After a moment, he said,I was not tracking straight through most of this. That was Coyote? The Coyote?
Thats what he saidand Im inclined to believe him. I paused. It also appears that he is … or some aspect of him was … my father. It was complicated. I understood it, mostly, but I had to think a little sideways to do it.
Adam laughed. It wasnt a big laugh, but it was a real one. I bet.
Adam was trying to come down from the wolfs anger. I tried to find something to say that didnt hurt me and wouldnt make him mad.
I guess Coyote playing at being human is why I am a walker, even though Moms not Indian, I said.
Your fathers not dead, he said. Your mom is going to be …
Yeah, I agreed, clearing my throat and trying to sound casual. My father wasnt deadand he was. Had I really even had a father? Better to think about my mother.
As much as I have this pressing urge to get back at Mom for orchestrating our wedding without consulting me, I cant do that to her, I said, looking at my bare feet. Theyd been inside the wet shoes long enough to gain that wrinkled look and corpselike color. She really loved Joe Old Coyote and … Curt is wonderful. But Joe, he rescued her, he treasured her.
I thought of Coyotes voice as he talked about my mother, and added, Im not sure that Curt could compete with the man she remembersmaybe even Joe couldnt. And Joe is dead, really dead. I cleared my throat. He wasnt really Coyote, just a suit Coyote wore for a while. Real to himself and everyonearound him, but in the end he was a construct, and Coyote … Mom would figure it out eventually. But by the time she did, Curt might not be waiting around.
Adam stood up then and came over to me. He put both arms around me. He didnt say anything, just held me.
My life used to be normal, I told his shoulder. I got up. Went to work. Fixed a few cars, paid a few bills, and no one tried to kill me. My father was dead; my mother was six hours away by carI could even manage to make that trip last eight or nine hours if I worked at it.
Argued with your back-fence neighbor, Adam said, his voice very gentle.
And watched him when he wasnt looking, I agreed. Because every once in a while, especially after a full moon hunt, hed forget that I could see in the dark, and hed run around naked in the backyard.
He laughed silently.Inever forgot you could see in the dark, he admitted.
Oh. I thought about it for a while. Thats pretty good. Not quite up to my slowly eroding Rabbit, but you get points for that.
Adam was a neat and tidy person, the kind of man who walks into a room and straightens the paintings. For years I used the junker car in my backyard to exact revenge for high-handed orders I had to follow. Had to follow because they werent just high-handedthey were smart. When I was particularly annoyed, Id remove tiresnever all fourand leave the trunk open or one of the doors, just to bother him.
He, evidently, had run around naked to bother me. I thought about that a moment more.
Thank you for the years of entertainment, I said.
No trouble, he responded in a serious voice. Now that were married, are you finally going to do something with that car? Like tow it away or store it somewhere out of sight?
I took a deep breathand my lungs seemed to be working just fine with the awful my-father-who-wasnt-my father lump in my stomach gone.
Ill think about it, I told him. Maybe you should put it on your What I Want for Christmas List?
You okay now? he asked.
Okay.
He tightened his arms and lifted me off my feet.Mercy? he growled into my ear.
I wrapped my legs around his waist.Yeah, I said. Me, too.
Adam could have died last night. I could have died twenty minutes ago. I wasnt willing to waste a moment more.
At some point in the night he kissed my pawprint tattoo and laughed.Did you really tell Coyote this was a wolf print?
To you, it is a coyote print, I said firmly. For him, it is a wolf print. Only I and my tattoo artist know for sure. *
I WOKE IN THE MORNING TO THE SOUND OF ADAMS stomach growling under my ear.
Sorry, he said. Too many changes and not enough food.
I patted his hard belly and kissed it.Poor thing, I told it. Doesnt Adam treat you right? No worries.Ill go feed you.
My head bounced when Adam laughed.
Lets go find someplace to eat breakfast and get some groceries. And then he proved that even when he was distracted, he still listened to me. And some clothes for you. *
WHILE I WAS DRESSING, I NOTICED THE NUMBER WRITTEN on the palm of my hand and remembered I was supposed to make a phone call.
Yes? Jims voice was wary.
Coyote told me to call you, I told him. He said that you wouldnt believe that he was real unless I did.
The man on the other side of the phone didnt even breathe.
Adam grinned at me as he buttoned up his shirt.
How is your husband? Jim asked politely.
Hes fine. Even the red mark was gone. How fast a wound healed varied from wolf to wolf and wound to wound. As Alpha, Adam tended to heal even faster than most. Id expected that to change since we were so far from the pack, but evidently it hadnt.
How are Hanks head and Bennys foot? I asked.
Hank is okay. Once we got him away from you, he seemed to recover a bit. Though he has a concussion, its not a bad one. He cleared his throat. Fred told the doctor Hank took a fall. The doctor seemed to think it might involve a pipe or tire iron, but Hank told him it was a fall, too. Fred is keeping an eye on him. Benny has been tranquilized ever since he tried to get up and leave the second time. He seems perfectly happy.
So were meeting you at Stonehenge? Coyote seemed pretty sure something could be done for Hank.
You are very casual about meeting Coyote, he said. Maybe we both just had a dream.
Youre the medicine man, I told him. You should know better than thatand be casual, too. Maybe that wasnt fair. Eventually, anyway. Im married to a werewolf, and Ive met Baba Yaga. At least Coyote doesnt fly around in a giant mortar.
Baba Yaga? No. I dont want to know. Jim sighed. Maybe I should go back to teaching school about crazy people instead of being one. Yes. Ill see you and your husband at Stonehenge at midnight. The memorial is supposed to be closed after dark, but I have a few contacts. Indian sacred ceremonies usually works, but I have a few more tricks up my sleeve if I need them. *
ADAM DIDNT APPROVE OF WAL-MART.
There is a department store back in The Dalles, he said with a touch of grimness as we walked through the doors into the warehouselike building.
Do they still call them department stores? I wondered aloud, then shrugged it off. Doesnt matter. Wal-Mart is the Happy Shopping Grounds for the financially challenged.And those who ruin clothing on a daily basis. I dont care about ripping up five-dollar Tshirts. And destroying twenty-dollar jeans hurts less than eighty-dollar jeans.
He growled, and I really looked at him.
The bright lights over our heads flickered and gave his skin a slightly green cast. That was the fault of the cheap bulbs, but the tension in his neck and the hunted expression were different. Too many strangers, too many smells, way too many sounds. A paranoid personor an Alpha wolfmight feel like he couldnt make sure no one blindsided him in a place like Wal-Mart.
Hey, I said, coming to a stop. How about I shop here, and you head over to the grocery store and grab some food. Ill shop in peace, and you can pick me up in forty-five minutes?
He shook his head.Im not leaving you here alone.
The only thing that wants to kill me is in the river, I told him, trying to keep my voice down, but the woman pushing a cart past us gave me an odd look. Ive been shopping at Wal-Marts for most of my life, and Ive never been assaulted in one. I narrowed my gaze at him though I kept it focused on his chin. As long as its not demons, fae, or sea monsters, I can also take care of myself pretty well. Im not helpless. And suddenly it mattered very much that he not treat me like some ninny who needed to be protected at all times, someone who would stand around waiting to be rescued.