Native Silver Read Free

Santiago. So she moved about in the cold water, pretending to be having the swim of her life, and all the while, every nerve in her body was carefully tuned towards the man who splashed it the other side of the pool, aware of everything he did without ever actually looking fully at him.
    What would her grandfather think of this, she wondered suddenly, biting her lip. He’d trained her against the Santiagos. She was pretty certain he would consider it consorting with the enemy. And in the war between the two families, that wouldn’t be condoned.
    She sighed, shoulders sagging. Not back a full day, and already thrust right into the midst of it again. She’d forgotten how strong the emotion could be, how much of her life had been consumed with bitterness towards the people who had stolen the Carrington land.  
    These last few years, living and working in Marin County, three hundred miles to the north, she’d had other things to occupy her mind. That was one of the reasons she’d moved north in the first place, to get away from all this. But now, since the small plane accident that had taken her parents just a few years before, Granpa Jim was all she had left, besides her sister Lisa, married to a local dairy farmer.  
    It had been a telephone call from Lisa that had brought her back from her self-imposed exile in Marin County where she’d been working as a libr ary assistant for the last few years. She thought about that conversation now as she moved through the cool water. It was almost as though she’d been waiting for an excuse to come home. She’d certainly jumped at the chance when it was offered.
    “How is he?” she’d asked, as she always did. “How’s Granpa?”
    Lisa had let out a long sigh. “As well as can be expected, I suppose. He doesn’t really care much any more. Well, he is in his eighties. I guess he should be allowed to let go. But he’s getting to the point where he’s going to need full-time help. And . . . well, I do think his mind is starting to slip.”
    Shawnee’s hands had felt icy cold. “What do you mean?”
    “It’s more than the usual drivel about Rancho Verde and how the Santiagos stole his land. He’s started seeing things.”
    Shawnee remembered feeling a strange calm coming over her, as though she’d known a struggle was coming to an end. Her way was becoming clear. “What kind of things?”
    “Some of them are pretty weird and nebulous. The other day he insisted there was someone in the house trying to get him to sign some papers.”
    She found herself nodding. “How do you know it wasn’t true?”
    “Come on, Shawnee. What would anyone be trying to get him to sign? It’s all crazy.”
    She’d shrugged that away. “Is it?”
    “You know it is. He really does need more looking a fter. I run over at least once a day, but Brad needs me here and he gets peeved if I spend too much time over there.”
    “Of course. You’ve got a dairy to run. How are the cows?”
    Lisa’s voice rose with her annoyance like the mercury on a thermometer. “The cows are fine. The c ows are great.” Her quick breath echoed along the phone line. “Really, Shawnee, I don’t know why you persist in imagining me to be some sort of modern-day milkmaid. There’s a lot more to the dairy business than milking the cows. We do have machines for that, you know. There are more important things for me to do. There are contacts to be made, images to project. It’s not all as earthy and basic as you imagine. You ought to come down and see for yourself.”
    Yes, Shawnee agreed silently. I ought to do that . It had been five years since she’d left the sleepy Destiny Bay back country valley and moved north. Maybe it was time to go home.
    “Does he ever ask for me?”
    “Who?”
    “Granpa Jim.”
    There was a pause. “Yes. Yes, he does.”
    “What does he say?”
    Lisa sighed, and Shawnee heard affectionate resignation in the sound. “You know how he is. He hasn’t seen you much lately, so