A Rainbow in Paradise (22 page)

"About the promise I made to my
children."

Eden was out of her chair before he finished
the final syllable. "No, Logan. I don't want to hear this. Please
leave now, before we hurt each other anymore."

"You don't understand." He caught her arm,
stopping her movement toward the door. He put all the feeling he
could muster into his voice when he spoke again. "I wasn't wrong to
make the promise. I just misinterpeted it."

Eden eased back into her seat, and Logan went
on. "It took me a while to realize it, some miserable weeks and a
quiet talk with Chris, then another with Reverend Phelps, but I
know now that you're what I was waiting for all along. You are what
I promised them."

Eden blinked. "Me? Logan, you're not making
sense. You wanted a Navajo mother for your children, someone who
could give them a clan affiliation of their own."

"That's what I thought I wanted, but it was
Chris who pointed out to me that it was never what I
said
. I
always
said
I wanted my children to have an honorable
heritage with a mother who was a child of the desert, and a
daughter of Dinehtah. You are a child of the desert, Eden. I've
known it since that day at White House."

She smiled, looking inward. "Yes, I remember
that day."

"My children can have their heritage through
Frank Manypersons if you like. He likes you so much that he said
he’d be happy to adopt you—for ceremonial purposes only, of course.
Or if you don’t want to do that, my children can have their
inheritance the same way I do, through my Dineh side. That is,
our
children can. I want you to be their mother, Eden."

"Stop, Logan." She rose again. "I can't have
you compromising what you really want just because—''

He didn't wait for her to finish. He caught
her arms instead, kissing her with all the force in him, letting
her feel how much he meant his words. Perhaps her anger was melting
now, because she kissed him, too. In fact, her response gave him
the first hope he had felt since he'd come here today. He released
her only briefly, holding her close against his chest, kissing her
mouth and eyes and hair as he whispered over and over again, "Oh,
Eden, Eden. I've missed you so much. I don't know how I'd live my
life without you. You are what I've always wanted. You, only
you."

Finally believing enough to let her go just a
little, he held her at arm's length, watching her eyes. "I love
you, Eden. I think I've loved you since the first moment I saw you
walk onto Chris's porch. You fascinated me long before I knew
anything about you, and the more I learned, the more I wanted you
near me. I want to spend my life with you, to love you and cherish
you and keep you close beside me forever. I want my daughters to
choose you as their 'ideal woman,' and my sons to grow up honoring
your name. Marry me, Eden. Marry me and be the mother of my future
generations."

Eden felt stunned, shocked, as though her
world had just shifted beneath her. "But what about your children?"
she asked. "What about your promises to your children?"

"
Our
children, Eden. Yours and mine. I
don't even want to have children if you aren't their mother."

"But—"

He kissed her quiet. "Don't argue, love. Not
now. Just tell me you'll marry me."

Eden took a long, deep breath. The confusion
seemed to clear away with the fresh air. "All right, Logan. I'll
give you an answer. But first, look me straight in the eyes and
promise me that if I accept your proposal, you won't ever regret
being married to a
belagaana
:'

Logan smiled. "That one's easy." He held her
directly in front of him, hands on her shoulders, as he said, "Eden
Grant, I love you with all my mind, life, and heart. I could easily
regret marrying just any old
belagaana
woman, but I could
never, would never,
will
never regret marrying you—never for
all of my days or all my generations."

Logan saw the life come back into Eden's
face. He saw the smile begin from the inside out, spread first
through her eyes, then to her mouth, and finally even into her
voice. "I do believe you mean that," she answered.

"I do. I swear I mean it. Marry me, Eden. Say
you will."

A sudden pounding on the office door
interrupted them. "Miss Eden! Miss Eden!" a young voice called.
"Miss Eden, Timmy's eating the paste again."

Eden felt her lip quiver. "You mean you
really expect me to give up all
this
?"

Logan grinned. "Promise you'll marry me, and
I'll deal with Jimmy."

"Mr. Redhorse, you drive a hard bargain."

"Then it's a deal?"

"I love you, Logan. I've spent the last month
wishing I'd never met you because I've been so miserable without
you."

"But does that mean yes?"

"Yes! I love you, Logan Redhorse."

"I love you, Eden," he said, and took
paradise in his arms.

Discussion Questions:

1. Differences in race,
ethnicity, and culture are central to this story, as well as the
prejudice that sometimes accompanies such differences. What roles
do you think ethnic traditions play in the lives of modern people?
How do you think a couple such as Logan and Eden, who come from
differing traditions, might blend their traditions, overcoming
their differences?

2. The traditions of a
kinaalda
are
alien to most modern Americans, and yet more young Navajo women are
seeking out these old traditions in an effort to know their roots.
Eden also sees great value in the ceremony. What did you think—both
of the traditions as you saw them and of Eden’s comments on their
value?

3. How does Logan recognize Eden as “a child
of the desert”? What effect do you feel the environment in which we
are raised affects the person you become? Example: If you grew up
in a big city, do you think you might see the world a little
differently than someone from a small town? If you grew up in
forests, might you see landscapes differently than someone raised
in the desert? How do those differences affect the person you
become?

4. Love is shown in many ways in this story,
not just with the couple, but also with their friends and family.
What are some of the ways love is demonstrated by different
characters? How do you show love to those around you?

Follow Susan Aylworth at
www.susanaylworth.com
or on
Facebook at
www.facebook.com/susan.aylworth.author
or write to [email protected].

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THE TROUBLE WITH RAINBOWS

Book Six

In the Rainbow Rock Series

SUSAN AYLWORTH

Chapter One

Spring, and a young man's fancy turns to
thoughts of love—and young men aren't the only ones
, Angelica
DeForest thought as she sat in the large bay window off her living
room, watching the schoolkids walk by, many of them in pairs. The
couple passing her window right now—probably no older than thirteen
or fourteen—were adorable together, swinging their linked hands
between them and smiling shyly, the girl giggling at something the
boy had said. They're so sweet, Angelica thought with
uncharacteristic longing.
If only...

Now where did that come from
? she
chided herself, turning away from the window. If anyone had asked,
she'd have testified that she'd long since given up the "if only's"
and the dreams of what might have been, of what never would be if
she didn't get her act together—and quickly.
It's time
,
Angelica, she warned herself sternly.
Unless you want to spend
the rest of your life alone, it's time and past time.

She needed to reorganize her life, to become
bolder in going after what she wanted, to make new plans for the
future and make those plans come true.
But The Big Change will
have to wait a little longer
, she thought with a sigh. It was
almost time for her students to start arriving.

She started for the piano, planning to dust
before her first afternoon lesson, but was interrupted by the
telephone. "Hello?"

"Angelica? It's Cretia Carmody. Do you have a
moment?"

"Yes, of course." She couldn't help wondering
why Cretia had become so chatty lately. She'd hardly bothered to
speak to Angelica during their school years. True, she was several
years younger and had been a freshman when Angelica was a senior,
but... "Sorry. What was that? I'm afraid I was, uh,
distracted."

"I asked if you ever teach violin lessons,"
Cretia said.

"No, I never have. I have a couple of viola
students, and several in beginning piano. But not violin. Why?"

"My niece wants to take lessons. Do you know
anyone who teaches?"

"Locally, you mean? Here in Rainbow Rock?"
Angelica combed her memory. "No, I can't think of anyone in this
area, or Holbrook, either—not for private lessons." She paused. "I
didn't know you had a niece here."

"I don't—yet," Cretia answered. "My brother
Joe has accepted a job at the power plant. He's going to move his
family here in a couple of weeks, as soon as they finish their
school year. His daughter's eleven. She's taking violin lessons now
and she's worried that she may not be able to continue when they
move."

"Oh, I'm sorry. I'll keep my ear to the
ground. If I hear of anyone, I'll let you know."

"Angelica?"

"Yes?"

"Is it possible you could consider taking one
violin student? I know it's different from the viola, but it isn't
that
different, is it?" Cretia sighed. "I don't mean to
push. It's just that I haven't found anyone who teaches locally,
and it means so much to Victoria. Her mother played violin."

Angelica tried to keep the exasperation out
of her voice. "Then perhaps her mother could teach her?" The
silence on the other end of the line was a clue that she'd made
some kind of
faux
pas
.
The story of my life
.
Angelica sighed. She'd never been good at social contacts.

"Her mother died," Cretia said. "Just over a
year ago. Victoria is studying violin in her mother's memory."

"Oh. I'm sorry."
How do I always stumble
into these things
? "I'm so sorry, Cretia. I didn't... I never
would have..."

"It's okay. You had no way of knowing."

"But you're right, you know. The violin isn't
really that different from the viola...." Five minutes later,
having committed herself to taking her first and only violin
student, Angelica hung up the phone just in time to welcome her
first piano student for the afternoon. How do I get myself into
these things? she pondered again as little Rodney Chapman sat down
to mangle "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" in the key of C.

* * * * *

"Well, what do you think?" By now the kids
had had plenty of time to examine their new digs in Rainbow Rock,
Arizona. This picturesque little town was where he had spent his
own teen years, and Joe Vanetti was hoping for a little approval
from the next generation. He'd certainly put the effort into making
this work: paying extra for the moving crews to haul everything out
and set it all up while he took Victoria and Nicholas to Southern
California theme parks for three days; faxing his sister, Cretia, a
detailed map of their rental home, drawn to scale, showing where
everything should go so it could all be neatly put away before he
and the kids arrived; labeling all the boxes to match the
diagram....

"It's fine, Dad." Victoria offered him the
same dispirited, who-cares voice she'd been using for more than a
year now.

"I like
my
room," Nicholas said,
glancing at his dad to get official parental notice of the way he
was one-upping his sister. "I've got a cool sliding glass door that
leads out onto the patio."

"And which you are not to use after bedtime,"
his father said firmly.

"But Da-ad," Nicholas began.

"Quit while you're ahead, Nicholas," Joe
warned him. "You could end up in Victoria's room, the one with the
built-in vanity."

"Oh, goody." Nicholas rolled his eyes.

"I think I'll keep the vanity, Dad—if it's
all the same to you." Victoria stared at her feet, drawing shapes
on the floor with her toe.

She doesn't want me to know she cares
,
Joe noticed.
Poor kid. She's been a wreck since her mother died.
And she's growing up. She needs her mother
. "Okay, honey," he
said aloud. "That's where we'll keep you—for now, anyway." He
grinned at her and ruffled her hair. She gave him her
long-suffering look and combed her hair back into place with her
fingers. Yeah.
That went over great.

"So," he said, "since everything's all set up
here, what d'ya say we call up your Aunt Cretia and her family and
invite them to meet us for dinner? I hear there's a nice Thai place
in Holbrook."

"Thai?" Nicholas wrinkled his nose. "Nobody
should ever have to eat coconut milk with lime juice in it."

"You like the silvery rice noodles," Joe
reminded, but Nicholas just turned up his nose.

"I like Thai, Dad." Victoria stuck her tongue
out at her brother.

"Thanks, honey."
Wouldn't you know it? The
only sure way to get my daughter to agree with me is if she can rub
it in her brother's face.
"I'll call Cretia and Max and the
gang. Maybe they'd like to meet us there."

Well, it's hardly an auspicious
beginning
, Joe concluded as he started for the phone,
but
we're here. That's something.
As Victoria and Nicholas began
bickering in the background, he sighed.
Maybe that's the best
we're going to do, for now
. He could only hope tomorrow would
be brighter.

* * * * *

It's almost two o'clock
. I hope he's
punctual.
Then again, he was always quick
. Angelica grinned
at her own little joke as she paced back and forth in front of her
picture window. It still stunned her that she was awaiting the
arrival of Joe Vanetti, the hottest athlete—and nicest young
man—Rainbow Rock High School had ever produced. That she had
worshiped him all through junior high and high school was one
secret she'd never whispered to a soul, a secret she expected to
carry to her grave. That he'd never known she was alive was obvious
to anyone who'd gone to school with them both.