The Isle (Chronicles of the Irish Princess Book 1)

It had been a few days since we arrived at the ranch. We all pretty much had fallen into a routine. Sarah and Luca would take care of the small animals and horses. Kai and I would check the cows. Then Sarah and I would help Aunt Em around the house in the afternoons, sometimes in the garden and once cleaning the house and doing laundry. But today was Sunday and that was a little different. Mostly because it was also graduation Sunday.

Just as discussed we were going to watch Kai graduate and then head to his house to help him pack up his stuff. His mom lived in town and had a spare room and an office in their house, but she was insisting that Kai move some of his stuff. From what he told us it was boxes of old trophies and medals along with some of his dad's things that he had kept. His plan was to load up his truck and Luca's with the heavy stuff and put the boxes in the van and take them all out to his grandparent's place on the Reservation. They had plenty of space in their pole barn and were more than happy to help him out. Since his dad passed away, Kai's mom had distanced herself from his father's family. I wasn't sure why, as they were lovely people and very welcoming.

My Uncle led the way from the parking lot to the football field. He found seats by the chief. I knew that he was an important member of the tribe, but never knew why. When he married my Aunt, things got a little difficult. But shortly after their wedding they found out that the ranch sat on a portion of old Reservation lands. Things were very complicated, however after some petitioning and persuasion of a few government officials, they had the land added to the official reservation properties log and it was declared untouchable. My Uncle earned his tribe name "River Man" before meeting my aunt, he worked as a lumberman sending trees down the Arkansas river. Just by looking at him you couldn't really tell he was native, but his mother was a over fifty percent native and a member of the Ponca community.

Sarah grabbed my hand, "Leah, this will be us next year!"

"Yeah, it's exciting. Except for you leaving me to go to school in Ireland. I'll be moving up here to go to NOKU. Probably living with Em so I don't commute for over an hour."

"Relax, that's forever away. Things could change."

I fanned myself with the program some attendant gave me when we got here. For early June in Oklahoma, it was already well above 80 degrees out. There were a few clouds, but the fact that it wasn't even noon and I was sweating, while doing absolutely nothing was astonishing. My cap sleeved cream and floral dress was not thin enough to compete with the Midwest heat. Finally someone started up the band and got things moving.

The ceremony lasted about a hour and everyone in our row and the two behind us cheered for Kai as he walked across the stage. As his friend I was proud of him and honored to be a part of his special day. We wrapped things up on the grass outside the field, taking pictures with the grad. I stood behind the camera for most of them making sure to get great pictures of him with his family and friends. I got a great candid of him and Luca when he first arrived. It was the biggest bro hug I'd ever seen.

"You better print that one," Sarah smiled over my shoulder.

His mother had taken the camera from me to get pictures of Kai with my family. There was one of just him and my brother, one with my aunt and uncle. But then there was one with me I hadn't realized she'd taken until I was looking at them on the way to her house. I had waited until after all the pictures were over to give him a hug and congratulate him. I had thought no one was looking, but his mother apparently had my camera right on us. She's managed to catch the part of our hug where he kissed my head. At first I thought I imagined it, but there it was in all its digital glory.

"For what, my dreams?" I laughed.

"You really don't see it do you. He obviously likes you."

"I'm sure it was just an accident."

"Girls!" My Aunt hollered from a few feet away, "Let's go get some lunch with the grad huh? Chief said there's a big party at the Res for him as soon as we get him and his stuff there."

We laughed and put my camera back in my bag following Aunt Em back into Kai's mom's house for more boxes. From the looks of things she was packing a little herself. I kept to myself and kept quietly moving boxes out of Kai's room and into the van. Before we knew it, the van was full, and unfortunately Sarah and I had to give up our seats.

"Sarah, Leah it looks like you'll have to ride with the boys. I doubt Luca will let you drive his truck, Leah." Uncle Don said.

"That's no problem. I can ride with Luca." Sarah's words surprised me.

"Are you sure?" I questioned.

"Yeah. It's fine." She was already halfway to his truck.

I felt someone come up beside me, from the whiff of deodorant I got I knew it was Kai. "Looks like you're with me beautiful."

"Sure am. Let's go I'm hungry."

On the ride over to the Res, I was silent. Kai looked like he wanted to talk, but I kept my eyes looking out the window. It wasn't that I didn't want to be in the truck with him, the problem was that it was exactly where I wanted to be. I wanted to be in the truck, holding his hand, sitting in the middle as we drove down a dirt road to no where. We were on a dirt road, but it was leading to his grandparent's house. We'd been on reservation lands for about three miles. His grandpa was the Chief, so naturally, they lived near the middle of the little village that made up a portion of their land. We could see the smoke from the pig roast about a mile away. The closer we got the better it all smelled.

When we parked, Kai was greeted by what looked like the whole damn tribe. Somehow, my aunt and uncle managed to beat us here, so did Luca and Sarah. It was almost like Kai had taken a few extra roads on purpose. I was hoping it was because he knew that they were needed here before him and not to spend more time with me. If it was the latter, my stomach was already developing a knot of guilt for not talking to him.

"Welcome home White Wolf," His grandpa spoke. "Congratulations."

"Thank you Chief." They hugged. I stood awkwardly by looking for Sarah and Luca, but they had managed to disappear.

"Leah, isn't it? Don's niece." Next to me was a sweet old lady. I had seen her at the ceremony.

"Yes ma'am." I held out my hand and she pulled me in for a hug.

"I'm Malakai's Grandma, Selene. Most people around here just call me Gran though. You've grown so much since I last saw you. My, my, what a beautiful girl you grew into."

"We've met before? I'm sorry, I don't remember."

She smiled and laughed it off, "Oh dear, you were no more than eight maybe nine. I used to come and can with your Mamaw. You weren't there often. But it's hard to forget those natural curls."

"Thank you. I do remember a little bit of that, now."

"Gran, are you scaring her already?"

"Malakai, no I was simply saying hello, and reminiscing." She hugged him close, "You've got a good one here."

I turned away, pretending like I hadn't heard her. Kai managed to send her along and stood there a moment rubbing at the hair on the back of his neck.

"I'm so sorry about her, she can be overwhelming."

"Kai, she's a sweetheart. It's fine. But I am hungry, that pig smells so good."

"Yeah it does. Let's go get some."

We found seats next to Luca and Sarah, the whole time I sat there I was giving my best friend death glares. For leaving me defenseless against his Gran and for making me ride in the truck. Before I could finish eating, Luca had gotten into a game of horse shoes with some of the tribe men and Gran had returned to steal Sarah away to catch up. Once again I was left alone with Kai. We were surrounded by people, but they way things looked it was like we were sitting as a couple. Almost as if it was set up by them.

"Hey, do you want to take a walk with me?"

I closed my eyes, I wanted to, but there was so much spinning through my head.

"Just a quick one, I want to show you something. And talk, if it's not asking too much."

"Sure," I looked at him and stood up. "As long as you promise not to get us lost, mauled by wildlife or exposed to poisonous plants."

He chuckled, "I think I can manage that."

Kai stood with me and extended his hand. With a little hesitation, I took it and let him guide me around the house and further down the lane. We walked in silence for a little bit, quietly holding hands, not wanting to talk about the elephant that surrounded us. It was eating at me not knowing what was going on between us. I didn't want to lose his friendship, but the pull to him was getting stronger and stronger. My bones ached every time we touched, they hurt even more when he wasn't touching me. Then there was the fire inside me. It started at my heart and the longer I was around him the more it spread through my core. All of my veins felt like they were going to combust from this. All that time I had spent over the last three years doing my best to avoid him and build up walls to hide my feelings; it all felt like it never happened.

"Leah, can I be honest for a moment." He sounded so nervous.

"Always, is everything okay?"

"Uh, yeah. Well, no. It's complicated. You see, there's something I've been hiding from you for a long time. It seems so silly, because I should have just been honest and upfront about this."

He pulled away from me and locked his fingers behind his neck. Something was eating at him, of that much I was sure. He stopped walking and leaned up against a fence-line. I walked up to him slowly. His hands were now covering his face, I rested mine on his shoulders not wanting to scare him. Gently, I pulled his hands down and rested them on my sides.

"I think I've known for a while now, and have probably spent just as much time keeping the same from you. Malakai, it's not easy for me either. I keep thinking about how close you are with my brother, and how close I am with Sarah. But I can't keep hiding and pushing this all away anymore."

"I know the feeling. Leah, I like you, a lot. Probably more than I should. But I do, and I can't keep them from you anymore. Every summer, every time that you have left; I kick myself for not telling you, not taking the risk. I told myself that this summer would be different. I'm done hiding. The lingering glances, you catching me staring at you. I'm done pretending that it was something else."

I smiled, "So what does that mean for us now?"

He took my hand and kept walking. "Well, I'd like to spend more time together. I like the routine that we have, but I don't want to hide anymore. Not from you or anyone else in our lives. I want to be able to hold your hand in public, kiss you whenever I want, take you on little dates and behave like a normal guy who likes a girl. If you'll let me."

"Kiss me whenever you want huh? Interesting, I've never been kissed before."

That was all it took for him. With a quick swoop he had me up against the barn we were near. He gently placed his lips on mine. His movements were slow and sweet. His hands glued to my hips holding me; it was a good thing too because the feeling of his lips on mine made me melt. Instinctively I felt my hands move up from his chest and interlock behind his neck. He pulled me closer to him then and slid his hands up to cup my face. He was being so careful almost like I was a piece of porcelain that he was afraid of breaking.

Finally we pulled apart, out of breath. He couldn't stop smiling and neither could I. My first kiss and it was with the man I'd been dreaming about for most of my life. When he finally was able to talk, he placed one more kiss on my forehead and took my hand.

"Come on, that isn't the only reason I brought you out here. There's someone I want you to meet."

I followed him around to the entry of the barn. Awe came to stop in front of a beautiful Lipizzaner with a faded white spotting. The horse was protecting something behind her, and I quickly realized that there were foals huddled in the back corner. One of them was tan with a few white spots, the other was similar to the mare.

"They're beautiful. How old are they?"

"Maybe a couple days. Chief called me Friday about them."

"Is the horse yours?"

"No, but Firestar here was mated with Fury Road. Don set it up a while back. I didn't know which one Chief picked until later."

"Has Luca seen them?"

"Yeah, he and Sarah came out here last week to see them."

I gave him a puzzled look, "Sarah? She never said anything."

"I kinda asked them to keep the horses a surprise. I wanted to show you myself." He looked down at his feet.

I reached over and pulled his cheek to my lips kissing it, "I love your surprise. Can I pet one?"

My arm reached out into the stall waiting for Starfire to come to me. She was hesitant at first not wanting to let someone new near her babies. But slowly she took a couple steps to me and let me pet her nose. When she realized I wasn't a threat she let Kai and I come in the stall with her and pet the foals.

"I'm impressed, Starfire hasn't let anyone in here since they were born." He stood petting the mare who stood almost a whole foot taller than him."

"May be she just likes me."

"But that's the thing, she doesn't like most people. So far only Gran and Chief, for a while she even hated me. Now she tolerates me, this is the most I've been around her since Gran rescued her from the abandoned house they found her at."

I smiled at Starfire and walked to her. I petted her once more and followed Kai out of her stall. "We'll let you rest now girl," I said reaching for a bag of oats that were near by. I then grabbed a handful and let her eat from my hand.

When I turned around Kai was staring at me dumbfounded. As if I was the first to ever be able to do that. Then it dawned on me that I was. A smile slowly spread across his face as he took my hand and lead us back to the party.