Free Cotton Grass Lodge by DeNise Woodbury Page A

but I remembered what you said when I left and I-I thought if I came back…” her voice trailed off as the man got close to her.
    She loosed the blanket from around the baby in her arms.
    Hanna heated from head to toe, annoyed as always when perfectly intelligent people paid deference to this crazy, old fool. It made them fools, too.
    The Shaman smiled and gently placed his grimy hands on either side of Emily’s head. The baby didn’t squirm, and Hanna didn’t think she had ever seen such big, blue eyes. Emily gazed up into the benediction being granted.
    Then, the Shaman moved so quickly, Alice couldn’t pull away. He clamped his hands on either side of her head the way he had with the baby. “The blessing is for you.” He held her firmly. Her eyes fluttered, tiny explosions of breath showed her surprise, and when her shoulders drooped in wide-eyed submission, he dropped his hands, and a vacant smile crinkled his face.
    For a moment his pointed focus went to Hanna and her heart raced. She hated having a gerbil-on-a-wheel feeling skittering through her stomach. Why would anyone concede power to this man?
    She refused to be drawn into his crazy game. Peaches? She wouldn’t pay for something she didn’t ask for.
    Naomi broke the uncomfortable silence. “You’re invited to eat with us.”
    The Shaman’s answer was quiet. “No,” he said and in the distance, the door of the house slammed. Rachel bounded back with a bag. She gave it to her mother and withdrew to stand beside her father.
    Naomi handed the bag to the Shaman. “Thank you for the blessing.”
    “You’re welcome. Happy Birthday, Rebecca.” He dropped his head and turned.
    Rebecca grinned broadly and buried her face in her father’s thigh.
    With a bow-legged shamble, the Shaman went back the way he’d come.
    “Yes, Happy Birthday, Rebecca.” Hanna avoided looking at anyone else and quickly bustled Victoria back into the plane.
    Hanna called ahead letting the lodge know she was coming in with groceries and a passenger named Victoria. When she landed, Duncan and Nell were waiting.
    Duncan’s face was smudged and unshaven. His hair had grown away from the barbered perfection she’d first met. His shadowed jaw didn’t hide a distant impenetrable look. Nell was there, too. Sitting on the four-wheeler frowning and hugging her jacket tight around her chest.
    Victoria exited the plane with single minded urgency. “Duncan, I have to use the restroom. Now.”
    “The outhouse is up at the lodge, or you can go behind those bushes,” Duncan said. He pointed to the cluttered pile of dock material and the thick leafless brush behind it.
    “But…are you serious? I have to go now. Isn’t there a place…?”
    “I told you.” Duncan closed his eyes briefly and ran a hand through his hair. “Bushes are all we’ve got.”
    Victoria’s need to pee won the battle. Stumbling on some soft-ball sized rocks, she went behind the dock.
    Hanna and Duncan moved in unison toward the plane. “How’s it going?” Hanna asked first. The guest she’d just unloaded obviously didn’t fill Duncan with joy and anticipation.
    “Just great.” He didn’t need to look at her. She heard his icy frustration. “And you? Had a good rotation?”
    “I did.” Hanna backed away from the plane. Nell now stood beside the four-wheeler. Hanna handed Nell a packet of mail, then she squatted down to give Nameless a two-handed scrub behind his soft ears. “How are you, Nell, is the coffee on?” She stood and gave the old woman a quick hug.
    “Of course.” Nell responded with a snap.
    “When I finish, we’ll have a cup and catch up on the latest gossip.” Hanna went back to the plane. Her old friend had changed dramatically. She shouldered into the cargo space next to Duncan pulling the rest of her cargo out. “I thought Nell was gone?” Hanna said quietly to Duncan.
    His eyes narrowed, and he scrubbed the heel of his hand into his eyebrow. “She was back after a week