Vivid (43 page)

Vivid looked down at her plate.

"Viveca, darling, what's wrong?"

"Nate and I have something to settle
first, Mama, before you make any plans." She still hadn't heard his side.

Vivid looked into her mother's beautiful
eyes.

"You haven't called off the wedding,
have you?" Francesca asked her softly.

"Vivid, did you make the boy run off
already?" her father asked.

Everybody at the table chuckled.

"No, Papa," Vivid said, giving
him a smiling look. She'd missed his teasing nature in the months she'd been
here.

Francesca shook her head at her husband
and his wry sense of humor and asked, “Is this something serious?''

"I'm not sure."

Vivid looked into the face of the woman
who'd given her birth and heard her say in Castilian, "Come. Let's take a
walk."

They walked to Vivid's cabin and sat out
back on the swing.

Her mother asked, “Do you like this
place?''

"I love it here, Mama," Vivid
replied with feeling.

Vivid then told her all that had happened
since her arrival. She ended by telling her about Nate and David Hatcher.

"How did you ever keep from boxing
his ears?" Francesca asked hotly.

"I put on my best dress to remind
myself to be a lady."

"Good idea. Although that hadn't
helped a bit at your eighth birthday party. Do you remember?"

Vivid grinned at the memory. She'd had a
fight with Dickie Pearson and he'd gotten angry over having to be taken home
with a nosebleed after being punched in the nose by a girl.

"You need to talk to him,
Viveca."

"I will."

"Where is he now?"

"In town at his office. You'll meet
him later."

"And my grandbaby?"

"You now have two."

"Two?"

Vivid explained the intrigue and worry
brought on by Satin's arrival, and Francesca listened closely, then asked,
"And this Evan Cole is on his way here?"

"Mrs. Rand thought so, yes."

The only thing Mrs. Rand hadn't done was
describe Cole. No one had any idea what he looked like, and that brought the
most worry.

Nate returned later that afternoon. He'd
picked up the girls from school and as they went into the house he crossed the
field to Lancaster's cabin. He owed her thanks for sending obnoxious David
Hatcher packing. He also hoped she'd listen to his explanation of why he'd sent
the letters. He knocked at the cabin door, calling, "Hello, princess, can
we talk?"

Vivid walked to the door and let him
inside.

"I—" He stopped as his
gaze met the coal-black eyes of a small, elegantly attired Black woman seated
at Vivid's desk. She had skin the color of rich dark coffee and a face so
beautiful it nearly took his breath away. He knew without introduction that she
had to be the venerable Francesca he'd heard so much about. "Mrs.
Lancaster? I'm Nathaniel Grayson. Welcome to Michigan,' Nate said as he walked
over to take her hand.

She smiled up at him and responded in
English, “So pleased to meet you." Then she turned to Vivid and proclaimed
in Castilian, "Viveca, he is so handsome. He will give me beautiful
grandbabies."

"Mama!" Vivid exclaimed.

"What did she say?" Nate
questioned, smiling.

Vivid could only laugh at the impressed
look on her mother's face, then told her fiancé, "Nothing, Nate, she's
just being her outrageous self. Behave, Mama."

Nate then made the acquaintance of Vivid's
chef father, who to that point had been content to watch. He looked Nate over
slowly, then asked, "How much do you love my daughter, Nathaniel Grayson?"

The question caught Nate off-guard but he
looked at his skeptical fiancée, filled his eyes with her loveliness, then
turned back to say genuinely, "I love your daughter as trees love spring
rain, sir."

"Good answer, son," Joseph said.
"Don't you think so, Fran?"

"Excellent, excellent,"
Francesca agreed.

"Let me give you a piece of advice,
son. Don't try and corral this girl's exuberance. Just let her go. You'll have
less gray hair that way." He then pointed to his own salt-and-pepper hair.
"See these? Every one of these gray hairs belong to that girl over
there."

"Papa!"

"Vivid, I have to tell him the
truth."

"You're as bad as Mama!"

When the laughs settled down, Vivid asked
after David Hatcher.

"Vernon took him to Niles this
morning."

And then in front of God, Vivid's parents,
and anyone else who might be around to hear or see, Nate asked Vivid,
"Will you forgive me? I sent those letters soon after you came to town. I
did it because I still had my doubts. I don't anymore."

Vivid saw the truth in his gaze and
nodded.

Francesca applauded softly, then said, “I
can see that you love my Trabrasera very much."

Nate smiled at the name, "Yes, ma'am,
very much."

She then turned to Vivid, "Viveca,
and you love him?"

"Yes, Mama, I do."

"Then we will go ahead with the
wedding as soon as your Tia Teresa sends the wedding gown."

Vivid, smiling up at Nate, said,
"Yes."

At dinner that evening Magic and Satin
joined them, much to Francesca's delight. Magic and, to everyone's surprise,
Satin took an instant liking to their soon-to-be grandmother. Francesca was
especially interested in Hector.

"I had a falcon when I was young. Her
name was Isabella. Does your Hector hunt?"

"No, ma'am. I hunt, he eats."

Francesca shook her head. "Tomorrow,
Hector will learn how to begin hunting for himself."

"Really?" Magic responded
excitedly.

"Really," Francesca promised.

After Magic and Satin and the other adults
had all gone to bed, Vivid sat on the swing nestled in Nate's strong arms.
"Magic and my mother seemed to hit it off well."

"Especially when your mother promised
to buy her and Satin a circus."

"What?"

"A circus, you know, tame animals,
tents?"

"When was this?"

"Sometime after dinner. Majestic said
her
abuela
asked her what she wanted more than anything in the
world."

"And Magic said a circus."

"Bull's-eye."

"I'll speak to Mama."

"Thank you. It's not that I don't
appreciate the gesture, it's just we don't have any room for lions or tigers or
bears wearing little skirts."

After a few silent moments Vivid said,
"I was very, very angry with you, Nate Grayson."

"I know, princess, but you have to
see it from my point of view. I had my doubts, as I said."

"I know you did, but it hurt
nonetheless."

"I know and I apologize for that
also." He leaned down and kissed her brow. "I'd apologize profusely
if I weren't afraid your screaming would awaken your parents."

She playfully elbowed him in the ribs,
then lay back and enjoyed the night and the feel of his strength encircling
her.

For the next few days, Vivid and Nate
squired her parents around the Grove to see the land and to meet the neighbors.
Francesca began teaching Hector to hunt, and Magic and Satin to speak
Castilian. Nate began to learn that his mother-in-law could be just as vivid as
her daughter. He didn't find out how Hector had been training until the Widow
Moss stormed into his office in town one morning demanding fifty dollars for
the rabbits Hector had killed and devoured. It seemed he'd been hunting in her
rabbit hutch. An interrogation of the girls and their
abuela
proved this
to be true and Nate paid up. After Nate delivered a stern lecture to the three
females, Francesca kissed him on the cheek and swore it wouldn't happen again.

Nate didn't believe it for a minute, but
he did go to the mirror and look for gray hairs.

The arm of the injured lumberjack at the
camp near Battle Creek had to be amputated. After conducting the surgery, Vivid
stayed a few more days to ensure he recovered well, then she and Michigan
headed home.

The end of September brought cooler
temperatures and days of rain. The gray skies finally broke and the Grove
residents went about their business under crisp blue skies and the magnificent
turning trees. Vivid had never seen such a riot of colors: brilliant golds,
blazing reds, fiery burnt oranges. Vibrant, intense color assaulted the eye
from every corner. For these sights alone Vivid vowed to remain in Michigan for
the rest of her life.

The end of September also brought the
harvest moon—the largest, fattest, most golden moon Vivid and her
marveling parents had ever seen.

On the morning of the last day of
September, a man Vivid had never seen before strolled up the drive. He walked
up to where she sat atop the wagon and said, "Good morning, I am Vincent
Red Bird's son, Isaac."

"Good morning, Isaac, I'm Dr.
Lancaster, and this is my mother. How may we help you?"

"I'm looking for Nate Grayson."

"Nate's left for town already."

"Well, will you give him this
please?"

He handed up a small wooden ball. As she
took it and looked at it he added, "I am this year's
skabewis."

Vivid stared down, confused.

"The word translates as
messenger."

She peered again at the ball. "Nate
will know what this means?" Vivid handed the ball to her curious mother.

“Of course. It's time for Little Brother
of War. Everyone knows that."

"Of course," Vivid echoed.

With the arrival of the
skabewis
the
Grove became infected with lacrosse fever. Sticks were taken down and their
webbed heads refitted. Nate and Vernon traveled all the way from Battle Creek
to St. Joe recruiting players for the Grove team. The game was still more than
two weeks away but already tribes were arriving to help the Grove men clear and
level the field behind Mr. Farley's place.

The early October days, though crisp, were
festive. Because of the recent harvests many fruits and vegetables were given
to the doctor in payment for services. Her chef father, who'd taken over the
bulk of Abigail's cooking, couldn't have been happier, surrounded by the fresh
Michigan bounty.

He discovered apple butter, cornish
pasties, popcorn, and paw paws—a potato-sized Michigan tree fruit which,
to Vivid, tasted amazingly like bananas. After going hunting with Adam, Joseph
treated everyone to beautifully prepared pheasant and grouse, mouthwatering
salmon, and a venison dish that brought tears to Adam Crowley's eyes.

More and more people came to set up
residence on Farley's field as the days passed. The native people and their
supporters took one side of the field and the Grove residents took the other.

The children of both sides cleared the
field of stones, sticks, and other bits of natural debris that might cause a
player to trip or fall during the contest. Hector stuffed himself royally on
the vermin and rabbits flushed out when the children marched down the field
banging pots and lids. All rabbit warrens and ground squirrel holes were filled
and tamped down; no one wanted the players to suffer broken ankles.

Nate was so busy coordinating events and
the movement and placement of people, Vivid rarely saw him until she caught him
in town one afternoon in his office.

He looked up at her entrance and smiled.
"Well, hello, princess, what can I do for you?"

"I'm on my way home, and I thought
I'd stop by to see how you are, I've seen you so rarely lately."

He put away his lists and looked at her
from behind his desk. He beckoned her with a long finger.

Vivid came over with a grin. She hopped up
on the desk in front of him. “What?'' she asked.

Nate leaned back in his chair and looked
at her for a long moment. "Do you know how absolutely beautiful you
are?"

"You are obviously in love. Look at
me, my hair's a mess, I have on this old man's shirt—two sizes too
large—these denims need patching in the knees and in the seat, and...mmm..."

His kiss silenced her. Seated atop the
desk, she was at the perfect height to savor and be savored. "This is nice..."
she whispered, nibbling his bottom lip, then flicking the point of her tongue
against the corners of his mouth. Nate slid his chair closer to her. He
effortlessly lifted her slight weight from the desktop and down to the warmth
of his lap.

"Will you tell me a bedtime story...tonight?"

"Can't," he whispered against
the hollow of her throat. He began to undo the buttons of her shirt, kissing as
he went.

"Why not?" she questioned
heatedly. "Haven't I been a good girl?"