The Doctor's Medicine Woman

by Donna Clayton

  The elderly woman nodded her understanding. “In two short months the boys will turn six. It is the Kolheek tradition to hold a naming ceremony on—or close to—a child’s sixth birthday.”

  Diana watched Travis shake his head.

  “Naming ceremony? But the boys already have names.”

  “Kolheek names,” the Council woman explained.

  Knowing she could clarify in a way he would understand, Diana offered, “Long ago, the infant mortality rate was very high. Parents discovered it was best to wait—”

  “That is the rationalization given by cultural professors at colleges and universities.” Diana’s grandmother enunciated the words with gentle but firm disapproval. “The real reason is that the Kolheek believe a child should have the chance to develop a personality before he is gifted with a name.”

  A patient smile tugged at the corners of Diana’s mouth. This wasn’t the first time she and her grandmother had clashed over her academic cultural studies of the Kolheek people.

  “Had you given me a chance, Grandmother, I’d have explained fully.”

  “I know you would have,” her grandmother granted. “But the day is quickly passing. And surely the good doctor is anxious to collect his children.”

  Now Travis was smiling. At the Council. Diana could sense the warmth of it, but because she stood slightly behind him and to one side, she could not see his face and was only left to wonder if her thoughts about how a smile would transform his features was true or not. Somehow, she felt deprived.

  When next her grandmother spoke, the woman’s voice was louder, more formal than it had been just a moment before, and Diana knew an edict of the Council was being declared.

  “Our Medicine Woman will live with Dr. Westcott and the boys until such time as she deems them ready to be named. She will teach the children all she can of the Kolheek and the essence of what it means to be part of The People. She will prepare Jared and Josh for their naming ceremony, and she will perform that ceremony.” After the very briefest of pauses, she added, “Then we shall see what fate has in store.”

  Diana shot her grandmother a curious glance. What on earth had she meant by that last peculiar statement?

  The flight back to Philadelphia was packed with business travelers and vacationers, but Travis paid little attention to his fellow passengers—except the two young boys sitting beside him. Jared and Josh were craning to see out the small window on what was so very obviously their first trip in an airplane. Jared chattered away excitedly, while Josh just seemed to silently take in everything with his huge, dark eyes.

  All Travis had to do was look at the boys and his chest swelled with pride, his heart with paternal love. He’d thought the fatherly feelings would take time to develop, that becoming the boys’ daddy would have to grow on him. However, he’d discovered rather quickly when he’d picked up the children at the orphanage this afternoon just how wrong he’d been.

  Jared and Josh already knew Travis as he’d been to visit them twice a year since arranging their operations—and more often since he’d started the adoption process—so that made the meeting less stressful for everyone concerned. Upon being told that Dr. Travis, as the boys had referred to him until now, was taking them home to live with him, the boys’ reactions had made Travis’s heart literally ache with throat-closing emotion.

  Jared had grinned and seemed to accept the situation eagerly. He’d asked if Travis was really going to be his daddy. The question had made Travis nearly strangle with the surprising magnitude of love that surged through him. He hadn’t been able to answer with anything other than a silent nod.

  Josh’s reaction had been poignant, too, but in a very different way. His silence was profound, his large, chocolate eyes shadowed with some emotion Travis couldn’t quite identify, but that he suspected was suspicion. And fear. Travis had wanted desperately to comfort the boy, embrace him, assure him there was nothing to be afraid of. However, he’d been worried that becoming physical too soon would only compound the child’s fear. Trust would come in time, Travis was certain.

  The child’s misgivings were abated somewhat when Jared had tossed his arm over his brother’s shoulder and had said, “It’s going to be okay, Josh. You’ll see.”

  Although Jared’s chin had lifted with what looked like much bravado, Travis hadn’t missed the anxiety lacing the boy’s reassuring remark. He’d wanted to hug the boys to him, to tell them they needn’t worry another second, that he’d move mountains to see that they were loved and well cared for. But he’d stifled the urge, silently noting again that trust—like Rome—wasn’t built in a day.

  The boys’ meager belongings had been packed into one suitcase and they had spent a tearful half hour saying goodbye to the friends they’d made at the state home and the staff there that had cared for them for the first five years of their lives. Travis had patiently given the children as long as he could before telling them they had to get on the road to the airport.

  At the mention of airplanes and runways, Jared had come alive with excitement. Josh did his best to underplay his feelings about all this commotion, but Travis knew the child was just as eager for this new experience as his brother.

  As he now watched the boys press their faces against the small, double-paned window, Travis sighed. The trip to the reservation had been pretty close to perfect. He’d come home with the boys…

  The sigh he now expelled was filled to the brim with doubt and agitation. He wasn’t really angry that he’d had to agree to Diana Chapman’s presence in his home for the next couple of months. He agreed with the Kolheek Council’s opinion that Jared and Josh needed some roots. They were young. And impressionable. They needed a sense of heritage. A heritage that Travis couldn’t give them because he didn’t have it himself.

  He looked across the aisle at the woman’s arrow-straight, black-as-midnight hair, her tawny skin, noble cheekbones, perfect nose.

  What was it about Diana Chapman that unsettled him so? Was it because she was a Medicine Woman? Someone living the very culture he was so totally ignorant of? Or was it because she had been forced on him? Because she was someone he’d see as an invader in his house? In his new family? Or, a quiet voice silently stressed, was it because she was too darned beautiful for words?

  She turned her head, her nut-brown eyes connecting with his, and she caught him staring for what seemed the umpteenth time since they’d boarded the plane. Awkwardness crept over him, thick and straining. What was it about her that made him feel so…rough and unrefined? Ham-fisted, even?

  Her dark, steady gaze was trained on him, and he felt the silence swell and grow even more awkward than it had been only a moment before. The urge to reach up and tug at his collar welled up in him like an unreachable itch, but he firmly squelched it.

  Her quiet dignity, her almost patrician manner, was what had him feeling so damned uncouth.

  Say something, you idiot, his brain silently poked him like a stick. Say something that will bridge this difficult stillness.

  “So,” he began, hating the dry-as-dust sound of his voice, “tell me…what exactly does a Medicine Woman do?”

  Diana went utterly still. When she had left the reservation in order to attend college in southern California, she’d shied away from telling anyone in the outside world that she was training to become a Kolheek Medicine Woman. The title was archaic to the modern world. And to people who weren’t familiar with Native American culture, the term often provoked snickers and thinly disguised jeers.

  She remained silent for several seconds as she tried to decipher whether the doctor’s query had been prompted by disdain or honest curiosity.

  He hadn’t said much to her since they had left the reservation together and traveled to the nearby small town of Iron Hill, Vermont, to pick up the boys at the state orphanage. Diana had pretty much stayed in the background as Travis happily broke the news to Jared and Josh that the adoption had been successful, that they would be going home with him. To s
tay.

  Jared had been all smiles, but Josh had taken the information in silence. Over the next half hour or so that they were at the home, Diana watched in silence as Travis interacted with his new sons. The only introduction she’d received was that she was a ‘lady from the reservation who’ll be staying with us for a while.’ She hadn’t minded being brushed over. Travis had only told the truth, and it was important that the focus of the moment be placed on the boys, who needed to understand the change that was about to take place in their lives now that they had been adopted by Travis.

  The trip to the airport was filled with Jared’s questions. The child wanted to know how big the plane would be, how high they would fly, if they’d be above the clouds, if they’d eat a meal. His questions had rung like the peals of a high-pitched bell. Travis had remained patient, and that had impressed Diana.

  Finding no guile in Travis’s eyes now, Diana said, “It would probably be easier to tell you what a Medicine Woman doesn’t do.”

  He obviously recognized her quip for what it was—an attempt to reduce the strain between them. He smiled, and Diana’s breath literally caught in her throat. She’d been right. His smile really did change his already handsome features into a countenance that stole away all thought. For a moment her mind went blank, her heart raced, as she took in his even, white teeth, the smile lines around his mouth and eyes. My, but he was a handsome man.

  “Jack-of-all-trades, are you?” he said, interrupting her chaotic thoughts.

  She blinked, struggling to calm her jangling nerves, her racing mind. What had they been talking about? Taking a deep, soul-soothing breath, she swiftly gathered her composure.

  Her job. That was it. He’d asked about her responsibilities.

  “I do…everything. I lead celebrations. I pray for the sick. I council alcoholics, unwed mothers and couples whose marriages are in trouble. I deliver babies. I diagnose illness and prescribe medication—”

  “You deliver babies? And prescribe medicine?”

  “Yes,” she answered. One corner of her mouth pulled back a bit. “Well, the babies would come with or without my help. And the medication I prescribe is in the form of herbs, mostly. I’m what you would call a holistic healer. I’m an N.D. Doctor of Naturopathy. Certified by the state of Vermont.”

  “You’re a bona fide doctor?”

  There was no hint of derision in his tone, and for that Diana was relieved. She nodded.

  “Wow, I didn’t realize.”

  Did she hear apology in his words?

  She couldn’t stop the grin that took over her face. “Please don’t tell me you were expecting a peace pipe and a feather headdress.”

  Her gentle teasing seemed to ease the awkwardness that hung between them.

  “Don’t get me wrong,” she continued. “I have ceremonial paraphernalia. Brought it with me, in fact. For the ceremony. But I don’t use it on a daily basis.”

  His breathy chuckle was so soft she barely heard it. “I have to admit, when the Council said Medicine Woman, I had no idea what to expect.”

  “Usually a Kolheek Shaman is—”

  “Don’t you mean Sha-person?”

  The wisecrack was only voiced to make her laugh, she realized that.

  “I’ve never concerned myself too much with political correctness,” she told him. “And I’m not radically into feminism, either.” Seeing his surprised expression, she pointedly added, “Living among the Kolheek tribe has taught me exactly which sex wields the power.”

  His smile waning, Travis seemed momentarily unsure of the meaning of her statement. Diana liked the idea of keeping him on his toes and made no effort to explain her thoughts further.

  “Normally,” she said, “I would become the apprentice of another Shaman. I would have learned everything I needed to know without leaving the reservation. But I wanted more. I wanted a formal education. And my grandmother agreed. So I attended college, and then medical school.”

  “What if your grandmother hadn’t agreed?”

  Diana lifted one shoulder slightly. “That wouldn’t have happened. My grandmother is a wise woman. She knows there is very little opportunity on the reservation. We already have two family physicians. It’s a small tribe. Too small to support three doctors. She knew I would someday have to find another path to follow.”

  “A different path? You’re thinking of quitting—”

  “No, no,” she assured him. “I am a Kolheek Medicine Woman, first and foremost. I will remain on my chosen path. But if I’m to support myself, it will someday take me to a different place. Off the reservation.”

  “I see.” He glanced over to check on the boys, and then his dark gaze leveled on her once again. “How do you feel about that? Leaving your home? Your grandmother?”

  Diana averted her gaze for an instant. She moistened her lips, and tilted up her chin as she told him, “I love my grandmother dearly. She raised me. But all baby birds must someday leave the nest, fly on their own, isn’t that so?”

  She’d left the nest once. She’d married and thought she’d made a home for herself in California. But then she’d been wounded, she’d fled back to the reservation, her heart ripped and torn to shreds, her wings broken and bleeding.

  “Sounds like you and your grandmother are very close.”

  “Yes,” she answered softly. She would miss her grandmother this holiday season. But Diana was determined to make her grandmother proud by doing right by the twins. Jared and Josh would know what it meant to be Kolheek when she was through. She could take great pride in that.

  A frown bit into his brow as if something worrisome had just then entered his mind. “Maybe you can help me to understand something. Can you tell me what she meant today? Your grandmother, I mean. With that cryptic parting phrase she gave me? The one about fate? And seeing what it had in store?”

  The sudden anxiety clouding Travis’s gaze had a startling effect on Diana. Empathy enveloped her like the warm blanket of sunshine that covers the New England mountains each summer.

  Travis continued, “She wouldn’t let me bring the boys home, get them settled, only to deny me the right to adopt them after your stay, would she?”

  His distress turned to raw fear, and Diana thought her heart would surely rend in two. And in that instant, bells and whistles sounded in her head, red warning flags waved furiously. She had no business caring so much about this man’s reactions to her grandmother’s words. No business whatsoever.

  Chapter Two

  Then we’ll see what fate has in store.

  Her grandmother’s words had flitted through Diana’s head more than once since she’d left the reservation with Travis. She remembered the unsettled feeling the obscure yet seemingly momentous statement had stirred in her as she stood with Travis before the Council.

  Diana’s first thought had been that the remark had been meant for her benefit, and she’d been bewildered by what message her grandmother might be trying to relay to her. But hearing Travis’s doubts regarding her grandmother’s intentions now had Diana wondering if maybe he was right. Maybe her grandmother had been issuing some kind of warning to Travis about the boys. That did make more sense. But if this was so, then it was a cruel thing for her grandmother to have done to Travis. The man was trying to do something good here. Something honorable and compassionate. Now he was being made to worry about having the twins taken from him after opening his home—and his heart—to Jared and Josh. Would her grandmother have done something so unkind?

  Sympathy for Travis pained Diana’s heart. He needed reassurance. She could tell from the expression on his face, from the doubt shadowing his intense, black eyes.

  “To my knowledge, the Council has never retracted a promise,” she told him softly. “And they did make you a promise today. They said they wanted you and the boys to become a family. To the Kolheek, a person’s word means everything—honor, pride, honesty, integrity. A person’s character is only as good as his or her word. I cannot believe…”r />
  Her voice faltered and then trailed away as she tucked her bottom lip between her teeth. As much as she wanted to assure him, she refused to tell him anything other than the full and honest truth.

  After expelling a resigned sigh, she said, “But I cannot mislead you. This situation is far different than any I’ve ever experienced. The Council is concerned about the boys. About their living away from their culture. About your being single.” She sighed. “Until the adoption papers are signed by each Council member and the documents are in your hands, then…I would suppose that anything is possible.”

  “Great.” His utterance was soft, more to himself than to anyone else.

  Again, compassion squeezed her in its tight grip. “The Council did say they wanted you to have the boys.”

  “Only two of the members actually spoke,” he reminded her.

  “They were the Council representatives. They spoke the thoughts of everyone. If even one member had disagreed, you can be sure he or she would have spoken up.”

  Gratitude tinged his tone as he murmured his appreciation. She smiled at him, her stomach suddenly feeling all giddy and…and strange.

  Just then a plastic drinking straw from one of the boys’ sodas came flying over Travis’s head, landing on the blue carpeted aisle separating Travis’s and Diana’s seats. Automatically she reached down to pick it up. After quietly warning the boys to settle down, Travis turned back to her and took the straw from her.

  The pads of his fingers were warm as they gently brushed the backs of hers. A chill shimmied up her arm, churning up gooseflesh, and she shivered. She darted a glance at his strong hand, and then again at his handsome profile. Luckily Travis was in motion, swinging back around to speak to the twins, and he didn’t seem to notice her astonishing response to his touch.

  She curled her fingers into a fist and stuffed her hand into her lap. Reacting to Travis was the very last thing she wanted to do. She didn’t want to be affected by him. Men were the cause of too much pain. Too much humiliation. Her only goal on this trip was to spend time with Jared and Josh, to acquaint them with their heritage. If she could help assuage Travis’s doubts and fears about the adoption, she would. If she could help the boys feel more comfortable with their new father, she’d do that, too. But she didn’t want any involvement with Travis other than what was necessary for the boys’ sake.