RECLAIM MY HEART(39)

She beamed. “Thanks for spending time with him, Jasper. It means more to me than you’ll ever know.”
“Zach is the closest thing to a grandson I’ll ever have. Growing up is hard. Making a conscious decision to act in a more mature manner is even more difficult. Every kid has to do it in his or her own time. But if I can ease the process, I’m happy to do it.” He sat down across from her. “Oh, boy, that feels good. Sitting and sleeping on the ground is hard on these old bones.”
Tyne sipped her lemon-laced tea. “Growing up is hard, isn’t it? I thought it would be the end of me, Jasper. I honestly didn’t think I’d make it through.” The glass felt cold against her fingertips. “But I did.”
Jasper nodded. “I remember. It was a bad time, Tyne. For everyone.” He went quiet a moment. “I almost think losing you was harder on Lucas than losing his father.” He rested his arm on the table. “You see, when my brother died, I was there to step into his shoes. Not that I was able to fill them like he would have, mind you. But at least Lucas had someone to see him through. When you left, he was absolutely bereft. He hurt so bad I didn’t think he could hold it all in.” His mouth flattened. “I’d never seen him like that.” The memory made him sigh. “Never. And I hope it’s something I never see again.”
They sat in silence, both caught up in the past.
When she’d left town for her Aunt Wanda’s she had known Lucas would be hurt, but she’d been too focused on the fact that her whole life had turned upside down. The pressure from her parents. The decisions about the baby that needed to be made. The prospect of her bleak future. It had all been too much.
“The thing I regret most,” she said, her voice going husky, “is that I didn’t tell him. I left town without telling him I was pregnant with his child.” She blinked back sudden tears. “That’s the least I could have done, Jasper. But, no, I show up in his office sixteen years later and say, ‘Surprise! You’re the father of a troubled teen.’”
Leaning her elbows on the table, she covere ke, have, d her face with her hands, worrying her fingertips up and down her temples. “I feel sick every time I think about how I’ve kept then apart for so many years.”
Jasper allowed her to wallow in her misery for a long moment. Then he reached across the table and gave her shoulder a gentle pat.
“I told Zach many Lenape stories this past weekend,” he said, the words soft with a smile. “Now I’ve got one for you.”
Tyne lifted her head, sitting up straight.
“Wolf went to the Creator,” Jasper began, “to complain about humans. ‘They terrorize the animals,’ Wolf charged. ‘They take more than they need. They plant their crops without replenishing the soil. They move from place to place, leaving behind their trash and debris.’ Wolf paced back and forth. ‘Why do you put up with them? Why don’t you just destroy them?’
“The Great One’s voice sounded as big as the wind. ‘It is not for you to judge my handiwork. You need to learn appreciation.’ So the Creator sent Wolf out on a mission to find the greatest human attribute.”
Jasper slid his chair closer to the table. “Wolf searched the earth, far and wide, until he found a man standing by a raging river. The man cut and carved many logs. He toiled in the hot sun, working every day, to build a bridge across the river. When he was nearly finished, Brother River rose and washed away all his work. But the man didn’t give up. He gathered more logs and continued his chore for many days until he’d completed the bridge. So Wolf gathered a drop of sweat from the man’s brow and took it to the Creator.
“’Perseverance is a wonderful quality of humans,’ the Great One told Wolf. ‘But it’s not the greatest. Keep searching.’”
Tyne rested her hands on the table, listening intently.
“Wolf sprinted east and west, north and south, until he found a woman hiking in a forest. The woman came upon a child who was facing an angry bear. Without even thinking about it, the woman waved her arms and drew Sister Bear’s attention. The animal attacked the woman while the child ran to safety.” Jasper paused to drink from his glass of tea. “Wolf had never seen anything like it. He gathered a drop of blood from the woman’s battered body and raced back to the Great One.
“The Great One smiled. ‘Sacrifice is an excellent human quality, but it isn’t the greatest. Try again.’”
Tyne realized her breathing had slowed and calm cloaked her like a promise.
Jasper leaned forward a fraction. “Wolf traveled to the ends of the earth and back, finally finding himself back in his very own forest. He came upon a man running through the woods, his bare back laced with oozing wounds from the whip. The man had been judged a thief by the town baker and his punishment had been a public lashing. Furious at having suffered another’s penalty, the man aimed to exact revenge on the real criminal.”
Silence hung in the air during Jasper’s long pause. Tyne’s heart skittered. Surely, there was more to the story.
“Well?” she asked. “Did he find the culprit?”
Jasper nodded. “Wolf followed the man to a cabin, watched from the trees as he peered through the window. The man’s face crumpled and his eyes welled with tears. He turned away, his shoulders round, all thought of revenge gone. Wolf couldn’t stand it. He had to see what had made such a change in the man. Wolf trotted to the cabin window and saw the real thief doling out bits of bread to five sunken-cheeked children. Wolf’s heart ached at the sight.”