MM02 - Until Morning Comes by Peggy Webb

Everything would work out.
    After dinner, Jo Beth got her camera while Little Deer cleaned the dishes. She had still refused to allow Jo Beth in her kitchen. This time, however, she'd been polite enough not to call her son's friend a stranger.
    Little Deer came into the den, and she was like a child when she saw the camera. She had to touch it and admire it. Then she asked dozens of questions about it.
    When she had satisfied her curiosity, she sat in her rocking chair and announced, “I'm ready for my picture now.” She immediately struck a stiff pose.
    “I really would prefer to get candid shots, Mrs. Gray. Just try to act as if the camera is not here.”
    “How can I do that? I can see it.”
    “Perhaps if you don't look at it, I can capture that natural animation you have.”
    “You think I have natural animation? Well, how about this?” She bared her teeth in a grimace that made her look as if she were suffering lower back pain.
    Colter chuckled. “Mother, just pretend you are talking to Bessie Running Water on the telephone. I've never seen more natural animation than that.”
    She turned to her son. “Oh, go away, you clever-talking Gray Wolf. You tell a mother's secrets.”
    While the two of them were talking, Jo Beth's camera clicked. She got three good shots before Mrs. Gray started posing again.
    They spent the rest of the evening with Jo Beth taking pictures. Finally, Little Deer rose from her chair.
    “It's time for bed.” She took Jo Beth's hand. “Come, my dear. You must be tired from all that work and the long drive today.”
    Her ploy was so obvious that Jo Beth found it hard to keep from laughing. Colter, who was leaning against the mantel, intervened.
    “I'm sure Jo can find her way down the hall.”
    “I will not leave a tired guest standing around while I go to bed and sleep like a buffalo.”
    Colter started to protest again, but Jo spoke up.
    “I am a little tired. Good night, Colter.”
    “Good night, Yellow Bird.”
    He watched while his mother led Jo Beth into the north wing. Then he left the house and walked out into the night, hoping to find answers in the solitude of the dark mountains.
    o0o
    The sound came out of the darkness, soft and muted.
    Jo Beth snuggled deeper into her pillows. The sound came again—the call of the turtledove. She'd been in bed for what must have been hours. She decided she was dreaming. Rolling over to get more comfortable, she hit a solid object. Her eyes flew open.
    “Colter.”
    “Shhh.” He was sitting on the side of her bed.
    “How on earth...” she whispered, sitting up. “I didn't hear you come in.”
    “Did you think I'd fail to come for you? You are as necessary to me as breathing.”
    He threw back the sheet and lifted her from the bed. She kissed the side of his neck as he glided silently from the room.
    “Where are you taking me?”
    “Does it matter?”
    “No. As long as we're together.”

 
     
    Chapter Seven
    Jo Beth sat up in Colter's bed. Instinct must have awakened her, for she remembered hearing no sound.
    Colter was standing beside the dark window, his face in profile. The muscles along his back were knotted with tension and his face was pensive. There was nothing to see out the window except blackness, so she knew he was looking inward.
    A sudden chill of fear seized her. She called to him softly, “Colter.”
    “It's almost morning, Jo.”
    She got up and padded barefoot across the floor. Wrapping her arms around his waist, she snuggled her face against his back.
    “What do you see out there?”
    “Ghosts.”
    “First your mother's witches and now your ghosts. If this mountain if so filled with spooks, perhaps I should leave.”
    “Ghosts of the past, Jo.”
    “Tell me about them.”
    He didn't reply, but stood with his face turned to the darkened window. Jo pressed her lips into his back. He shivered.
    “Talk to me, Colter.”
    His muscles tightened, then slowly relaxed. He reached behind with one arm and pulled