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“It was named the American Indian sign language in the 1930’s and made up of gestures similar in many tribes, then added to over the years.”
“How did you learn it?” Grace asked.
“Dad. It’s how we talked when we wanted privacy.”
“I wasn’t aware.”
Oakley shrugged. “I guess we kept it between us.”
“How did he learn?”
“He said he learned as a boy. Apparently, he tried to teach my mother, but she wasn't interested. When she died, he got so quiet and always seemed so angry. I was scared of him for a while and didn’t know how to talk to him. So, I asked him to teach me.
“That’s what brought us back together. He taught the men who served beneath him, and later I used it with my Ranger team. Then later, I used it with the K9s. But these guys? They pick up so fast. It’s incredible how fast their minds work.”
“Well, let’s invite them in,” Clayton suggested.
“With me,” Oakley signed to them as she spoke.
They rose in perfect unison and fell into step, one on either side of her. Oakley followed Clayton and Grace to the house. Once inside, they led her to the kitchen and then onto the back porch.
Beyond was a vast stretch of lawn that terminated at a fence. “That pasture’s empty if you want to run them after that drive.”
“Thank you.” His consideration touched Oakley. “Come on, guys. Let’s go dance.”
She led the way, and as soon as they cleared the steps, she broke into a run. Both wolves did the same, but being much faster, they circled her, jumping, and yipping happily. Oakley opened the gate when they reached the fence, gestured them through, then entered and closed the gate.
Clayton and Grace moved to sit on the steps, watching as Oakley and the dogs entered the pasture. “Oh, Clay, look,” Grace raised one hand to her lips. “That looks just like—”
“Sadie and Belle,” he interrupted.
“Yes. Would you look at that?”
Sadie was Grace’s oldest friend. They grew up together. Sadie’s Grandmother accepted Grace as her own and taught her the ways of the wise women of their tribe, as she taught Sadie. She taught them their true nature, and how to recognize the nature of others.
Sadie could talk to animals. It appeared Oakley could as well. Clayton took Grace’s hand and gave it a squeeze, and they watched as Oakley spun, danced, leapt, and ran, with two wolves spinning, leaping, and circling her around the pasture. “You don’t think…”
Grace looked at him. She knew what he wondered. So did she. Was Oakley like Sadie? “She and Sadie aren’t related by birth. Oakley’s mother was my sister, Odette. She married a Cheyenne man from Montana, Oakley Rising Wolf.”
“And they gave their daughter his name?”
“Oakley is unisex, I guess. It means meadow of oaks, which I assume is where his people first called home or recognized as familiar lands. And it fits. She’s much more of his bloodline than her mother’s.”
“You mean because of that?” he gestured toward Oakley, dancing and playing with the wolves.
“She has an affinity with them. Always has. Once, when she was only four or five, one of old Earl Old Moose’s wolf dogs got loose and people were terrified. He treated those creatures horribly, and they were vicious.”
She looked out at Oakley. “My sister realized Oakley was missing and panicked. When we found her, she was in the forest, sitting on the ground beneath a tree, with that wolf dog laying on the ground with its head on her lap, looking every bit the trained lap dog.
“Of course, he didn’t look like that when we reached them. Had it not been for Oakley, one of us might have been hurt. She just put her hand on him and said “Those are our friends, big buddy. Be nice.”
“And?” Clayton asked.
“And he did. He sat and never growled or snapped as we asked Oakley to come home with us. He walked right beside her, and she insisted on taking him home. Her mother about had a fit. She was scared to death of the animal and didn’t want it anywhere around them.
“She called her husband, Oakley, who was deployed somewhere. I don’t know where, but he said to let his daughter decide because she knew the animal’s heart.”
Grace smiled at the memory. “He was right. Oakley had that wolf gentled by morning. It took a bit of doing, but thanks to Sadie’s grandmother, Earl Old Moose agreed to sell them the wolf dog. He said the animal was mean as hell anyway and more trouble than he was worth.
