Free ChangingPaths by Marilu Mann Page A

eyes so hard it was a wonder they didn’t make a rattling
sound.
    “That’s enough.” Harmony turned back to their visitors just
as Willow and Keme stepped up onto the porch. “I’m sorry, Rain.”
    “Niece, I called Keme to take her into town. He lives just
down the road and can take her to and from school. He’s a safe driver and can
also introduce her to some of the other young ones.” Willow’s voice held that
strong tone of censure. Harmony felt a flush steal over her face. She had to
continue her work on trusting others, especially her own child.
    “That was nice of you.” Turning to the handsome young man,
she extended her hand and tried for a smile. “Hello, Keme. It’s nice to meet
you.”
    “And you, Ms. Johnson. Rain and I met out by the sweat lodge
at Ms. Willow’s last week. I’m glad you enrolled her at the town school, that’s
where most of us go except for the language classes on the res.” Keme hung his
head in that shy manner many younger shifters adopted around an older female.
    “Please come in.” She stepped back to allow them into the
house and caught a glimpse of something in the woods. As she looked again, a
flash of white flitted between the trees at the very edge of her property. As
she stared a dog, no…a wolf came briefly into view. Instinctively she lifted
her head to scent the wind but it was blowing the wrong way.
    He, and she had no doubt about that, didn’t stop. It was
obvious that her place hadn’t been his destination, but merely on his way from
one spot to another. He disappeared as quickly as he’d appeared. She slowly
shut the door. Had to be a shifter since she knew the wild wolves would be
driven off by the Pack. That was one law she remembered.
    There weren’t too many white shifters that she knew of. In
fact she’d never seen one on the res before. Somehow in her gut she knew that
wolf was Gareth and not just because he was on Pack land.
    Turning her attention back to her guests, she picked up on
the conversation as fast as she could. With the white wolf still on her mind
she smiled absently as Rain gathered her stuff. Mentally Harmony tallied the
backpack, purse, jacket, hat and gloves. It was hard to watch her and Keme head
back out to the car. Willow’s hand on her arm was comforting and she looked at
her aunt as Keme turned the car and drove back up the lane.
    “So I guess I’m taking you home?” She hugged her aunt again,
simply to feel the warmth of her family against the chill.
    “Actually I came to make sure you didn’t need anything. Lois
is picking me up on her way to the council building. We’ll be quilting today.
You are welcome to join us.” Willow made her way into the kitchen, sitting at
the table with a sigh as she acknowledged Harmony’s decline to quilt.
    For the first time she noticed that her aunt looked pale and
tired, not the vibrant woman she remembered.
    “I’m going to have to call Gareth to come out and look at
the stove, it’s not working. And I don’t think the furnace is up to par either,
even though he already looked at it. It’s chilly in here to me.” Without
asking, she fixed her aunt a cup of chocolate then sat down across from here. “Are
you all right?”
    “Me? I’m just tired. But glad you’re home.” She let Willow
turn the conversation to people on the res who she would still know. There was
obviously something else going on with her aunt, but the woman wasn’t going to
tell her what it was. She would just have to find out some other way. It was
comforting to let the air be filled with the “this-and-that” of other people’s
lives.
    As they continued to talk she made mental lists of everything
she needed to accomplish that day. By the time Lois arrived to take Willow to
their quilting group Harmony was ready to start working on everything else she
had to get done. Top of the list? Ask Gareth to check her furnace. She’d turned
it up again but the air was definitely no warmer.
    Waving Lois and