Native Affairs

“You’re part French?”

“My grandmother married a French Canadian trapper, Jacques Beaufort. My parents have a tintype of him back home, a great big guy with a formidable moustache. They say he had a team of sled dogs that could make it through the worst weather British Columbia had to offer, and let me tell you, that’s pretty bad.” He dropped the lid on the chest and came back to her, taking both her hands in his. “I guess I’ve shown you all my treasures, haven’t I?”

“I guess so. You have some solitary hobbies, for a man who could buy anything he wants.”

He tightened his grip on her hands. “I do wind up spending a lot of time alone, but I prefer it that way. Most of the people who like me now, like me for the wrong reasons. I feel most comfortable with the friends who knew me before all this happened, this football jive.” He smiled slightly. “The people who loved you when you had nothing are the people who really care.”

Like Dawn, Je

Je

Lee moved forward, keeping the same distance between them. “Oh, we were all kids together, back home,” he said evasively. “Dawn’s family was very good to me at a time in my life when I really needed help.”

“She’s very pretty,” Je

“Yes, she is,” Lee answered, watching Je

“Is that what her name means in Pikuni, Dawn?”

“The literal translation is ‘Appearing Day.’”

“Appearing Day. How lovely.”

Lee put his hand on her shoulder. “Jen...”

She tried to walk past him. “No. Go get one of the old-timers who really care. I’m one of the late arrivals, remember, the ones who only like you for your image and your money,” she said bitterly.

Lee caught her and pulled her against his chest “I didn’t mean that to include you, paleface,” he whispered. “I never saw anyone as spectacularly unimpressed as you were with the whole scene. I know you’re not like that.”

Je

“Kiss me, Jen,” he said huskily. “Just once, and then we’ll leave. I promise.”

He didn’t have to say it again. She was lifting her lips to his as he bent his head.

He broke his promise, kissing her again and again until she was weak and clinging to him for support. He half carried her to the couch, dropping onto it with her, drawing her under him. His mouth moved everywhere he could reach, his hands searching for the zipper at the back of her dress, his body hard and urgent against hers. She knew that if she didn’t stop him soon, she wouldn’t stop him at all.

“Lee,” she gasped, tearing her mouth from his, “We can’t. We have to get back.”

He held her fast, still caressing her. “Do we?” he said, agonized. “Do we?”

“Yes,” she insisted, pulling away from him, trying to modulate her voice and regain control. “Think of Dawn, think of John waiting there for us. It’s bad enough that we took off the way we did, but if we don’t return it will be so much worse. I know I hurt John already tonight, I don’t want to add to it.”

He didn’t answer, but he stood and smoothed his hair with trembling fingers. Then he offered her his hand and pulled her to her feet, releasing her the instant she got her balance.

“Let’s go,” he said shortly, and she followed him out of the room. She passed the draftsman’s table and noticed that he had a map of the heavens pi

Je

* * * *

The party was breaking up when they got back to the hotel. It had been a silent ride from Lee’s house, and Je

Dolores and Craig and John were in the lobby. John didn’t ask her anything, just said that he was going out to get his car. Craig went with him.

Dolores pi

“What do you mean? Didn’t Lee say where we were going?” Je

Dolores made a disgusted noise. “I wouldn’t even repeat the threadbare fairy tale he told us before you left. Je

“Nothing is going on,” Je

Dolores looked at her as if she were demented. “Telescopes?”

“Yes, yes, it’s his hobby; he’s an amateur astronomer. He wanted to show me the stars.”

“Show you the stars? Well, that’s original, at least, a new variation on an old theme. It used to be ‘come up and see my etchings,’ now it’s ‘come up and see my asteroids.’”

Je

Dolores stared at her, releasing her breath slowly in an inaudible sigh. “Oh, Jen, you poor thing. You’ve fallen for him, haven’t you?”

Je

“Please, be careful.”

“I’m trying.”

Dolores dropped her eyes. “Well, I guess that’s all you can do.”

The men came back, and Je

He was silent as they drove through the downtown streets toward Yardley, and Je

“Did you have a good time?” she asked brightly.

“Fine.”

“I hope Dolores kept you entertained while I was gone.”

“Dolores could keep anybody entertained, even a dull, unglamorous legal type like me.”

“John, I…”

He took one hand off the steering wheel to hold it up for silence. “Don’t say it, Je

Je

* * * *

The night had turned cool, in the ma

The trouble was, she couldn’t think. All her legal training in logic and the systematic breakdown of a problem had deserted her and left her mind as blank as an unused sheet of paper. What good was an education if you couldn’t use it to help yourself? She had used it to help others, but in her case, emotion took over and made a mockery of the rationality she had worked so hard to obtain.

She lifted her head when she heard the sound of a motor in her driveway. Mrs. Mason went to bed at ten o’clock and never had night visitors. Who could it be, at this hour?

And then she knew. A hollow grew at the pit of her stomach, and she set her cup down carefully, so as not to spill it. She made herself walk slowly to the door and was ready when the knock came.

Lee stood on the tiny porch, still dressed in the evening clothes he had worn earlier.

“I’m back,” he said.

“I see.”

“I wasn’t sure if you’d still be up.”

I am.

They stared at one another, illuminated by the yellow glow of the porch light.

“I…may I come in? I need to talk to somebody.” He stopped, and then raised his eyes to hers. “No, that isn’t true. I need to talk to you.”