Love An Eagle

Cara turned her attention to the computer screen in front of her and began to work.

Listening to the two older women giggling like two school girls made it slightly difficult. Not because it was a bad thing, but because listening to them made her long for a friend to giggle with like they were.

Most of the time, she was so busy working two jobs that she didn’t have time to do much of anything. All her hard work would all be worth it end the end though because she’d soon have a place of her own!

Tuning back in to the conversation between the two women, she heard Ms. Dolly began to talk about her grandson, Wamblee, the “soon to be new doctor” in town.

Ms. Dolly told Marianne how good looking he is and how wonderful he is. She also mentioned, more than once, what a good husband he’d be to some lucky girl.

Cara sighed softly, because she vaguely remembered Wamblee. She was pretty sure he was older than her by at least nine years, which would make him thirty.

He was part of the local Lakota Indian tribe, and although he had tended to keep to himself, he had always been polite enough. This was a small town though, and she’d seen him around, even as young as she was, before he went off to school.

She remembered seeing him while he was home for a holiday when she was about thirteen. He would have been about twenty-two then, and she had found him to be quite cute with his dark skin and long black hair.

Wamblee had always worn his hair long and usually in a single braid down his back. She remembered this because she’d been jealous of his hair. Hers was always a flyaway dirty blonde, but his was so dark and soft looking!

She had to wonder though if his hair had changed. If he’d cut it over the years, him becoming a doctor and all. Although, she thought she’d caught sight of him a year or so ago and it had been long then. She knew the Indian culture frowned on them cutting their hair and she knew him to be traditional, as was his grandmother.

When Ms. Dolly took her turn with Dr. Lassiter, the waiting room went quiet and Cara was finally able to concentrate.

Sometime later, the bell jingled once more. Cara raised her head from her computer screen with a smile to greet the next patient. Her greeting became stuck in her throat as she stared at the man in the doorway.

He was of average height, maybe five ten and muscular, though slim. His hair was jet black and long, to his waist, and his skin was a deep red-brown color. His dark eyes were piercing, under heavy brows, and seemed to dig deep into her very soul, causing her to shiver.

He gave Cara a slight nod before closing the door and glancing around.

Ms. Dolly, who was finished, and once more talking to someone, spotted him and exclaimed, “Wamblee, come meet my friend.”

Cara, who had been about to ask him if she could help him, almost swallowed her tongue. “That’s Wamblee?” Cara mused to herself. “Man, he has grown up well!”

As Cara watched, Wamblee walked over to his grandmother. She couldn’t help but notice how his button up shirt emphasized his broad shoulders and narrow waist. Her gaze moved downward to look at how his dress slacks clung to his butt, which was firm and tight.

She found herself biting the inside of her cheek stop the whimper that tried to escape her as he sat down next to Ms. Dolly. He had been a cute boy, but as a man? As a man he was gorgeous!

He spoke in a low, deep tone that created shivers along her spine. He affected her in a way no man ever had, yet he’d not even spoken to her.

She tried then to pull her eyes away from him, but she couldn’t. It was as if he were a magnet and her eyes the metal!

After a moment or two, he stood and stretched, making the muscles in his back ripple under his shirt. His movements had Cara’s mind wondering where it shouldn’t once more. It had her thinking about what he would look like shirtless, and her holding back a moan.

As if sensing her gaze, he glanced at her as he waited for Ms. Dolly to say her goodbyes. Their eyes locked, and she couldn’t seem to look away. Yet, neither did he, until Ms. Dolly took his arm. He jerked his gaze from Cara’s and looked down.

“I’m ready to go now. Did you get everything taken care of?” Ms. Dolly asked.

“I did, and I now own the building. Although, it will need some work on the inside before I open for business,” Wamblee informed his grandmother.

“It’s been empty for a long time,” Ms Dolly said with a nod.” “You’re ready to take me home then?”

“I am,” he answered.

So, chin held high, Ms. Dolly started for the door, only to stop at the counter where Cara sat instead. She said, “Cara, this is my grandson Wamblee, or Lee as he’s called most of the time.”

Cara smiled, his dark eyes capturing hers once more. “It’s very nice to meet you.”

He gave a slight nod. “Nice to meet you also.”

Cara watched them as they continued walking to the door.

Wamblee stood, holding it open for his grandmother. As he went to walk out, he gave Cara one more look, before he closed the door behind them.

Cara let out a breath she didn’t realize she’d been holding. Then she forced her attention back to her work, fanning herself slightly. She couldn’t help but wonder though, when she would see him again?

Wamblee Claw gave a sigh of relief when he dropped his unci (Lakhóta for grandmother) off at home. He loved her, yet sometimes she could annoy him as no other person could.

Unci was always so full of questions, and most of the time it didn’t bother him, but today? Today he had so many other things on his mind.

His new office and getting people hired to work with him.

All the renovations that needed to be accomplished before he could open…and he only had a short time in which to do it all.

Then there was Cara, ah, sweet Cara. She turned his head, affecting not only his head but his heart!

His eagle spirit chirped inside him at the thought of Cara. He smiled slightly, yes, Cara was more than a pretty face to him. She was his soulmate, she just didn’t know it yet.

Two weeks. It was two weeks before Cara saw Ms. Dolly and the gorgeous Wamblee again.

Ms. Dolly had walked in that morning, her usual spring in her step and began to talk.

“So, the building my grandson bought for his practice is coming along nicely and Wamblee says maybe one more week before it will be finished,” Ms. Dolly concluded.

Cara smiled and nodded. “Sounds lovely. I know my dad can hardly wait. He’s been grumbling about this cough he can’t shake but doesn’t want to go to our current doctor.”

“Your father always was a stubborn old man,” Ms. Dolly said with a slight laugh.

Cara agreed by saying, “True. Mom always said he could be as contrary as an ol’mule. Monica is always grumbling about it too.”

“Monica?” Ms. Dolly questioned, then murmured, “Oh, your new step-mother, I forgot.”

“Not so new anymore. They’ve been married three years now,” Cara reminded her.

“Mm…right, you get along with her alright?” Ms. Dolly asked.

“I do,” Cara answered. “She’s a sweet woman and dotes on dad. I still miss mom sometimes, but she’s been gone now going on nine years, and I know she wouldn’t want us to mope. Life continues, right?”

“Right,” Ms. Dolly agreed as the bell on the door jingled. She turned and greeted the woman coming in. “Hello Jewel, how are the grand-babies?”

Cara watched as Jewel’s face lit up. Soon the two women were seated and talking up a storm.

The morning was busy and soon it was time to close the door for lunch. Cara called out a “see you after lunch” to everyone and walked out.

She walked across the street, into the little sandwich shop and ordered a roast beef on rye along with a drink. Sitting down in a corner booth, she unwrapped her sandwich and began to eat.

Halfway through lunch, Cara felt the presence of someone standing next to her and looked up.

Wamblee was standing next to her, a slight smile on his face. Holding up his sandwich and drink, he asked, “Mind if I join you?”

“No, not at all,” she almost whispered. Then clearing her throat, she asked a bit louder, “Where’s Ms. Dolly?”

He sat down and as he unwrapped his sandwich, he answered, “Her and a friend made plans for lunch.”

Taking a sip of her drink, to ease her suddenly dry throat, she nodded. Then she softly said, “Your grandmother is very proud of you, you and your accomplishments.”

He looked up from his sandwich and she his eyes were twinkling.

“I know,” he said, then added, “I also know she can’t say enough good things about you.”

“She’s a sweet lady,” she told him as her face heated up. “She said this morning you have your clinic almost ready to open.”

Swallowing, he nodded, and said, “I do. All that’s left is to hire someone to do medical billing for me. I have someone to work the front, plus two nurses. My unci said I should ask you, but you have a job already.”

“It’s true, I do,” she agreed. “Your grandmother knows its only temporary though while Dani is out on maternity leave.”

“Ah, that explains why she kept telling me I should ask you,” he murmured, sounding thoughtful. He then said, “She tells me you have the knowledge, but would you be interested?”

Cara sat, contemplating what to tell him as she studied his face. It was a face she could stare at all day. His dark skin, his prominent cheekbones, his dark lashes that were so long and dark. Everything about him seemed to draw the woman inside her out.

His eyes though? They drew her the most. When she looked in to them, she struggled to look away. They were the fathomless dark brown of an Indian, so dark they looked almost black, yet they also seemed to…to hold something else. She wasn’t sure what it was, but they seemed to flash an almost a golden-brown color at times. This gave her the feeling that something else was watching her through his eyes, which of course is impossible, but it was how she felt all the same. Curiously though, it wasn’t a creepy feeling for her, instead it made her feel warm inside.

Even now, as he waited for her answer, those eyes seemed to watch her unblinkingly.

Tearing her gaze from his, she looked down at the table. Did she want to work for him? Could she work for him or would her attraction to him get in the way? There was no denying how attracted she was to him. Even now, her body almost hummed with it.

“I don’t need your answer today Cara, you have time to think about it,” he told her.

Cara took a bite of her sandwich and they ate silently.

Finally, her lunch finished, she glanced up at him, to find his eyes already on her. “Okay. I’ll work for you, but I still have two weeks left where I am.”

“That’s fine, take the time you need. One of the nurses has agreed to fill the spot temporarily if needed,” he told her as he finished wiping his hands on a napkin. Leaning back in his seat, he draped an arm over the back of the bench. “I’ll pay you well, and the insurance is good. I also hope to add 401K later for my employees as my practice grows. I have two friends that plan to join me later. One is a pediatric doctor, the other an OBGYN.”

“Oh, that sounds nice,” she told him as she swirled her straw in her drink. Then, feeling the need to share, she said, “I always thought I’d go to school to become a vet.”

“Why didn’t you?”

Cara shrugged. “Mom died, and I guess I just lost all interest in most things. She’d always been my support, then she was gone.”

“What about your father?”

“Dad would have supported me in anything, but he was busy working. That left mom to be my cheer squad,” she told him, “She was good at it, for me and my dad.”

“Well, you’re young yet, you could still go.”

“I suppose, but I just feel like that ship has passed me by now. I’m content, mostly, with my life the way it is right now,” Cara told him.

“Mm…well, the vet clinic’s loss is my gain,” he said with a twinkle in his eyes once more.

Cara laughed as she glanced at her watch. “Well, my lunch is up, so…?”

He nodded. “I’ll stop by the dentist office in a few days and we’ll make plans to get together. We can talk details then, if that works for you?”

“Sounds good. I’ll talk to you later then,” she murmured. Standing up, she threw her trash away, and headed back to work.

Wamblee smiled behind his steepled hands as he watched his woman leave. The sway of her hips set his blood on fire and he wanted to chase her down and make her his right then and there!

He would be patient though, because he was one step closer to claiming what was his, his soulmate. Her working for him would put them together on a day-to-day basis, allowing the soul-bond to strengthen. Yes, soon she would be his. She would be his to claim in every way a man can claim a woman, and he could hardly wait!

Cara finished up the last file and closed her computer down. With a slight yawn, she pulled her purse out of the drawer and turned toward Dr. Lassiter’s office. Tapping slightly on the door she waited for the doctor to look up.

“Finished?” Dr. Lassiter asked.

“Yes ma’am. I’m headed out now, I’ll see you in the morning,” Cara answered.

Dr. Lassiter leaned back in her chair. “You’ve been a good employee Cara. I appreciate everything you’ve done for this office. I’ve been thinking that I might have a place for you even when Dana comes back.”

“Um…that’s really nice, but I’ve got a job lined up already,” Cara told her.

“It wouldn’t happen to be with that good-looking Dr. Claw who’s moved back to town, would it?”

Cara laughed, feeling her face warm. “Yes.”

“Mm…you are one lucky girl to be able to see that face every morning,” Dr. Lassiter said as she picked her pen back up. “Good luck then Cara.”

“Thanks,” Cara replied and left for home.

#

“Where are you off to so early Cara?” Her dad asked two weeks later.

“It’s Saturday, my job at the dentist office is over and my new job starts Monday. It is time to relax, so I’m off to hunt an eagle,” Cara replied.

Her dad sat his coffee cup on the counter and poured himself another. Holding up the coffee pot, he silently asked if she wanted any.

Cara shook her head.

After pouring his cup of coffee, her dad sat down at the table. He then said, “You haven’t talked about that eagle since you first saw him. Why hunt him now?”

Cara turned to look out the window. Just like her bedroom window, it faced the back yard. Just past the fence line was and old burr oak tree. She remembered when she was little racing her dad to that tree and back. In later years, the property was bought, and her dad had put up a fence. For the past week though, every morning, she’d almost swear she saw an eagle perched in that tree. His gaze seemed to be fixed on her.

“Cara?”

Clearing her throat, Cara turned to face her dad. “I just want to see him again. Maybe I fear he was my imagination because of the fall.”

“I thought you saw him before you fell?” Dad asked, sounding puzzled.

“I did, or thought I did,” she said. She then tried to explain, “Afterward though, I began to wonder, “did I see what I thought I saw?” Understand?”

“Crazy girl,” dad said as he chuckled. “Fine, go find your eagle.”

“While you’re at it, find yourself a man too,” Robyn said rudely as she walked in.

Cara huffed. “Maybe I will!”

Then grabbing her backpack she’d filled with lunch and water, plus a few other things, Cara stalked out the door.