Big Bend pullout.
On their last night, they went to the casino on the reservation, where they ran into Karen and Terry Murray.
The couple looked happy together at the blackjack table. When Ellen and her friends invited Karen and Terry to come by and see the renovated house, she noticed that Terry was drinking water.
It was while they were visiting with the Murrays that Sue had a strike of inspiration. Instead of hoarding the vacation home between themselves, Sue and her friends should rent it out to others, so the tourists could learn about the historical building, the land, and its stories, too. It would be an opportunity for visitors to the area to learn about Blackfeet history. Plus, the rental income would pay for the hiring of a property manager.
“And I know just who should manage it,” Sue said. “Rich Falcon.”
“I trust him completely,” Tanya said.
Ellen turned to Karen. “Do you think he’d agree to do it?”
“To have the chance to supplement his tour business while educating others about our traditions?” Karen asked. “I think he’d be thrilled.”
Ellen and Brian flew together from Montana to San Antonio, where Brian would stay for another few days before heading back to Portland. They had just walked in with their luggage when Ellen’s phone rang.
“It’s Nolan,” she said to Brian before answering.
“Mom, I have news,” Nolan said.
“Tell me,” she said. “Are you moving back to Texas?”
“As a matter of fact, we are,” he said.
“What? I was only kidding, like I always do. But you’re serious? Please say you’re serious!”
“I’m serious,” Nolan said. “I got a job at North Central Baptist Hospital in San Antonio.”
“That’s where you were born!” Ellen shouted with glee. “Oh, sweet boy. I can’t believe it!”
“We have more news,” Taylor said into the phone.
“You found a house?” Ellen guessed.
“Not yet,” Taylor said. “We’re pregnant.”
Ellen froze, trying to grasp what she’d just been told. Her son and his wife were moving back to San Antonio from Oklahoma and they were pregnant?
“Mom? You’re going to be a grandmother!”
Tears flooded Ellen’s eyes, and she couldn’t speak.
Brian took the phone, laughing and said, “Your mother is so happy, so very happy, that she can’t even talk.”
Nolan’s wife gave birth to a baby girl in mid-November. Sue and Tanya had gone to wait with Ellen at the hospital and were among the first to see her.
As soon as Ellen saw the tiny little bundle, she was in love.
“Oh, Ellen,” Tanya said. “I’m so jealous.”
“Me, too,” Sue said. “I need to tell Lexi and Stephen to get on the ball.”
“You’ll both have grandchildren of your own soon enough, I’m sure,” Ellen said, trying not to gloat.
Once Sue and Tanya had left, Ellen took a short break from helping Taylor and Nolan with the baby to call Brian with the news.
After he congratulated her, he said, “There’s something I’ve been wanting to talk to you about.”
“Oh? What, Brian?”
“I don’t like missing these important moments in your life. How would you feel about me moving to San Antonio? I could get my own place, if you’re not ready…”
“I’m ready,” she said with tears in her eyes. “Move in with me Brian. Move in with me as soon as you can.”
“I don’t want to risk ruining the moment by asking you one more thing, but…”
“Yes. Let’s do it.”
“How do you know what I was going to ask? What if I asked you to parachute from an airplane with me?”
Ellen laughed. “Oh, Brian. I’m game for whatever you want. If you’re here with me, sharing my life, I’m game for anything.”
“Even marriage?” he asked.
“Especially that.”
In late December, Ellen and Brian treated the whole family to a trip to Montana, where they stayed at Talks to Buffalo Lodge for a white Christmas. They gave Nolan, Taylor, and little Brianna the master. Alison and Lane shared one of the upstairs rooms, and Ellen and Brian shared the other. Together, they decorated a tree, cooked a meal, and celebrated Christmas with carols and the exchange of gifts. At the end of their celebration, Ellen and Brian announced their engagement to the rest of the family.
Ellen was relieved when her children embraced them and told them how happy they were. Their words of congratulations seemed genuine. Like Ellen, they could appreciate Paul’s presence watching over them while still being able to move forward in life.
Later that evening, while Ellen, Alison, and Brian were cleaning up in the kitchen, and Lane, Nolan, and Taylor were playing with Brianna on the living room floor, Ellen felt the most profound sense of calm wash over her. Crow Woman and Rabbit had definitely moved on, and so had Ellen. All three of them had finally taken steps to boldly go where they’d never gone before, and what they found waiting for them was pure, unadulterated joy.
THE END
To read more books from Eva Pohler, please visit her website at https://www.evapohler.com.