Sisters in the Wind(102)
Luke will meet Lucas and Lola before I do. Technically, they are my half siblings and therefore his uncle and aunt. But I hope they become familiar, like cousins. And that over the years, my son will have happy memories of regular visits with family in Sault Ste. Marie and on Sugar Island.
A petite woman with short dark brown hair comes around to help the even tinier elderly woman from the passenger side. My breathing hitches as I rise from the lawn chair.
I am about to meet my mother, Maggie, and my great-grandmother Granny June. They’ve been eager to meet me for a long time. Daunis encouraged me to talk with a therapist and to go at my own pace. Maggie and Granny June would wait until I was ready.
It was my idea to invite them to my naming ceremony. Daunis explained about its significance. How I would gift semaa to Seeney Nimkee, who would smoke her pipe and pray to Gichimanidoo. How I needed to select four sponsors to serve a role similar to godparents. How I would be introduced to everyone by my Spirit name and then each person would greet me by this name.
A naming ceremony, with introductions, with friends by my side, and a meal … well, it seemed like a good way to meet each other. Like, we could focus on the ceremony and the food. We could occupy ourselves with Luke, Granny June, Lucas, and Lola.
But I didn’t let myself think about this moment, when we are face-to-face before the ceremony. My legs feel shaky, as if both femurs are now broken and my first steps might be impossible. The closer I get to her, the faster my heart thumps in my chest.
She looks like me. Or, rather, I look like her. It’s not just my eyes. It’s the shape of my face, the pointed chin. Her dark hair looks softer than mine. She has a cowlick at her hairline.
Seeing myself in her reveals things about my dad.
I get my height from him. And my nose.
Maggie gave me up because she didn’t think she was worthy to be my mother.
My father believed he could raise me on his own. He saw the world in black-and-white, no shades of gray. Good or bad, not good and bad. He thought if he could control all the variables, I’d grow up safe and good. A perfect ship in harbor.
Maggie stands before me. Her arms tremble but remain at her side.
When I thought I was about to die, I prayed for Maggie to know grace, serenity, and joy in this world. I survived, thanks to Jamie. I received a second chance.
I wrap my arms around my birth mother. Her entire body shakes as she sobs.
“Shhh. Shhh.” I soothe her the way I do Luke when he cries. The way I comfort Stacy when her aunt brings her for a visit and she doesn’t want to leave us.
“Shhh. Shhh. It’s all right. We’re together now. We’ll be together again.”
* * *
The next morning, I ride with Daunis to the mainland. Luke is happily playing with the twins back at Teddie and Art’s home. When Daunis and I dropped him off, Perry asked if Luke could go on the bigger slide today.
“He’s bored with the baby slide,” she explained.
I consider risk and reward differently now. Boats need navigational tools when leaving safe harbors.
“If he wants to try, it’s okay.”
Misho Abe and Miss Lonnie are sightseeing. We have plans to meet up later for dinner at Granny June’s. But for now, it’s just Daunis and me.
She drives along the river. The houses are spaced farther apart, and the land is more heavily wooded as we travel south from town. She slows and turns on a blinker. A FOR SALE sign near the road has a SOLD sticker added diagonally. We follow a dirt driveway through the woods to a clearing.
The view of the river is breathtaking. Across the way, Sugar Island beckons with its panorama of autumn colors. We leave the SUV as an enormous freighter ship passes by with barely a sound. By the time we reach the breakwater, waves from the ship’s wake crash against it. After a few moments, the river resumes its calm rhythm.
“I bought this property.” Daunis spins with her arms outstretched like Maria in The Sound of Music. “I’m going to build a house. My baby will wake up every morning to the sun rising behind Sugar Island. Due east, where every day begins.” She pauses before adding, “Plenty of bedrooms. You’ll always have a place to stay.”
“Miigwech,” I say. “But I have Stacy most weekends. She and Luke need consistency.”
With both parents deceased, Stacy lives with a paternal aunt who’d been estranged for not sharing the same views as Mr. Sterling. She and Stacy’s therapist agreed that the sibling bond between Stacy and Luke should be continued. We started with supervised visits combined with play-therapy sessions. We’re now doing unsupervised visits every Saturday, with an eventual goal of full weekends and school vacations.
I look around the wooded property, imagining Daunis’s future home. It appears solid for a moment—a cedar-sided home like the Firekeeper-Birch chalet. A great room with floor-to-ceiling windows framing Sugar Island in all its splendor. And a wood-burning fireplace that I swear I can smell already. An impressive house that might, at first glance, seem fancy and imposing. But once you look beyond the style to its substance, it will be warm and inviting. A home filled with love.
“I let Maggie know it would be easier if she visits us in Charlevoix. You too.” I step toward Daunis. “My home is there. At least for now.”
She takes my hand. “I understand. I’m proud of you and the family you’ve created.”