Page 15 of Roughstock
“I need to talk to you about something, but I need your confidence that you won’t tell anyone else. Okay?”
Her eyes grew concerned as she reached her hand out to me, offering her pinky in response to my request. Wrapping mine around hers, I blew out a breath and began to explain.
“Do you remember when Trent’s dad was attacked a few years ago?” She nodded sadly, so I pushed on. “They aren’t any closer to figuring out who or why, but a few days ago, someone snuck into the house and scrawled a warning to us on the bathroom mirror.”
She gasped. “What did it say?”
“It said to stop digging or we would be next. Trent believes it was whoever attacked Nitro, and that’s what I needed to speak with you about.” She turned in her swing to look at me, so I mirrored her and continued. “We found out that Nitro had been coming up here to the reservation a few times a month, and he’d turned off his phone so no one couldtrack him. Did you ever see him up here? Or do you think your dad would know why he was here?”
“Dad wouldn’t tell me even if he knew,” she said, but that was confusing to me.
“Why?”
She sighed as she tried to explain. “He’s been distant the last few years. When he visits Granny, he stays maybe ten minutes before he leaves, and when she tried to speak with him about his distance, he snapped at her.”
“What?” I nearly yelled, and her eyes grew wide as she gave me a look that told me to shut up.
“I don’t know what’s going on, but I do know he’s been driving up to the northern part of the reservation, and a few times a year, he and two of his men make a trip across the border into Canada. I assume it’s tribal business, but I honestly don’t know.”
Sitting there, with a new layer of questions added to the growing pile, I tried to figure out what all this could mean, but I had no answers or even a spot to start at.
Regardless, I was going to find out what kept bringing Nitro up here and why it may have cost him his life.
And if it had something to do with my family, I feared I would lose Trent and the life we’d built. Then, I didn’t know what I would do.
Chapter 9
Cheyenne
Dinner with Granny and Jackie was fun, as usual. We ate, laughed, and Jackie and I listened to stories Granny told us about our tribe, our history, and the need to pass our heritage on to the next generation. Her words were cheerful, but there was something running under the conversation that seemed to weigh her down. Jackie gave me a concerned look as Granny finished her story with a sigh.
“Are you feeling okay, Granny?” I asked, and she reached over and patted the back of my hand.
“I’m fine, sweetheart. Just old,” she reasoned with a chuckle.
I knew she was getting up in years, but the thought of losing her was almost too much to think about. Death was a natural part of life, and no one escaped it, but I couldn’t lose her. Not now, maybe not ever.
“Are you going to stay the night here?” Granny asked Jackie.
“Yes, ma’am,” Jackie responded, and Granny gave her a smile.
“Then I’ll leave you two to visit. I’m going to take my bath and lay down to read.”
Granny stood from her seat, and Jackie and I mirrored her, waiting for the amazing hugs we knew were coming. She hugged Jackie first then shuffled around the table to me. I wrapped my arms around her and gave her a good squeeze before she stepped back and started to walk out of the kitchen.
Looking back, she simply said, “I love you two, so very much.”
“We love you too,” Jackie and I replied, almost in sync, as Granny walked into the living room and out of sight.
We listened to her walk up the stairs, and when we heard her bedroom door open and close, Jackie gave me a look.
“Why did tonight seem heavier than usual?” she inquired, and I looked over my shoulder and back to her before shrugging.
“I’m not sure, but I’d feel better if she wasn’t alone in this house,” I returned.
“I offered to move in with her and then offered to have her move in with me, but she refused. Dad even tried to speak with her,” Jackie started and lowered her voice as she leaned closer to me. “But she said if he couldn’t make time for her now, she wasn’t going to depend on him to make time for her in the future.”
I sat back, shocked at Jackie’s admission. Granny wasn’t a mean-spirited person, nor was she one to hold a grudge, so being so rude and direct with my uncle was out of character for her. Maybe the older you got, the less you cared about hurting other people’s feelings or sugar-coating your own feelings.
