Winter Prey

Chapter 30

Chapter 30

Niona stoically refused to reveal her secret on the three-hour ride back to Duluth. She kept Kymbria from badgering her by promising that they would talk as soon as they could sit down somewhere, and only after they knew Keoman's condition.

First, though, Kymbria needed to check on Risa - hold her daughter for a few moments. But when they pulled into her brother Pete's house, they found it deserted. A call on the cell phone revealed that they had taken their young children and Risa to a birthday party for a friend in a neighboring town. Pete's wife Cyndi apologized profusely and offered to return immediately. Burying her longing, Kymbria urged her sister-in-law to enjoy the party, that tomorrow morning would be soon enough for her to see Risa.

At St. Luke's Hospital in Duluth twenty minutes later, the nurse stopped them at the ICU door. "This is a restricted area. Are you family of one of our patients?"

Kymbria lied through her teeth. "I'm Keoman Thunderwood's sister." This white woman would believe her. Knowing the regulations of an intensive care unit, Kymbria had deliberately heightened her Native American characteristics, pulling her hair back into a braid and slipping a beaded necklace around her throat. "I just got here after a long drive. I need to see him."

The nurse glanced over Kymbria's shoulder at Niona.

"This is his aunt," Kymbria explained, not a true lie. Blood relationships weren't vital for kinship in their tribe.

"You'll still have to wait," the nurse said in a consoling voice. "He's been in surgery, and the doctor is with him right now."

Kymbria tamped down her impatience and irritation. How many times had she herself turned away worried relatives?

"I understand," she agreed. "Will you ask the doctor to stop in and talk to us when he's done? We'll be in the waiting room."

The nurse nodded and closed the heavy door. Kymbria stared through the tiny, screen-covered window, but a dark tint overlay it. Niona stroked Kymbria's arm to get her attention, then grasped her hand to lead her into the waiting room. No other grieving people sat there at the moment, although empty cardboard coffee cups and scattered newspapers bespoke earlier occupants. Kymbria shuddered slightly. The grief and suffering lingered, part of the air. Nothing could ever erase the atmosphere of waiting, hoping, praying that permeated rooms such as this one, not even the joy when relatives were informed someone had passed the crisis and would be moved to a bed on another floor for further recovery.

Kymbria picked up a strewn newspaper from a chair as Niona sat in the adjacent one. She folded the paper into a neat, precise layer and smoothed the wrinkles. After the long drive, she didn't really want to sit. No, she told herself realistically. She didn't want to face the fact that once in the chair, time would slow to a further crawl, the words sealing Keoman's fate looming like a dark cloud around her.

"The nurse said he came through the surgery," Niona said. "That's good, isn't it?"

"Yes," she assured her mother, palm continuing to stroke the newspaper. "That's good. He made it as far as ICU."

"How long do you think it will be before the doctor will come talk to us?"

Despite the fact that she knew her mother was chattering inanely to keep her mind occupied from direr thoughts, Kymbria couldn't dredge up any impatience. "I don't know, Mom. Probably not that long. Do you want to go get coffee?"

"No. No, we might miss the doctor. And there's no one else here for Keoman."

Kymbria laid the newspaper down carefully on an end table. Someone else might need it later, to distract herself from slowly passing time. "He doesn't have anyone else, does he? He was...is...Adam's only child. I'd have thought the tribe would send someone down here."