Skye Cree 02: The Bones Will Tell (11 page)

“G
o through what twice? What are you guys talking about?”

Travis sent Josh a pleading look. “I don’t know where to start.”

“Sometimes the beginning works,” Josh prompted.

Travis sent a lethal look in Josh’s direction while Skye took turns glancing back and forth at both men. She began to get a funny feeling in the pit of her stomach to go with the fish she’d had for supper. Her spirit guide might be a recent memory, but she still possessed instincts that told her Travis had been holding something back. When she saw Travis rub his sweating palms on the thighs of his jeans that little voice became a scream.

“You know how much I loved your parents, right?”

“Of course,” Skye uttered.

“Daniel Cree and I grew up together on the reservation. We lived eight houses from each other, went to the same school, played together, took our first drink at the same watering hole when we were still underage. Daniel was like the brother I never had and—”

“And my mother like a sister,” Skye stated.

Travis rubbed the back of his neck, clearly uncomfortable. “Not exactly. You see, we all met when we were very young, just eighteen. By today’s standards that’s incredibly immature. But even as young as we were, right away, Jodi and Daniel just clicked. They started talking about marriage like a runaway freight train. The next step was thinking about having kids. But after years of trying, they got frustrated. Jodi insisted they both get checked out. The doctor said Jodi was fine. Daniel, on the other hand, found out he was sterile. When your father was around twelve, Daniel suffered a severe case of the mumps. As it turns out, he was never going to be a father in the usual way.”

“No,” Skye murmured as the revelation built to what he was getting at. She would not sway or sit. Instincts forced her spine straight as steel as if preparing for battle.

“If you’ll just let me explain for two minutes,” Travis pleaded.

But Skye was across the room in three strides. Her lean body vibrated with so much anger that her hands shook. “Please do not tell me that you and my mother had an affair.”

“I loved your mother, Skye,” Travis acknowledged.

“What are you saying, exactly?
You and my mother? I don’t believe it.”

“I loved your mother,” Travis repeated. “I went up to her first that day we all met. That one summer afternoon when Daniel and I were in town messing around at the Dairy Queen getting ourselves a burger and a Coke. Jodi had been visiting relatives in our little neck of the woods.” Travis rubbed his chin. “Seems to me now that I think back about it, it might’ve been Ginny and Bob she was staying with at the time. But Jodi had grown up in Seattle. Hell that was a different world to Daniel and me back then, two Native teens fresh off the reservation, wet behind the ears in every way. We recognized Jodi as an out-of-towner, a white girl at that, with these huge blue-violet eyes. You have her eyes, Skye.” He cleared his throat, reluctant to go on, but knowing he had no choice.

“You see, Jodi was stuck in this little bitty town for three months for the summer where she didn’t know a single soul. Daniel and I were out to change that when I went over to where she was sitting in a booth by herself and struck up a conversation with her. But as soon as she got a load of Daniel, it seems Jodi only had eyes for him. From the first time they set eyes on each other, it was the two of them as a couple. I never stood a chance.”

“So let’s have it.”

“Years later, when we all ended up living here in Seattle, when the two of them came to me for help, it was as a last resort.”

“Help?
You mean to give them a baby? That’s what you’re building up to, isn’t it? Why would you agree to that, Travis? Because you had a thing for my mother?”

“There’s no need for that tone, Skye Melody Cree. For your information, at first, I told them both no, a resounding hell no. In fact it turned into many times. A couple of years went by. Daniel and Jodi kept pressuring me, reassuring me they were both fine with it. They were persistent, Skye.”

The reality of what he’d confessed was still sinking in when Skye put the accusation on the table. “You didn’t go to a clinic.” It wasn’t a question.

When Travis turned away, refused to even look at her, Skye had her answer. She grabbed his arm to get his attention. “At least face me, Travis. Or what am I supposed to call you now,
daddy
? I don’t think so. For starters, how about I try coward?”

At the insult, Skye noted a tick in his facial muscle. But she didn’t care. “I want to hear you say it, all of it. The words, Travis, say the words.
Now!”

“I am your father! Is that what you want me to say? Daniel Cree couldn’t have children so I did what he couldn’t. Is that clear enough for you?” Travis shouted in a clipped angry tone.

Skye sucked in a breath. “Crystal. I don’t know which is more deplorable. The fact that you slept with my mother under the guise of getting her knocked up so you could fulfill some teen crush you had on her. Or the fact that you stood by and did nothing while I went to live with those despicable people in Yakima. All you had to do was tell the court the truth. The truth, Travis. Was that too much to ask back then when I was thirteen years old? But you did nothing. I spent five years in hell with Ginny and Bob all the while I could’ve been right here in Seattle living life as your daughter. What a spineless, gutless thing to do!” With that, Skye stormed to the elevator. When it opened, she stepped inside and was gone.

Travis dropped down into the nearest chair with his head in his hands, defeated.

When Josh started to speak, Travis held up his hand to stop him. “Is this what you wanted?”

“No. But I knew she’d be angry. She’s messed up right now, Travis. She’s been having a difficult time since the transformation, since Kiya’s spirit has weakened. Give her some time.”

“Time? I don’t think she’ll ever forgive me.”

Josh said nothing else. There were no words of reassurance that came to mind. Because he wasn’t exactly sure she would forgive or trust anyone—ever again.

The aftershocks from
Travis’s disclosure made for an interesting four days.

The repercussions were neither pretty nor dull.

Skye’s temper in the form of rockets-in-the-air fireworks went off regularly and with precision. The Fourth of July seemed tame compared to Skye Melody Cree in rage-mode. Since Travis had unburdened his secret, her dark side had bubbled to the surface where it had remained unleashed.

She didn’t walk anywhere. She clomped. Her voice seemed to take on a high-pitched squeal if Josh even hinted bringing up the name, Travis Nakota.

But on the fifth day, Josh had had enough. “How much longer do you intend to make Travis suffer?”

“This is none of your business, Josh. Stay out of it.”

“To hell it isn’t. I’m the one who encouraged him to level with you, got angry at him because of it. Had I known you were going to act like such a thirteen-year-old drama queen—”

Skye whirled to face Josh. “How dare you say that to
me! He stayed mum on the sidelines and watched during the most heartbreaking time of my life. For God’s sakes, I lost my parents. Or rather the man who I thought all this time was my father. But what does Travis do back then? The son of a bitch stands beside me at the double funeral and never once claimed me as his daughter. He stood by while the court sent me to Siberia a.k.a. Yakima. He let me go live with those religious fanatics all the while he knew the truth. At the time, all the man had to do was step forward and come clean to the judge, say something like, ‘This happens to be my
only
child, my
only
daughter. Don’t believe me? I can prove it through a DNA test. She should be allowed to come live with
me
.’ Does he do that? Hell no! Not Travis Nakota. He keeps his mouth shut while I spend five fucking years having to bow and scrape to Ginny and Bob, listen to them tell me what a horrific person I was for letting Whitfield rape me.”

Horrified Josh let that sink in before he said, “I know you’re angry, Skye. Okay, you’re livid. You have a right to that. But he’s your father and there isn’t anything you can do about it.”

“Angry doesn’t cover what I am, Josh. Not by a longshot. For five years, I felt like I was going nuts, crazy. Don’t you understand? At some point, I started believing Ginny and Bob.”

“I’m sorry, baby.” He took her chin, lifted it up so he could stare into her eyes. “You’re right, Travis should’ve stepped up. But he’s your father, your blood.”

“Which means squat to him. If it meant anything at all, he would’ve said something when it counted. And I might point out that just because a man can be a sperm donor in the sack to a woman desperate to have a child does not make him father material. I will now and forever think of Daniel Cree as my
father
, not some churlish horse breeder who waited a quarter of a century to come clean.”

“But we could use Travis’s insight right now into how to get your ability to come back,” Josh pointed out.

“Screw my ability. I don’t want Travis Nakota’s help with anything. I’ll work this out myself just like I have everything else in my life. Kiya and I will connect again. I feel it down to my bones. You’ll see. Everything will be just fine without Travis Nakota.”

And that had pretty much ended any further discussion.

That’s why two days later, Josh wasn’t the least bit surprised when Travis called him wanting to talk.

These days inside
Ander All Games, security had to be a top priority. A company didn’t create the latest in video games without making sure the competition couldn’t get wind of the next product update. Visitors to the building and the company that occupied the top floor had to get clearance before boarding the elevator.

When the guest showed up to see the president of the company, the guard on duty notified Josh by way of phone call to his secretary, Kendra Dunning. Kendra, in turn let Josh know the visitor was imminent.

So Josh waited in the doorway of his corner office and watched as Travis Nakota got off the elevator. Josh had to give it to Travis. The man was prompt. Travis had said ten o’clock and it was now nine-fifty-nine. But as Travis got closer, Josh noted the crow’s feet around the eyes he’d missed on the man’s face just a week earlier. “Travis, are you okay?” Josh asked the minute the two shook hands.

“Not really,” Travis replied as he settled into a chair across from Josh’s desk and got comfortable. “How’s it going with you?”

“You have one stubborn and very pissed off daughter. She’s been slamming doors and stomping around for a week now.”

“She won’t return my calls, hasn’t been to the gym either. I even tried emailing her. Do you think she’ll ever forgive me?”

“Give her time. That’s my best advice. Let her cool down. She will, I think, it’ll just take…I don’t know how long it’ll take. I’ve never seen her so angry before. But I need to ask you something, for my own edification. I’d like to know why you didn’t step forward after her parents died. Why
did
you allow her to go live with people you knew were not quite all there? Even you admit that Jodi had told you on any number of occasions what they were like.”