Paper Rose

Paper Rose Read Online Free PDF Page B

Book: Paper Rose Read Online Free PDF
Author: Diana Palmer
in mind.”
    â€œWe can?” she asked, grinning because she knew how much he loved the museum; it had been his idea to open it. He was a fanatic in the field of Native American culture. He wasn’t Sioux, but his mother had taught on the Wapiti Sioux reservation. Like Cecily, he had an affinity for the Lakota nation.
    He chuckled. “I’ll tell you all about it on Saturday. Six sharp at my house. Don’t be late. It’s a buffet.”
    â€œI won’t eat for days,” she promised.
    When she hung up she realized what she’d said. She did eat more frugally than before. She spent more frugally than before. Her surroundings weren’t lavish. But she wasn’t having to depend on anyone’s charity. She was twenty-five and self-supporting. It felt good.
    Â 
    Cecily phoned Leta to let her know that she planned to fly out to Rapid City and drive over to the Wapiti Ridge Sioux Reservation near Custer State Park in South Dakota for the tribe’s annual celebrations. There would be a large contingent of Lakota at the three-day September event, and native dancing and singing as well. She’d already bought her plane ticket and reserved a rental car. She wasn’t going to back out of the event just because she and Tate weren’t speaking. Anyway, there wasn’t a chance that Tate would go now.
    â€œTate hasn’t called recently,” Leta mentioned when they’d discussed the event. “I phoned to see if he was at his apartment, and that Audrey Gannon answered. She told me he was out of the country on some job for his boss, Pierce Hutton.”
    Cecily felt a lump in her throat. She swallowed before she replied. “I didn’t know she was living with him,” she said, trying to sound nonchalant.
    â€œHe’s secretive, isn’t he, baby? I guess he must feel something for her,” Leta replied irritably. “She hates what he is, she hates the reservation and she was barely civil to me when I told her who I was. If he’s as crazy about her as she says he is, she could turn him against his own people, even against me.”
    â€œSurely she wouldn’t,” Cecily tried to reassure her.
    ely she would. She’s against native sovereignty.” There was a hesitation. “I’m glad you’re coming out here. I miss seeing you. Since you went to live in Washington, I hardly get to have you out here at all.”
    â€œI miss you, too,” Cecily said warmly.
    â€œI need something to lift my spirits,” Leta continued. “We’ve just lost the hope of getting an ambulance and a new community clinic, because the funds that were budgeted have disappeared.”
    â€œDisappeared? Where to?” Cecily said.
    â€œNobody knows,” Leta said. “Tom Black Knife, you remember our tribal chief, says it’s probably a math error. I’m not so sure. There are some real suspicious comings and goings around here lately. Especially since the paperwork for the proposed casino was sent off. I guess you haven’t been able to get Senator Holden to listen to you about our side of the story?” she added, a curious inflection in her voice.
    â€œMatt Holden is one hundred percent against the casino, despite all my pleading,” Cecily said sadly. “Not that I haven’t bombarded him with information. I’m going to his birthday party. Maybe I can waylay him there and do us some good.”
    â€œYes. His birthday. He’s inflexible when anything goes against his principles,” Leta murmured.
    â€œYou sound as if you know him!” Cecily teased.
    There was a long pause and when Leta spoke, her voice was strained. “I know of him. Everybody here does.”
    â€œWhy don’t you come to Washington later in the year and talk to him personally?” Cecily asked. “You can stay with me.”
    â€œWhat, in that fancy apartment?” she said, distracted.
    Cecily winced.
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