Promise Canyon (Virgin River #13)(41)

"Chicken!" Annie said.

"Luke was more than I could handle," Shelby admitted with a sigh. "But, boy, am I glad I took on the challenge! Lilly, Clay is so exotic, so beautiful. You must be tempted."

It was fun to blush, to tell dark jokes about wild sex with one of those hot, irresistible, Native men. "Seriously, it's really been a long, long time," Lilly declared, and it was the understatement of the century.

"Bet it comes right back to you," Annie said. "Just like the riding has."

Then Shelby was asking her about her riding history.

"My grandfather had me on a horse when I was barely walking. I could master a thousand-pound animal by the time I was ten, and when I was twelve, there wasn't a horse on the reservation I couldn't ride. Our neighbors took all the little girls on trail rides into the mountains and canyons. We slept on the ground, under an endless black sky sprinkled with a million stars and it made me feel connected to the entire earth. By the time I started junior high, my confidence was at a peak. Once we moved here, moved away from the horses and riding, I struggled to find anything that made me feel passionate. I didn't realize how much it would have helped to keep up with the riding. I didn't know until very recently that I need that in my life.

"Annie's invited me to work part-time at the stable. I'll make a little money if there are plenty of riding students, but mostly I'll get to keep Blue and board her at a discount. Annie and I were talking about doing trail rides for groups of girls--nothing gives a young girl a sense of power like taming a beast, like proving she's capable of doing it on her own, without a parent's guiding hand. You can't imagine, their grades in school even go up when they've mastered certain equestrian accomplishments, when they've camped in the wilds with just their horses and wits. I can't wait to do it again! I can't wait to take care of my own horse and have her depend on me while I depend on her. I can't wait to teach it to girls--even very little girls!

"Of course, this will put me in very close company with the very Navajo man I've been trying to avoid...."

Annie and Shelby were quiet for a very long moment before they both burst out laughing. Then Annie said, "Give it up! You're a goner." And all three of them laughed some more.

Lilly accepted an invitation to the Toopeek household for dinner with Clay's family just a few days later. It was a very big step for her. Since moving to California she'd been distancing herself from the whole Native community. But curiosity drove her because she'd grown so fond of Clay. She couldn't help wondering what his people were like.

She hadn't been at their table for fifteen minutes before she knew, as if she hadn't known before, that her future was irrevocably changed. Or changed back.

"You'll starve, eating that way," old Lincoln Toopeek had said.

"Let her eat what she likes," Ursula counseled. "She doesn't look like she's starving by any means. In fact, I might ask her about her diet. But not until after pie."

"You should taste the pork loin," Clay said. "It's out of this world."

"I'm a vegetarian," she explained under her breath.

"Well, that explains the mushroom sandwich. Okay, if it works for you," Clay said, putting a very large, juicy slab of meat on his plate.

"Those Hopi," Lincoln Toopeek said. "They have strange eating habits."

"My grandfather is a well established carnivore!" Lilly told him. "He sells feed to ranchers for cattle and sheep!"

The entire family--adults and children--laughed as the stone-faced, serious Lincoln was taken aback. He didn't appear offended, just surprised. After all, he clearly believed he was right.

"Please, Lincoln, don't start on her," Ursula said. Then, turning to Lilly, she said, "He's equally critical of the Navajo. He's Cherokee and God knows only the Cherokee know anything!"

"I hope pie is on your diet," Clay leaned over and said in a stage whisper. "You wouldn't want to miss it."

Family. Community. Camaraderie. Her grandfather had not been able to draw her back to the Native community the way this family had in fifteen minutes. She realized immediately, she had to risk letting them in. Letting him in.

She needed to be a part of something again, a community that understood her and whom she understood--tradition tugged at her.

By mid-September, Dr. Nathaniel Jensen's new clinic and barn had opened for business. Lilly and Yaz were both there for the opening celebration, as were a number of folks from the nearby towns. The Jensen Stables were located down the mountain from Virgin River and somewhere between there and Grace Valley. Horse owners from all over who relied on Nate's skills were all present, as were the owners of other livestock from near and far. Lilly helped Annie put plentiful food and drink out on a long trestle table that had been set up between the house and barn and watched with interest as Clay approached almost everyone who arrived, either greeting them or introducing himself to them. She spent some time helping Clay and Gabe saddle the Jensen horses for those who'd like a ride--something especially the children present took advantage of. Blue was exceptionally good with a young rider and it gave Lilly such pleasure to be the one leading her around.

To her surprise, Clay had invited the entire Toopeek family. Late in the afternoon he sidled close to her and pointed with his glass of lemonade at Yaz and Lincoln Toopeek, locked in a conversation that seemed to involve few words, bonding. Or arguing.