Chapter 7

I woke to the strangest sensation. I was wrapped around something soft ... and warm ... and breathing! Candice! I snatched my arm from around her and sat straight up. I was breathing fast and hard and my head was spinning. I was more dizzy than I’d ever been. Candice slowly sat up beside me in the big bed and smiled.

“Good morning, Mick.”

I said the first thing that came to my mind.

“James says that he loves you.”

“That’s nice. Thank you for that. Did you find out anything else from his visit?”

“His ... visit?” I said, carefully trying to shake the dizziness out of my head.

“Oh, that’s right. You think it was a dream.”

“It wasn’t a dream?” I said slowly, letting the words sink into my own brain as I said them.

“Of course not,” Candice said as if it were a simple matter of fact. “It was the next part of James’ gifts to you.”

“What gifts?”

“Well, obviously, first is this house and the property and the wealth. You haven’t looked into it yet, but you are now a millionaire many times over.”

“I’m...” I fell back into bed, my head hitting the pillow hard and spinning again.

“Rich as Croesus? Not quite, but you are pretty rich.”

I looked at her. Her expression was one of gentle concern mixed with an understanding of what I was going through. After a few seconds had elapsed, she continued.

“Second is the memory.”

“The memory?’’

“Yes,” she gently placed a hand over my eyes and spoke in a soft instructional manner. “Let me help you. Calm your mind, close your eyes, relax yourself and think deeply. Try to recall what you can about me.”

I took a few breaths and slowly let them go, then I started to speak, remembering what we’d already talked about her.

“You? You’re Candice O’Dell. You are the caretaker of the house and property. You were my great grandfathers, confidant, friend, and, I guess, lover ... You were with him...” then like a flash something came into my mind. “You have another name.”

I listened to my great grandfather’s voice in my head. My speech slowed suddenly as memories flooded into my head. My eyes popped open and she pulled her hand away from me. I looked deep into her very large brown eyes.

“He says ... Deer Woman?”

What was Deer Woman? Where did I come up with that name? Her hand returned to cover my eyes, resting softly and although I wanted to sit up and ask those questions, I found that I didn’t want to either.

“Yes, Mick, my love,” she said with a soft voice full of truth. “I am Deer Woman.”

“Wait! Too many things in my head. What is Deer Woman?”

“I am what your people call a spirit. Although some in the old European tongues would call me a daemon.”

“You’re a demon?” I asked with a tinge of fear.

“No, my love! Mick. Not de-mon, Day-mon. Among my people, the Anishinaabe, I am known as a spirit but I have a physical form.”

“Good or evil spirit?” I asked sort of half joking.

“It depends on who is in my presence. I am a protector of women and children and of the men who honor them. To those who treat women and children with violence, I am known to be less than kind.”

With that she took her hand off my eyes. She stood and held out a hand for me. I took it and rose from the bed. Looking at her, using the new memories in my head, I noticed that she was standing a little taller and seemed to be somehow larger than before. Also she wasn’t wearing the white silk pajamas she had on when we went to bed. She was again in the long green dress but now I could see her feet. She was wearing the smallest slippers I’d ever seen. Her feet must be impossibly tiny.

“You’ll want to wear these.”

She pointed to a thick robe and some slippers that looked like sheep skin. I pulled on the robe, immediately feeling very warm and comfortable. My feet also felt as comfortable when I slid them into the slippers. The footwear seemed to conform to my feet and embrace them.

“Come on,” she said, taking my hand again.

I rose from the bed but I don’t remember how. It seemed that I just rose like I was on a plank that rotated from horizontal to vertical in a smooth even movement.

We walked down the stairs and through the huge house to the back portion of it. There was a large conservatory there. Candice led me out of a door to the left corner of the conservatory and out onto the back patio. We then walked out into the large yard. In the middle of the yard was a big stone with carvings on it. I’d always wondered what it was. My great grandfather chided me the first time I tried to climb on it.

“This is where you will receive the third and final gift from James. First, I need you to sit on the ground, just there.”

“Do I cross my legs?”

“You may sit in such a manner that makes you comfortable, my love.”

“Candice, you’ve used that would a few times now. What makes you think I’m your love?”