The Red Moon Promise | Twilight Jacob Black Fanfiction

Chapter 15. Sons of Thunder

The sound of River's peaceful sleep pulsed throughout the living room by the time Raven calmed herself down enough to come out of her bedroom. He lay spread out on the couch in a deep dead to the world slumber.

Abby hummed cheerfully at the kitchen table, sorting through a tin-can full of old papers. "What are these?" Raven asked, picking up a small pile of pictures.

"They're the pictures of your father and the letters I gave to River. Thank goodness he brought them with him." Abby patiently sifted through the envelopes. "I know it's here somewhere."

Raven flipped through the pictures. "Wow, Dad looks exactly like River."

"He does, exactly. I'll make copies of those for you and have some blown-up to hang around the house for me. As soon as I saw your brother, memories of Reed came flooding back. It reminded me of something I needed to check out. It's got to be in here somewhere."

Abby retrieved an old yellowing piece of paper from a torn and wrinkled envelope. "Yes, found it!" She studied the document. "I knew it! Look at this." She handed the paper to Raven, wearing a satisfied smirk.

It was Reed's family tree. Raven scanned the document. "I didn't know Grandpa Jim was a Blackfoot Indian. I always thought he was from the same tribe as Grandma Happy?"

"Your Grandma belonged to a tribe that settled up north, close to Canada.  Your Grandpa's tribe settled in Montana. I think. He passed away when Reed was a teenager, so I never met him. See the very first name on your Grandpa's side?"

"My great, great, great Grandma was named Little Raven?"

"You're named after her. Now look at the small print below her name."

Raven gasped. "She was Quileute?"

Abby nodded. "I knew that tribe sounded familiar when we first moved here, but I never gave it much thought until now. Until you got close to Jacob."

Abby enlightened Raven with what she knew of Little Raven. "She had shiny, pitch black hair like the feathers on a raven, and she was very pleasing to look at. One day, a man from a neighboring tribe spotted her and fell in love at first sight. He took several valuable gifts to her father for her in return. Her father didn't like the man, so he refused to bargain. Several weeks later they raided the camp and took her away. It happened during a migration of the man's tribe, so her own people never found her again. The man loved her very much and tried to have patience with her, waiting for her to love him back. Yet, she refused him time after time. One night he became angry and attacked her. Two young girls from the village took pity on her and helped her escape. They gave her some provisions and a horse and led her far away from the camp. They tried to point her toward her home, but they were all so young and really didn't know the way. The horse wouldn't stay with her, because she was a stranger to him. He threw her off. There went all provisions, gone with the horse.

"She wandered lost in the mountains for several days. A Blackfoot hunting party found her near death, starving, bruised, and battered. They took her back to their village where she fell madly in love with the young, handsome warrior who found her. They adopted her into the tribe, and she remained with them for the rest of her days."

Raven gulped. "That's some story, Mom."

"Your dad told me that story the day you were born. I remember wanting you to hear it exactly the way he told it to me. It was an interesting story. It's amazing to me how I allowed myself to forget so much." Abby sighed. "Little Raven..."

She poured a small gold medallion out from the bottom of the can and ran her fingers over it. "When I gave this to River for safekeeping, I told him I wanted you to have it someday when you grew older."