Mountain Moonlight - By Jane Toombs Page 0,17

he'd learned in camp and they sang those and others, one after another until they grew hoarse. At that point Davis eased down and stretched out on his sleeping bag.

"Whatever happened to your guitar?" Vala asked Bram.

"I didn't realize you knew I had one," he said. "It's around somewhere."

"Can you still play it?" Davis asked.

"I suppose. Haven't tried lately."

"He was something in high school with that guitar," Vala said, remembering. "He knew all the right tunes and sometimes he'd play after classes out in the parking lot, standing there by his motorcycle, surrounded by a crowd."

Davis stared at him. "You had a Harley?"

"No such luck. An old Honda."

"Still..." Davis seemed lost in admiration.

"I never noticed you in any crowd," Bram said to Vala.

"I was there." She didn't add that she'd tried hard not to be obvious.

"Staying in the background seemed to be a characteristic of yours."

"I got over it." Wanting to shift attention from herself, she said, "I never in my wildest guess would have imagined you as a lawyer."

"Nobody else's either. Could be that's why I took prelaw when I got that college baseball scholarship and then went on to law school."

Vala expected Davis to chime in about now. When he didn't, she glanced at him and saw he'd fallen asleep. Following her gaze, Bram said, "Should we be quiet?"

She smiled. "Never worry about waking Davis up. Ten brass bands marching by couldn't rouse him. He's the soundest sleeper in the world."

"He's a good kid. Smart, too."

"Unfortunately his father doesn't seem to know that. Or care. The only thing Davis could do to make Neal take any notice is to become an outstanding athlete. That's not likely."

"He interested in sports at all?"

"He likes to watch baseball but gave up on playing it after one season in Little League. Davis is not well- coordinated, no matter how hard he practices. Lately he's given up completely on trying to please his father. I can't blame him, since nothing does."

Bram scowled but remained quiet, seemingly lost in his own thoughts. "Hell of thing for a kid to go through," he said finally. "Shouldn't happen."

"You know that and I know that, but try to tell Neal."

"Why'd you marry him?"

Taken by surprise, she blurted, "Because he asked me." After a moment, she realized, to her distress, that it might actually be the truth of the matter. She hadn't been in love with Neal, no matter how she'd tried to convince herself she was.

Bram shook his head.

"Okay, so it was a lousy reason," she snapped. "I'm sure he's much happier with his new wife and son."

"How about you?"

She shrugged. "I'm happier without him. So is Davis, actually. He no longer has to hear on a daily basis how he doesn't measure up to Neal's image of a son."

"Man's a fool not to be proud of a kid like Davis. Take the old Ndee he befriended. Mokesh saw something in Davis that made him believe in the boy's potential or he'd never have given Davis so much of his time, much less that map. It's not easy to impress an old medicine man."

"I thought Mr. Mokesh was probably just lonely."

"With others to talk to in that nursing home, he chose Davis. You can bet it wasn't as simple as loneliness."

"I've noticed you seem to know quite a lot about Mr. Mokesh's people. Like Davis, you don't say Apache, you say Ndee."

"Everything has its right name."

She waited for him to go on before finally realizing that was the only answer she was likely to get.

"It was good of you to offer Davis a kitten," she said into the silence, "but I don't know if we'll be able to take it home with us."

"Let's wait and see. I can always ship it." He shifted position on his sleeping bag to peer at the rain through the little view window on the flap. "Isn't letting up any yet." His new position brought them closer together but she hesitated to shift herself, not wanting him to think his nearness disturbed her. Which it did. He seemed to radiate a sensual aura she was extremely susceptible to.

She found the weather a safe subject. "No more lightning and thunder, though. The rain can't last forever" He nodded, then said, "Surprised me when you mentioned my guitar. I'd have sworn you never noticed me that much back then."

Never noticed him! When she'd spent every school day waiting for a glimpse of Bram, hoping and praying he'd say even one word to her. "You