Gray Wolf Ranch

Chapter 34 - Camping

Huritt grumbles curses under his breath, making me smirk. We set up the tents, luckily without ripping each other's heads and start a fire.

"It sure is nice out here. I feel as if we are in the womb of mother nature," Istu says while looking up at the canopy of trees. The sun filtering through the branches bathes what it touches in a soft golden glow.

"Even though we live together, I have missed moments like these, just us four, with no distractions," Huritt says.

Istu gives me a small nod, and I take it as my signal to talk.

"Huritt, I don't know if this is the right moment, but I swear that no moment seems right for this," Huritt looks at me with suspicion. "Since the day of our accident, besides Karen blaming me for what happened, she also told me crudely that she wasn't our mother and I'm not Dad's son. I was used by then to receive less affection from her than what she gave to you all and that's why."

Huritt stares at me with mouth open and wide eyes. I can see it in his face that his mind is busy processing the news.

"She told me not to call her Mom again..."

"You share the same father as Istu and Kitchi, and we share the same mother."

"No! You are lying!" Huritt stands up and next thing I know I'm falling backwards from a punch in the face.

"Hayden! Come back here!" Istu yells angrily as Huritt walks away.

"Let me fix this," Kitchi goes after him while I'm left checking my painful nose for blood.

"Are you okay?" Istu inspects my face. "He got you good between your nose and your cheek."

"I was afraid that this could happen," I stand up and search for the first aid kit, not that anything in there can help me right now.

"Oh, fuck!" Istu says and runs toward Huritt and Kitchi who are rolling on the sand in a fight.

"STOP IT!" I yell as I reach them and take Kit off of him while Istu holds Huritt.

"Let me go, Row! I will teach him not to be an asshole," Kit tries to get out of my hold and I struggle. If he gets loose, he will knock Huritt down.

Huritt breathes fast, his face and clothes filthy from the wet sand while his mouth bleeds.

"Huritt, you need to understand that Mom is the one who has been sowing lies," Istu says. "Rowtag didn't keep this secret to hurt us, but to protect us from her."

"Where's my real mother then?" Huritt's lip trembles as he demands.

"She died soon after you were born. I don't know the details."

Huritt knees buckle as he cries and Kitchi stops trying to take a go at him. We huddle and try to comfort him.

"It doesn't change anything, we are still brothers," Istu whispers. "No matter what she says or does, that will never break our bond. Even as children, we always found ways to come together."

"And to think that this is all her fault," Kitchi sits on the sand and throws pebbles at the river.

"What do you mean?" I ask.

"It was Mom's golf cart. The one we crashed."

"How do you know that?" Istu asks.

"I heard Mom and Grandma arguing when they thought I was sleeping. When Grandma confronted her with that information, Mom didn't deny it, only left. She wasn't careful enough to remove the key or lock the storage. It was only logical for us to want to use it, we didn't have many toys then. She has blamed you since the accident happened because that's probably easier than living with the guilt."

I'm shocked by Kitchi's words. This hurts more than Huritt's fist.

"She humiliated me in front of the staff and guests, told me I should be the one dead at the hospital right before Grandpa walked in. Her rejection fucked me up badly when all this time she was trying to cover her ass..."

Kitchi places his arm around my shoulders and sighs. "I know she's my mother, but God, she is a bitch. She did a splendid job of ruining our lives."

"I won't let her ruin my life anymore," I say. "I owe nothing to her. My real mother is waiting for us at the ranch. I have an incredible girlfriend and a little boy who I love as if I was his real father. I also have you all; I don't need anything from her. I'm not justifying dad cheating on her, but he was probably looking for some affection."

"I'm sorry I punched you," Huritt says to me.

"I'm sorry I kept this secret, and hope you understand my reasons."

"I'm not sorry I punched Huritt," Kitchi shrugs.

"I can take you anytime. You caught me off guard," Huritt says.

"No, you can't," Istu intervenes. "Chris might take Kitchi down, but my money would still be on my bro."

The small quarrel makes me chuckle. The calm river brings me a sense of peace as my eyes move to the trees at the other bank where the figure of the gray wolf appears.

"Row, are you okay?" Kitchi asks. "You look as if you saw a-" He follows my gaze. "Oh..."

"Do you see it?" I scoot a few inches backwards, without taking my eyes off of it. The animal sits on the ground and watches us.

"We all see it, Rowtag," Istu says. "We all have seen it before, including Nadine and Chris."

"And Grandma," Huritt adds.

"Grandma knows about it? But she has been staying at the ranch for a very short time," I look at my brothers, who aren't freaking out like me.

"He came to her in dreams to tell her we needed help," Huritt says.

"The wolf came to Grandma in a dream? Why?"

"Probably because it's Grandpa. He still watches over us," Kitchi smiles at it.

"Did I fall and I'm in a coma or something?" I look at each of my brothers.

Huritt reaches the back of his jeans and pulls something out of his wallet. The picture he hands me is from Grandpa, long gray hair loose, one of the rare moments it wasn't in a braid. Hanging from his neck, tied to a piece of leather, is a broken arrowhead.

"Broken Arrow, the old farm..."

"And the mark on its fur. He's still around to protect us, to let us know everything will be all right," Istu says.

The wolf vanishes before our eyes. Growing up at the farm with our grandfather, I learned about folklore and legends; seems we are living in our own.