“One day, he will return, and it will be because it is time. Until then, he has things he must accomplish. I’ve seen it in the smoke. Now is not the time for him to be here. While I want the rift between him and his brother fixed, timing is everything when it comes to the balance of the universe.”
Gene said nothing.
Instead, he let the older man speak.
Curiosity was killing that cat.
“I will say that if you don’t let the anger go, Mr. Cantrell, you and Ethan won’t last long. A wise man was out with his grandson in the woods, and there were two wolves. One was anger, and one was joy. The old man asked the grandson one question.”
Gene waited.
“Which will you feed?” he asked. “Because you can only feed one.”
And he got it.
Gene had to make a choice for their future, and that meant letting the past go.
“I’ll always feed the one who brings joy. I will always fill Ethan up because I know that if he is empty, the other wolf will be able to kill the weaker one. Joy can’t survive if anger is there.”
Timothy smiled.
Yes, he liked him.
The man was wise beyond his years, and that was the kind of man Ethan needed.
A protector.
“One day, Mr. Cantrell, you will be asked to pick your spirit animal. In our culture, we go into the smoke with the Shaman and find it. I can tell you that yours is the wolf. You bring joy to my grandson. When it is time to pick your spirit animal, choose the wolf.”
He could do that.
“Am I allowed to have a spirit animal? I don’t want to trivialize your culture or Ethan’s.”
He laughed.
“It is only trivializing it if you mock it—not if you use it to guide you. We all have something that leads us. The wolf is a protector, and he’s aware of all going on around him. That is you, Mr. Cantrell.”
Well, if he said so.
“Thank you, then, for the gift,” he said.
That sealed it for Timothy. It was mind-boggling that the White man got it, but he couldn’t get his Native grandsons to understand.
Seriously?
“You will find him at Callen’s cabin. He ran to his brother because he knew he’d hide him from me—if that was possible.”
It felt like a test, and Gene only hoped he’d passed. Ethan told him countless times that this man was the great manipulator and meddler.
Only, he felt like he wasn’t so much meddling, as protecting his sons.
Grandsons.
Whatever.
“You’ll marry him one day,” Timothy admitted. “You will marry him in front of your family and friends, and you will have children with him.”
Gene’s heart skipped.
