Books by Linda Conrad

by Conrad, Linda

  “You can understand then why we don’t buy into the idea of helpful ghosts,” he added. “If they’re here, they’re evil. And no one wants such things inside their homes.”

  “I sort of understand, but…”

  “The bone beads in your hand are an infinitely worse sign than mere ghosts, however. Bone beads mean witchcraft. And witchcraft is a complete reversal of the Navajo Way

  .”

  “Witchcraft? You don’t believe in the possibility of seeing friendly ghosts, but you do believe in evil spirits and witches? You’re joking.”

  “Not at all,” he said with a scowl. “The People have lived with the knowledge of witches throughout their history. They exist today. And the fact that the evil spirit you claim you saw resembled a dog makes things all the more difficult for you.

  “There is ancient evil alive on the rez today, Alexis,” he continued after a pause. “Malevolent witches who are known as Skinwalkers and can turn themselves into various forms, appearing as apparitions of the wolf, raven, snake, owl, bear…and a huge wild dog.”

  “Like…like the man I saw in my vision?”

  Michael narrowed his eyes to study her. “Exactly like that.”

  “You actually believe shape-shifters exist in real life?”

  “Unfortunately, yes. I know the Skinwalkers are real and extremely dangerous. I’ve seen them with my own eyes.”

  He probably shouldn’t be considered crazy to believe in such things. After all, she was the one who saw dead people.

  Michael appeared to be perfectly sane. But to believe in real shape-shifters…Heaven help them if what he said turned out to be true. Was this the evil Dan and her mother had warned her about?

  “Those beads in your hand are a terrible thing to bring into a traditional Navajo home,” Michael told her gently. “You have committed a sacrilege, one that will take a curing ceremony to fix.”

  “But I didn’t bring them here. I didn’t even know they were evil.”

  “You need to know. If you intend to stay in Navajoland for any time, you must learn about such things.”

  “Okay,” she said with frustration in her voice. “I agree with that. But if you’re to be the one to teach me, you’ll have to learn about my heritage, too. It appears I can’t help who I am any more than you can help what you believe.”

  He took a deep breath. “Fine. Now give me those taboo objects.”

  “Gladly.” She dumped the beads into his palm. “I have to go check on my son.” Lexie jumped up and made her way down the hallway toward the bedrooms.

  After she was out of sight, Michael pulled his medicine pouch from its place on his belt and prepared a quick blessing to halt the transmission of evil spirits coming from the beads. Later he would burn and bury them as prescribed by tradition.

  He tried to focus on Alexis’s tale of the visions, but he kept coming back to the look in her eyes as she was telling him the story. She believed in every fantastic thing she had told him. More than that, it was as though she’d been primed and ready to accept the witchcraft concept when he’d turned the tables and told her about the Skinwalkers.

  His skin crawled at the thought of real Skinwalkers coming right into his family’s home. Could they do that through Lexie’s visions?

  He could barely think straight. His emotions were already unsettled. And had been ever since last night when he first laid eyes on Alexis after all these years.

  He’d fought hard to maintain his distance when she’d appeared in Dinetah. Nevertheless, he’d been drawn to her side.

  For the last few years, as the Skinwalker war raged across Dinetah, any kind of desire had been the last thing on his mind. But Alexis had kindled some long buried flame the minute she’d come into his world. He’d never met a woman with such an elegant—yet sensual manner—about her. The conflict of wanting to know the woman underneath was driving him nuts.

  Those very same internal conflicts had kept him away from his brother over their entire married life. He’d been afraid of being around her. She was his brother’s wife, out of bounds. And now she was his brother’s widow and the mother of his child. Still out of bounds.

  Watching the way she treated her son, with such tenderness and ferocious care, had unfortunately only made him want her more. It seemed to him that a mother tiger lurked within the beautiful but fragile shell of Alexis Ayze. Such an idea was more than a little appealing.

  And damned if his own canny mother hadn’t somehow picked up on his feelings. There was no way she would’ve come up with those old Dine marriage traditions so casually if she hadn’t already realized he felt something toward Alexis.

  Like most of the Dine who tried to live as tradition dictated, his mother was constantly torn between new and old. She drove a car, used electric heat and air-conditioning in her house and was in many ways a modern working woman. Yet at the same time, she fought hard to convince herself she was living as a tradition-based Navajo who followed in the footsteps of her ancestors.

  Still, his mother’s motivation where he and Alexis were concerned was obvious. Louise Ayze did indeed want her oldest son married and settled. Hadn’t she been nagging him since he’d returned to Dinetah to find a nice woman? But Louise’s biggest reason to insist on a traditional union between him and hisAnglo sister-in-law was even more basic—keeping her grandson Jack near by.

  Michael had almost convinced himself he needed to send Alexis away. For both of their sakes. But now that she’d been accosted by a Skinwalker, even if it was the ghost of a Skinwalker, he couldn’t leave her alone. He didn’t dare let her out of his sight. His life would be less than worthless if anything happened to her because he was afraid to be close.

  His thoughts turned to the Skinwalker spirit she’d supposedly seen. Why had it come to her at his parents’ house?

  Their home had been blessed with a special ceremony to ward off Skinwalkers. So if it turned out the evil ones had found a way to break in anyway, then the Brotherhood could be in for terror like they’d never seen before.

  On the other hand, to be fair to Alexis, the People had never been able to keep all chindi out of a house—blessed or not. Not when a person could die at any time. In the old days, the Dine would sometimes abandon a hogan when a death had accidentally occurred inside. Back then they believed the evil chindi would be trapped there forever.

  Today, the modern People preferred to take their ill relatives to the hospital to die. Or they had ceremonies and special traditions for restoring a house and those within it to harmony in case death came suddenly.

  If what Alexis had seen were merely ghostly spirits, it might not be as bad as if live Skinwalkers were trying to take over her mind. The regular sort of evil spirit could potentially be sent away with the right cure.

  But the real question for him now was why. Why had a Skinwalker chindi come to Alexis at all? And why come here?

  Michael shook his head. Too many confusing questions.

  He needed time to think. Time for his brain to come up with a few decent answers. For now his only choice was to go through the motions. Protect his family and find ways to stay near Alexis for her protection. That’s all he could do until things became clearer.

  Lexie touched Jack’s forehead and found it cool. He looked so peaceful. Fluffing her fingers through his hair, she sat down next to her son’s bed and watched him sleep. Oh, to be four again and be able to rest so soundly.

  She tucked her knees up under her chin, wrapped her arms around her legs and sighed. Jack was her whole life. What would be the best thing for him?

  Unfortunately, she didn’t have a lot of choices. The reason she’d brought him to the reservation in the first place was they had run out of money. That hadn’t changed. Now she didn’t even have the use of her car, so leaving at all would be tough.

  But if she truly thought her child was in danger, she would find a way. She would borrow the money and take a bus if necessary. But a bus to where? Would anywhere in the world be saf
er for Jack than with his extended family?

  No, she was absolutely convinced Jack was where he belonged. There was love here for him. Love and learning—and understanding. She desperately wanted all of those things for her boy.

  Her mind switched back to the safety issue. Was her son safe? Lexie wasn’t nearly as sure about that.

  She looked down at his sleeping form and caught the remnants of a tiny smile on his lips. Her gut instincts screamed for her to let him stay right here. She tried to reason it through, but instead kept having flashes of her mother’s ghostly image.

  Her mother’s spirit had claimed Jack was safe here, but she hadn’t said anything about Lexie being safe, too. What if it was only her who might be in danger on the reservation? Would the trouble maybe bounce off her and go right back to her son?

  Such scary thoughts brought a tiny bubble of distress to her lips. Was it possible that her son might be better off without her?

  “Mommy?” Jack stirred awake and reached out toward her. “Are we okay?”

  Lexie pulled him up and into her lap. “We’re fine, honey.” So far. “Let’s get your shoes on, wash your face and go see what we can find in your grandmother’s kitchen for a snack.”

  By the time Lexie and Jack got to the kitchen, Louise Ayze had returned from her luncheon.

  “Well, good afternoon, you two. Look what I have for you,” she said to Jack with a wide beam. Louise handed him a banana and a clear plastic bag full of Goldfish crackers.

  “How’d you guess those are Jack’s favorite foods?”

  “No need to guess. It’s what his father and uncle liked best when they were his age.”

  Lexie could see the love shining in her mother-in-law’s eyes. How could Jack be in any trouble with so much goodwill surrounding him?

  She settled her son at the kitchen table with his treats and his electronic learning game then looked around, but saw no sign of Michael.

  “If you are seeking my eldest son, he is performing hataalii duties in the medicine hogan out behind the house.”

  “I’ve heard you use that term before. Hataalii, ” she tried to pronounce it the same way as Louise had.

  “What’s it mean?”

  Louise pointed to a chair at the far end of the table. “Sit with me, Daughter. I will explain.”

  After pouring them both a glass of iced tea, Louise sat down beside her. “Hataalii is the Dine word for medicine man. I told you last night that to be a traditional Navajo means to maintain balance—staying in harmony within and without your natural body. But there is always the potential for disorder in life. When bad things happen, the medicine man uses a variety of methods, mostly through our various ceremonies, to make things right.”

  “What kind of methods do you mean?” Lexie had visions of dangerous and weird rituals.

  “The medicine men use herbs, prayers, songs and sand drawings in their ceremonies. A qualified medicine man is a unique individual given supernatural powers to diagnose a person’s problem and also to heal or cure illness by restoring harmony.”

  Well, those sorts of things didn’t sound too bad. But supernatural powers? She’d have to think that over.

  “We were blessed when our son accepted his calling and went through the many years of training necessary to become a hataalii. He learned the ceremonies from his maternal great-uncle, a famous and experienced traditional medicine man.

  “Indeed,” Louise continued after a breath, “our oldest child has grown into a man who would be any woman’s idea of a well-respected husband.”

  Uh-oh. “Where did you say Michael was now?”

  “All traditional families keep a medicine hogan nearby. It’s the round house I pointed out to you this morning on the way down to the barn. Every ceremony is performed in them—even weddings.”

  Just then Jack’s grandfather came in and offered to take Jack back down to the corral to see the horse. Lexie jumped at the chance to escape her mother-in-law for a few minutes and volunteered to accompany them outside.

  She badly needed to talk to Michael before she spent any more time with Louise. Shape-shifters, ghosts, medicine men and arranged marriages. Yikes.

  What could Lexie possibly say to a woman who had such confusing beliefs?

  “I don’t know what else to say to you, my mother.” Michael was frustrated by trying to find ways of telling his mother about Alexis’s chindi ghosts without throwing her ingrained sense of natural order right out the window.

  He’d come back to the house after dealing with the bone beads. And since finding his mother alone in the house, he’d been attempting to prepare her for what was to come.

  Standing in her kitchen, waiting for his father to bring Alexis and Jack back inside for dinner, Michael had been trying to find a way to make his mother accept his newest decisions without giving her all the details and scaring her too much.

  He took a breath and tried to become the competent hataalii she expected him to be. “I can tell you no more than that Alexis has had a disturbing dream and I’ve decided this home needs a cure. I’ve called and asked your son-in-law to perform the ceremony. And in return, he’s invited you and my father to stay with your daughter for a few days while he completes the blessing.”

  “Will this be a Blessing Way

  ceremony?” Louise asked. “That would normally mean the entire clan should be invited, and food should be prepared. And if it is, why will we have to move out of our home for four days? Please explain.”

  Michael decided to exert his influence as a medicine man. “Mother, do you question my ceremonial decisions?”

  “No, of course not. I just don’t understand the need for…”

  He gently took her hand. “I promise it’s for the best. There is a need for this house to be cured, and I’ve taken steps to see it will be done right.

  “Think of the time you’ll be away as a vacation.” He grinned at his mother and saw her expression soften. “You aren’t going too far, only over to my sister’s home.”

  Junior’s wife and Michael’s sister, Naomi, and her young family lived in a new house, built nearby on her maternal clan’s grazing lease land. Within walking distance of her mother’s home. It was the traditional Navajo Way

  .

  “What about my daughter-in-law and grandson? Will they have to leave this house, too?”

  “I think it would be a good idea for Jack to meet his cousins. It’ll be fun for him to go with you and stay with them for a while. But…” How on earth was he going to word this next part to keep her from jumping to false conclusions?

  “And what about your future wife?”

  Yep. That was exactly the kind of conclusion he’d been trying to avoid. “A marriage between Alexis and I is not at all settled, Mother.” He watched his mother’s eyebrows lift. As far as she was concerned, the subject was closed.

  No use arguing about it. In fact, the rest of what he had to say would probably please his mother very much.

  “I’ve decided Alexis should become my research assistant. I’m in the middle of a complicated anthropology project and I’ll need her with me constantly. So I believe she should stay in my guest room for the duration of the project.

  “You should be very happy about my decision.” Michael continued in his good son voice. “The time we spend together will give both of us a chance to get to know each other better. And, of course, it’ll give me the opportunity to begin her lessons in the Dine traditions.”

  “Alexis has agreed to all of this?” his mother asked. “Agreed to leaving her son in our care and stay with you?” She could barely keep the joy out of her eyes.

  “If she agrees,” Michael continued, “I’ll make sure she sees Jack at least once a day.”

  “I would expect my daughter-in-law to already know her son will be secure in his aunt’s home and safe being watched by his grandmother,” that very grandmother announced. “She should not have to worry. I will speak to her.”

  Yeah, Michael figu
red that would clinch it. Alexis was as powerless around his meddling and overbearing mother as all the rest of the clan.

  Lexie’s head was spinning. When she and Jack and her father-in-law had walked back into the house from the barn, Louise had been a whirlwind in motion. The tiny woman was packing up the refrigerator and issuing orders for everyone else to pack their clothes and bathroom items.

  Pulling Michael aside, Lexie tried to find out what was going on. “What happened?”

  “It was the only way I could think of to get everyone out of the house so the damage caused by the bone beads can be repaired,” Michael said as he dragged her down the hallway and out of earshot.

  “The whole family has to move to your sister’s house? But it’s so disruptive.” Lexie took a breath. “This is all my fault.”

  “Not at all. You didn’t invite the ghost of the Skinwalker to come here, did you?”

  She shook her head. “But is there room for everyone over there at your sister’s?”

  Michael’s facial expression took a suspicious turn. Quite unlike the usual egotistical and macho manner she expected from him, his gaze now skittered away from hers, landing absently on dead space over her shoulder.

  “You and I won’t be staying there.” His voice was casual, the sound hoarse. “But we’ll help get everyone settled tonight. Naomi has even volunteered to help you rebuild your and Jack’s lost wardrobes with some of their clothing. She’s about your size—”

  “Wait,” Lexie cut in. She’d caught the obvious discrepancies in what he’d left out. “Slow down. Are you saying your parents and Jack will be staying with your sister’s family but you and I will not?”

  A slice of panic over her child’s welfare left her breathless. Breathing through her nose, she fought to remain calm and tried to steel herself.

  “Alexis, stop a moment and—”

  “Will he be safe?” she interrupted. “Really safe?”

  Michael nodded grimly. “Remember, it’s you who’s brought the chindi into the house. Have you considered the possibility that staying too close to you might prove more dangerous for Jack than being out of your sight?”