Breaking New Grounds

by Amy DeMeritt

  As I’m reaching forward to open my menu, Helaku lunges forward out of Awenasa’s lap and latches onto my shoulder. He giggles and wiggles in Awenasa’s arms, trying to get to me.

  “Mom Kayla. Kiss.” I smile and pull him into my arms and give him kisses. He laughs really hard and wraps his arms around my neck, laying his head on my shoulder. “Love Mom Kayla.”

  “I love you too, Son. Are you going to help me decide what to eat? What are you hungry for, mister?”

  He lifts his head and looks at the menu I’m holding up. With an adorable grin he points to the menu with a fast-hard jab, and says, “Eat.”

  I laugh and nibble his cheek, making him squirm and laugh as he pushes in harder against me. Awenasa runs a hand over my head with a loving smile, causing a burst of tingling heat to erupt in my chest. I lean over and she meets me halfway to kiss my lips. As I part my lips, I smile as she accepts me to fully kiss her for a few moments. As I pull away, she kisses my forehead and caresses my cheek.

  “Mom!”

  Helaku grabs the sides of my face with his eyes wide and his mouth parted in an oblong shape. I smile and bump noses with him, side to side, making him giggle. He bounces on my thigh and pats my cheeks a few times.

  “Mom Kayla, eat.”

  “Ok, Son, let’s figure out what we’re going to eat. I don’t know about you, but I am super hungry.”

  “Eat.”

  I munch on his little neck for a moment, making him laugh hard and squirm in my arms. As I release him and lift the menu, Paige, our usual waitress arrives with a tray laden with a pitcher of fruit water, dinner rolls, bowls of butter, and glasses.

  “Good evening. How are all of you doing?”

  While she unloads her tray, then unloads another tray of drinks brought by another waitress, we catch up with her a bit about her family.

  “You all leave for California soon, right?”

  Madison nods, saying, “Yes, in a couple of weeks. We plan on getting here a couple more times before we leave though.”

  “Oh, good! Well, before you get too deep into the menus, let me tell you tonight’s specials. For our soup special, we have a creamy corn chowder topped with a cheddar crisp. Our salad special is a bed of spring greens topped with fresh strawberries, goat cheese, heirloom grape tomatoes, roasted candy beets, and cedar plank grilled pecan encrusted salmon. The dressing is a watermelon basil vinaigrette.”

  My mouth is watering so badly from the soup and salad that I feel like I took a gulp of water.

  “The entrée special is a grilled half-chicken dusted with a six-chili blend, served with roasted sweet potatoes and a micro green salad.”

  “Oh, man, all of that sounds amazing, but I don’t think I can eat that much. Helaku, you want to split all of that with me, Son?”

  “Eat!”

  I laugh and kiss his smiling lips. “I guess that’s a yes. Paige, is the chicken spicy?”

  “It has a mild heat, but it’s probably too spicy for him. I can have Dana grill him a separate piece of chicken breast.”

  “Ok, that will work.”

  Everyone else either orders one or two of the specials, or entrées from the menu. After Paige walks away to put our order in, Awenasa grabs a honey oat roll, butters it with honey butter, and places it on my small plate for me and Helaku. I tear off a small piece and he opens his mouth wide for me to feed him. He looks so damn cute when he eats. His lips do a funny side to side twisting motion while he maintains a small smile and his beautiful light brown eyes remain slightly wider than usual. After he swallows, he reaches down for more, planting his little hand right in the buttered top of the roll.

  “Oh, Son.”

  I laugh as I grab his buttered hand and hold it up. He giggles and bounces on my lap as Awenasa takes his hand to clean it with a baby wipe.

  “Ok, now listen up, Son. You have to let me feed you while we’re in public or you’re going to make a big mess.”

  “Eat.”

  “Here you go, my love.”

  Helaku opens his mouth wide as Awenasa feeds him another piece of the roll. I smile and open my mouth wide and wait. Awenasa releases a cute laugh and feeds me a piece of roll.

  “Thank you.”

  Awenasa pinches my cheek like I’m a baby and flashes me a cute grin. God, I love her so much. Her bright green eyes are glowing in the dim restaurant lighting and her smile is making her high cheekbones pop in a beautiful way. She has her long black hair braided along the sides and pulled into one long braid to hang over her left shoulder. Her earlobes have small silver hoops with turquoise and jasper inlays around the band. I can’t stop looking at her.

  Two small hands grab my face and yank my eyes away from Awenasa. I look down at Helaku’s grinning face and laugh.

  “Hello, Son.”

  He smooshes my cheeks and presses his parted lips to mine. “Mom, kiss.”

  “Thank you, Son.

  He responds with his adorable baby talk then turns to face Awenasa with a wide mouth, waiting to be fed again. While I grab my glass of water, she feeds him a bite of the butter roll.

  As she wipes some butter and crumbs from his lips, she says, “Sparrow called while you were showering and enjoying our wives’ company.” I smile really big at the way she said that and she releases a cute giggle and pats my cheek in a loving way. “The chief has a mission for our ambassador.”

  I laugh a little with my cheeks blushing. “Oh, yeah? What is my mission?”

  “Apparently, there is an art collector in Santa Rosa who has a Shoshone fringed buckskin tunic that was worn by a great warrior in The Snake War in the 1860’s. The art collector claims it was a gift from a direct descendant. So, the tribe is losing the battle with the government under the various laws that protect our artifacts to have the tunic repatriated to the tribe. The art collector has agreed to give the tunic to the tribe, for a price, of course, but the tribe cannot afford it.”

  I release a groaning exhale as I flex my fingers and shake my head in disbelief. “You have got to be kidding me. When the hell are people going to stop exploiting us for their gain? How much does this piece of scum want?”

  “Fifty-grand, which is actually pretty low for what similar artifacts are illegally sold for. Our chief believes the collector may have under priced the tunic because she actually does want to return it to the tribe but may be waiting for them to approach her differently. Our chief believes that there is a chance we can still have the tunic repatriated without having to pay for the garment. Sparrow believes this is a test of your diplomacy skills. She believes, if you can successfully repatriate this tunic, you will be able to form your coalition.”

  I nod as I run a hand over my head and grip the back of my neck to massage away the tension. “And if I fail this mission, I’m guessing they don’t believe anyone will want to join the coalition?”

  Awenasa places a hand on my cheek as she leans in and kisses my lips. “She did not say that, my love. But whether you are able to repatriate this tunic or not, you and I already know it will not be an easy task to create an effective coalition. We’re not going to be able to dedicate a significant amount of time to it, not for a couple of years, at least. We will need to recruit and appoint leaders who can dedicate much more time to it than we can. Making change takes time and many do not have the stamina to hold out to see the results.”

  “Or the stamina to keep supporting the people fighting the battles that others won’t or can’t.” I exhale hard and rub a hand over my face. As I’m lowering my hand, Helaku grabs it and smooshes his mouth to it, giving me a slobbery grinning kiss. My chest warms and my eyes water as I look at my beautiful baby boy’s smiling face. I lift him up higher to kiss him on the forehead. “No matter how difficult or how long it takes, you and your siblings are more than enough of a reason to never lose stamina. I want you to have the perfect life, my son. I love you, Helaku.”

  “Love Mom. Kiss.”

  I give him a kiss, and he smiles as he lays his he
ad on my shoulder. I rest my cheek against his and rub his back. I know creating this coalition won’t be easy, but even if we don’t live on the reservation, I have to do my part to protect it and our people’s sovereignty and rights. I have to protect our roots and our future. I have to do what I can to secure a safe future with fewer prejudices for my children and their children.

  Chapter Thirty

  Madison comes into the living room and sits down on the floor as she sets her laptop on the coffee table.

  Sam lifts her head off of my lap and asks, “What are you doing?”

  Madison smiles and presses a button on her keyboard. A moment later, a song starts playing. Sam lays her head back down on my lap and I resume combing my fingers through her silky golden, almost platinum blonde hair. The song is a collaboration my wives did with Giz and it sounds really great. I can pick out each of their voices and it causes pride to swell in my chest.

  “I’m in love with that song. All of you sound amazing. When is it being released?”

  “They just released it. The song is available for download everywhere and they released a neat lyric video till we can make a real music video. I posted it on all of our social media accounts before I came out here.”

  “I need that on my phone.” Madison giggles and hops up to come sit next to me. She gives me a kiss on my lips then bends down to kiss Sam. “How many views does it have already?”

  “Over a hundred thousand and it’s only been an hour. Giz said Jerry lined us up to perform this song on a couple of talk shows the first week we’re in Los Angeles.”

  “That’s great. I’m so happy and proud of all of you.”

  “Thanks. It’s really exciting.”

  The rest of our wives walk in with our babies. They set Malana, Helaku, and Montana down on the floor with some toys, and Jaime sits next to Madison with Eerin in her arms to feed her a bottle.

  “Wait, is that the Rattled Hearts song you recorded with Giz?”

  Madison nods at Symone. “Yeah, they released it today. Here, let me start it over.”

  Madison slides off of the couch to sit next to the coffee table and restarts the song.

  After it ends, Symone asks, “So, Jaime and I can start having our students build choreography for this now?”

  Jaime looks up from feeding Eerin, and as she and Symone lock eyes, both of them share a loving and excited smile. God, I never tire of them looking at each other like that. It’s amazing they’ve come to love each other so much when a few years ago they disliked each other nearly enough to say they hated each other. They’ve become even closer in the past year since Symone started teaching at Jaime’s three dance schools. She helps with hip-hop, contemporary, and lyrical quite often, and Jaime also added pole dancing classes to one of her locations. Symone’s pole dancing class is so popular it has a waiting list a thousand names deep. They have two other instructors that Symone vetted and approved to teach classes as well. They’re excellent, but Symone is better and she’s famous, so the waiting list for her class is much more substantial.

  “Yeah, the song is out there for the public, so you can share it with your students now.”

  Before Symone or Jaime can respond, Sam releases a small groan, saying, “I’m hungry. I want pizza, chili cheese fries, and ice cream with brownies, peanut butter, and gummy bears.”

  All of us laugh and I bend down to kiss her cheek.

  “That’s an interesting combination. I might have to go shopping to satisfy that craving. Anything else you want?”

  “Root beer floats.”

  “That sounds good.”

  “And fried pickles.”

  “I’ll get the menu up for Chicago Pie. We’ll just order a bunch of stuff.”

  Madison sits on her heels in front of her laptop on the coffee table and starts typing and clicking with her touchpad mouse. Malana crawls over to Madison and uses Madison’s thigh and shirt to pull herself up to stand. Malana has the most adorable smile on her face as she releases a garbled giggle and tries to reach out to touch the computer. Madison laughs and gives Malana a kiss on the lips.

  “Come here, baby girl.”

  Sam puts her hand out to Malana and all of us release a gasp at the same time as Malana turns and releases Madison. She’s standing all on her own without any support for the very first time. She and Helaku have been able to stand up and take steps with us holding their hands or them holding onto the couch or coffee table, but anytime they try to stand without holding something, they fall over. Madison has her hands up behind Malana to catch her if she falls, and we watch with bated breath as Malana takes her very first wobbly step towards Sam.

  Awenasa has tears in her eyes and is holding her phone up recording Malana’s first steps.

  “You’re doing so good, Malana. Come here, baby girl.”

  Sam wiggles her fingers, and Malana giggles as she takes another step forward. She has her little hands clasped in front of herself and is looking very intently at Sam, like she’s concentrating very hard. The distance is only about three feet, but each of her little steps only gets her a few inches closer. Each step is slow and calculated while she learns how to balance herself without falling. It takes her at least a full minute, but she reaches us without falling once. As she places her hands on my knees, she releases a shrill excited shriek and stomps her feet.

  “Mom! Kiss!”

  Sam bends down to pick her up and gives Malana a bunch of kisses all over her face and stomach, making Malana laugh. Awenasa leans in and kisses Malana and Sam as she runs a hand over Malana’s head.

  “Oh, I can’t believe you’re walking already. You’re growing up so fast, my sweet little angel. I love you, Malana.”

  “Love Mom. Kiss!”

  Awenasa tearfully laughs and leans in to kiss Malana. Our baby grabs the sides of Awenasa’s face and smooshes her parted lips to her cheek, giving her a slobbery kiss.

  “Mom!”

  We look down to see Helaku looking up at us with wide eyes and a parted mouth. His hands are up in the air like he’s waiting to be picked up.

  “Mom kiss!”

  Madison crawls over to him and gives him a hug and kiss before standing him up. He laughs and stomps his feet and bounces. After he’s still, she slowly releases him, but then catches him as he starts to fall backwards. She tries again, and Helaku gets an intense look on his face, like he’s confused. With Madison lightly holding his sides, Helaku takes a step towards Awenasa. Madison slowly releases him, and he remains standing stationary for a moment, but then looks over his shoulder at Madison and starts to fall. She catches him, gives him a kiss, and positions him again. He gets a very determined look on his face and takes off.

  “Whoa!”

  Madison laughs and quickly lunges forward, but he reaches Awenasa before she can get her hands on him again. Helaku laughs and buries his face in Awenasa’s knees. She scoops him up and swings side to side as she loves on him and tells him she loves him.

  Montana calls, “Mom”, and starts crawling to Shannon. She gives her kisses and sits her on her lap. Montana releases a rush of giggling gurgling sentences and squeals while bouncing on Shannon’s lap.

  “God, I love our babies. They’re so beautiful.”

  Sam nods in agreement with me as she kisses my cheek and leans in against me with Malana in her arms.

  “Yeah, they are. They’re so amazing at this age. Do you think we should have spaced our baby making out so we can experience this age for longer?”

  “Well, if each one of us is going to have at least one, we still have four of us left, so we’ll be able to experience this for a few more years.”

  “Jesus Christ, we’re going to have so many kids.”

  I laugh and kiss Sam’s cheek. “Yeah, it’s great, isn’t it?”

  “Yes, it is.”

  Sam bumps noses with Malana, and Malana grins and grabs Sam’s face to give her a wet kiss.

  “Mom Sam. Kiss.” Sam gives Malana a flurry of fast kisses all
over her face and neck, making Malana giggle. “Love Mom Sam.”

  “Oh, I love you too. God, I love you so much.”

  Sam squeezes Malana to her chest and rocks her side to side.

  “Mom, bear.”

  Sam giggles and kisses Malana. She slides off of the couch and sets Malana on the floor next to her. Sam picks up the bear out of the pile of smoothly carved wooden animals and rocks it along the rug, making it look like it’s walking, and Sam makes adorable growling noises. Malana releases a cute shrieking laugh and slams her hands on the floor. She gets on her hands and knees and faces off with the small wooden bear and mimics Sam’s bear growls. Malana loves playing like a bear with Sam.

  My cellphone vibrates in my pocket, so I pull it out expecting it to be another text from Sara or Kathy going over schedule reminders and changes for the next few months – they’ve been sending me a ton of those the past few days. However, it seems my phone has been given a break from them.

  Julia: Hey, honey. I’m on my way to a meeting right now, but I wanted to check to see if we’re still on for a video chat later so we can rehearse lines together tonight.

  Me: Yes, I’ll be available, but I’m not making out with my TV for the intimate scenes.

  Julia: You just made me laugh. I needed that. This meeting has me very anxious.

  Me: How come?

  Julia: My team and I need to convince the directors and producers of a project I really want that I’m the best woman for the role. They have three of us that “fit perfectly”. We have to make them believe that only I fit perfectly.

  Me: Who are these clowns that are making you jump through hoops like a circus lioness? Give me their names and numbers and I’ll school them. They must be out of their minds if they think anyone else can match your performance.

  Julia: A lioness, huh? Is that how you see me?

  Me: Well, yeah. You’re a queen – and not just because you’re gorgeous. You’re fiercely talented, graceful, alluring, and you strike reverence in the hearts of those who behold you. You can say, “the sky is blue”, and it would be like you just spoke a prophecy. Hollywood is your jungle and you fucking own it. You are the queen of that scary world. Seriously. If King Kong and Godzilla were to start tearing it up out there, all you’d have to do is stand on the back of a Jeep and those monsters would recognize your power and royal status and bow down to you.