Chapter 121 Part 121
Asher
In the kitchen, they sat at the table, and ate the food Asher had defrosted. The boys were quiet and Asher wasn’t sure what to say to them. Now that he thought about it, it might look odd that he had a bedroom ready for two boys.
“We lied to you earlier…when you found us at the cabin,” Joel said.
“About what?”
“We didn’t just find it. Bear Claw told us exactly how to get there. He’s our friend, and he said to go to the cabin when things got so bad that we couldn’t take it anymore. He said you’d find us there.”
“He said I’d find you there?” It shouldn’t have surprised him. Bear Claw was a vision seeker, it was obvious now, but he was still surprised.
“He said, Asher Fitzgerald will find you, and he’ll save you. You can trust him like you can trust no other man. His home will become your home.”
Asher shook his head. “I guess when I tell you what he said to me, you won’t think I’m crazy then.”
“What did he tell you?” Oscar asked him.
“That you would be living in my house before the first snow started to melt. It’s why I fixed up the downstairs bedroom, and applied to be a foster parent. My lawyer thought I was losing my mind when I told him I’d be fostering the two of you.”
“You believed him?”
“He also told me to save the wolf,” Asher said.
“Does that mean we’re going to stay here? With you? You won’t let Social Services take us?”
“You’re not going anywhere,” Asher said.
Oscar cleared his throat. “He said we lived here once before, in another life. It sounds weird and confusing, but this feels right. It feels like I’ve been here before…it feels like home.”
Emotion blurred his vision, and Asher looked down. How the hell did Bear Claw know all that? There was no rational explanation for any of it, but Oscar was right. It was their home.
“I remember that other life. You liked baseball, and Joel liked ranch life. In that other life, we lived here as a family.”
“We’ll need to go home and get some stuff. We’ve got nothing here,” Joel said, looking like he wanted to cry but was fighting it.
Asher pulled his wallet from his pocket and took out his card. “You’ve got a driver’s license, right?”
“Yeah,” Joel said.
“Take my truck, go into town, and buy what you need,” he said, holding his card out toward Joel.
“You trust me with your card and your truck?” His eyes held disbelief.
“You put your trust in me by following me when you didn’t have to. This is me returning that trust,” Asher said.
“You want us to go buy everything we need?” Oscar looked questioningly at him.
“Yes, Oscar. Clothes, toiletries, whatever you need. I can’t leave the wolf alone. If he wakes up, he’s going to be disorientated, maybe even in some pain, too.”
“That makes sense,” he said.
“You can trust us, Asher. I promise,” Joel said.
“I know.”
The two boys left a few minutes later, then Asher moved to the living room, and started a fire. The temperature was dropping, and Asher wanted to make sure that the wolf was comfortable.
He phoned Preston to tell him about the boys, and that he needed to expedite a court order giving him guardianship over them. Preston told him not to worry, and that he’d have a signed document in his inbox before the end of the weekend.
He had just settled down on the couch again when his phone rang and he recognized the sheriff’s office’s number. He wondered briefly if Doc Phillips had told the sheriff about the wolf.
“Fitzgerald,” he answered his phone.
“Hey there, Asher. If you’re missing your truck and credit card, have no fear. I caught the culprits red-handed. Them Crowley boys were stupid enough to use your card in town, buying clothes of all things!”
“Sheriff Connely, I gave my card to the Crowley boys,” Asher said.
“You did?”
“Yes, Sir. Joel and Oscar Crowley are living with me for reasons I won’t discuss right now, but they have my permission to buy whatever they want with that card and to drive my truck.”
“Well, I…I didn’t think—”
“It’s fine, Sheriff. Tell them not to be late, and that they better bring me back some chocolate,” Asher said.
“Of course. Good man, Asher, taking those boys in,” he said, and ended the call.
Asher started to laugh, and shook his head. People were prejudiced against the boys, and he understood it, but now that they were living in his house, they were accepted. Things like that had never made sense to him. They weren’t worse than any other boys their age, but they were harder, less trusting, and maybe a little more disrespectful, though he hadn’t experienced it. So far, they’d been helpful, respectful, although wary, but he could see the potential in them. He’d seen it the first time, too.
The wolf stirred, and Asher got to his feet. He moved slowly as the wolf tracked his movements. “Akicita. I have some meat for you. It’s beef though, not quite what you’re used to, but it will fill you up, and help you heal. I need you to trust me a little while longer so I can look after your wound.”
Asher turned and slowly walked to the kitchen, and took the plate with the beef steaks he’d defrosted earlier, and turned around. The wolf stood behind him, and he placed the plate on the floor.
“Eat. You’re safe here. The people in this house are your protectors, just like you’re a protector.” The wolf sniffed the meat once, and started to eat slowly, keeping his eyes on Asher.
When he was done, he sat down on his haunches, and Asher picked the plate up, and rinsed it in the sink. He washed their dishes from lunch, and the wolf nudged his leg.
“What do you need?” He walked to the mudroom’s door, and opened it. The wolf stepped outside and for a moment, Asher thought he was going to run, but he sniffed around the tree, lifted his leg, and trotted back inside.