At Home in Cherokee

By Camilla Fogle

Claire Bryte Cloud and her brothers return to their beloved Cherokee. The first morning Claire is back, she goes to her bedroom window and looks out on the place she grew up and at the beautiful old log cabin of her orphanage grandparents - Henry and Louetta Wolfe.
The Christmas Eve Pot Latch brings surprises from both Ethan Grey Wolfe and her orphanage brother Juno Carver.
Through her first year home Juno and Ethan vie for Claire's attention and Claire tries to show no favoritism.
All this is overshadowed by a shocking revelation that takes place in early January.
The Bryte Clouds lives are changed forever.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Jan 24, 2014
• ISBN: 9781304922243

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At Home in Cherokee

AT HOME IN CHEROKEE

By Camilla Fogle

Other Books in the Bryte Cloud Series:

Book One:

A Summer Alone

Book Two:

An Education in Boston

Copyright © Camilla Fogle, 2014

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the author’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a simple condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

Dedicated to:

Joseph L. Fogle

Thanks to Jim Kershaw for the BryteCloud Logo and title        design.

CHAPTER ONE

My bedroom in Cherokee was on the second floor. I had chosen that room because each morning the sunrise reached my windows first. My brothers Carter and Colin had seen that as a problem but for me it was an early morning gift. This morning’s sunrise gift was hitting me squarely in the eyes when I finally woke at seven thirty. The last days of graduation and of having to see Leo Como again had been so difficult; and when we had made the stopover in Greenwich, Connecticut and ended up having to stay another day to sit with Simon Jacobs, I had begun to think I’d never make it home to see this sunrise.

I popped out of bed and looked outside. I could see the Wolfe’s little house with smoke rising up out of their beautiful rock chimney. I knew they were awake because I could see the lights in their kitchen. The main part of the house had been built of logs and then covered later with plain unpainted wood. That house had been one of my first memories at the orphanage and when I thought of their house I thought of all the plants that Louetta set out on her front porch in the warmer months. I could see the mountains again and if I squinted enough I could see the peak where my brothers and I had left rocks that symbolized our missing parents. I was home again.

I dressed quickly and went downstairs to start the coffee. My brother Colin was way ahead of me. He had the coffee brewing already and was deciding what he’d cook for breakfast. I worried that he would think that because he was a chef that we’d expect him to cook all the time.

You know Colin you don’t have to cook all the time. I’d think you’d be tired of it. We can take turns; please don’t think I expect you to do that.

I don’t mind. This is our first morning in our own home and I wanted this morning’s breakfast to start us off right. It’s a special day for all of us. Maxine was sweet to stock our kitchen for us – she has done a good job. Remind me to pay her today. I like your idea of having a kitty to use for things like this.

Then he turned around and hugged me. You have no idea how happy I am to be home. I haven’t talked much about what’s going on in my life but I want you to know that I am dating someone, Colin had a huge smile on his face.

"I met her while I was in Paris this past summer. I didn’t like her at all when I met her. We were assigned to each other as kitchen partners for the summer and I didn’t think she was good enough and serious enough and apparently she thought the same of me. It was hell working next to her and I hated the fact that she was going to be at the Culinary Institute of New York in the fall – the same place I was headed. We had some really cross words during the summer and a couple of times our supervisor sat us down and talked to us. It was basically a shape up or ship out lecture and he didn’t care who was right or wrong. Either we got our act together or we were both out. I stewed about it and the next day I came in and took her aside and apologized. I explained to her how important being a top chef was to me and I admitted to her that I was being overbearing because I wanted to do well. I also told her about my inspiration at the orphanage – Louetta. It broke the ice; she apologized too. We had a chance to talk about what we wanted to do and how long we had dreamed of becoming chefs. We got along really well after that and we started having each other’s back in the kitchen. I ended up looking forward to working with her and I think she felt the same.

We made it a point to review our day and to see what we could have done better. Then we started having lunch together once a week to plan for the week ahead. As far as dating, our dates - if you want to call them dates - were mostly walks where we talked about future hopes. Everybody talks about the light in Paris and that it’s special. They’re right. Our walks in that light were the best thing that ever happened to me. I’ll never forget my time with Maggie in Paris. At the end of the summer we were a couple and I was happy that we were.

You know how some people meet and there are stars and bells and all that. This hasn’t been that way at all. It has been a steady getting to know her and appreciating her and then really liking her. Our time together later in New York was made bearable by the fact that we were falling in love. The rest of New York was difficult and now I’m so glad that she and I are out of there. The place can be brutal for young people. She lives in Georgia. I guess you wondered why I chose to work for a restaurant in Atlanta - well she’s the reason. She will be working there too. She has a sister that works for a bank in Atlanta so Maggie will be living with her. There’s no way she would have agreed to share an apartment with me – at least not yet. Her parents would have disowned her – they’re very strict with their daughters. We’re taking our time and doing things the right way I hope. I want to drive down there right now and kneel at her feet and beg her to marry me, but I’m not going to do that. I hope I’m not making a mistake and I don’t think I am.

We agreed that we’d spend the holidays with our families but the day after New Year’s I’m pointing the car south and not looking back. I miss her so much. I’ve known her since May and I know I need to take my time but being away from her is driving me nuts. Her name is Maggie McDonald by the way. Her family lives near Talking Rock, Georgia. I’m not ready to meet them yet. She isn’t ready to have me meet them yet either. I’m glad because I know I’ll be a wreck when I do. I don’t know much about parents obviously. I’ve told Carter but I haven’t told anybody else. I wanted to tell you when we were together; I haven’t been hiding her but right now I feel that our new little relationship is so fragile and I want to protect it."

I knew how Colin felt. I don’t think I had ever been in a real relationship yet – awfully close but not in one. Now with everything that had gone on with the Como Family I felt the same way Colin did – that a new relationship was fragile and I wouldn’t want to expose it to the light of day for a while either. I was learning from my mistakes.

Colin decided on a simple breakfast for the morning and I’m glad he did. Nobody should be expected to perform all the time. After his successful showing at the fund raiser in New York, he could definitely rest on his laurels for a while. I did enjoy a cup of coffee as I sat looking out the back windows. Whoever had designed this house - if anyone had really spent time designing it - had made sure that the kitchen got the morning sun and that the front of the house had a mostly southern exposure. I spent some time drinking my coffee and looking out over the fields. I heard a house wren welcoming the morning. The sound took me back to the morning I had spent on the screened back porch with Leo Como in Boston. Ouch! I guess there wasn’t really a geographic cure. Pain must have ridden south with us. Leo had been so kind to me once and now not so much.

When Carter came down I could see that he had been expecting an end to his pain over Sara’s deceitfulness too but the shadow was still there. Thomas was the last one down. He said good morning to everybody and without asking found the dishes in the cabinet and started setting the table. Carter smiled at that. We were still a sleepy crew this morning so there were no big conversations. We were still tired from the drive down from New York. Thomas did look out the windows to see where we were. It had been a moonlit night as we arrived home and he was eager to see what the place looked like in the light of day.

The old orphanage grounds were etched in my memory. I could have walked them blindfolded. Even though the grounds were close enough to the business section of Cherokee that we could walk there, we were fortunate enough to be secluded by the forest. Once you made a right at the Oconaluftee River bridge onto Acquoni Road, our driveway was a little bit down the road on the right. The driveway wound up through the woods and finally came out on the little plateau where all the orphanage buildings and cottages were located.

Once you got to the top of the ridge, if you went straight you reached the house of Ethan Grey Wolfe and his Dad Everette. The road ended just past their house. If you drove left at the top of the ridge, the road led to the property where Juno and Bright Eyes Carver’s parents had lived.

There was also a gate at the top of the ridge and that is how you reached the orphanage grounds. Once through the gate, the left fork of the little driveway led you to all the orphanage buildings: the classrooms and the old cafeteria that contained the kitchen, kitchen office and a community room. If you entered the gate and made a right, the driveway led you to the orphanage cottages; there were six of them and I had chosen the center cottage as mine.

There was a spacious lawn around the orphanage buildings where hundreds of children had played all kinds of games during their time at the orphanage. Just beyond those buildings was Henry and Louetta Wolfe’s house. Louetta was the cook at the orphanage and appreciated being able to walk to her job. Henry and Louetta had lived there many years – all the children loved them and called them their grandparents.

There was a wide green field between Henry and Louetta’s house and the other cottages and in the middle of that field was a small creek and a little wooden bridge was in place so orphans could walk from the classrooms to the cottages. The little creek originated from a spring up on the mountain side and meandered through the orphanage grounds and flowed on past the house where Ethan Grey Wolfe had grown up. Ethan’s house was not on the orphanage land although it was possible to cross the creek to get to his house. It was usually better – especially in colder weather – to go back out to the gate and take the left turn to his driveway. Ethan’s Dad discouraged visitors so none of us ever walked over there. The creek was the boundary between the Grey Wolfe’s land and the orphanage land.

It was in the middle cottage that Colin, Carter, Juno, Bright Eyes and I had lived for our entire time at the orphanage and that is why I chose that cottage as mine when my brothers and I purchased the property together. I even claimed the same room I had occupied for most of the time that I lived there and Carter claimed the one he had stayed in. He figured that Colin would be living in Atlanta and wouldn’t care so much where he was during the holiday break.

Behind the cottages up a little rise was an old barn and below that was pastureland that had once been used for all kinds of livestock. The creek curved down toward the barn after it flowed by Ethan’s house. It was an easy way to allow whatever livestock there was to take advantage of the flowing water. The orphanage had raised a lot of its own food. Behind my cottage was space for a huge garden that ran all the way down behind the lowest cottage and almost up to the first cottage. All of us had many good memories of the entire place and it was a joy to know that my brothers and I had saved it by buying it.

I was eager to explore the property again and was happy when Carter said, Thomas, why don’t you and Claire take a walk after we clean up from breakfast? She can show you around. I’ve got to go into town to get our mail rerouted here and Colin needs to pick up the things he had shipped from Boston. Maxine has them at her house. We didn’t have room to bring them over last night, Carter was always in charge of things.

I’d like that very much. It looks cold outside and I really do like to walk when it’s cold. Claire does that sound good?

I agreed with Thomas that a walk in the cold brisk morning air would be a treat and we settled on taking a walk together. We ate, cleared and cleaned and soon Colin and Carter had taken the old pickup truck into town. I excused myself long enough to brush my teeth and find my old shoes and Thomas did the same. I purposely didn’t bring my coat down because I knew there were coats in the front closet. I figured if Thomas didn’t have a coat that was warm enough I could pretend that we always grabbed one out of the closet and didn’t worry about who it belonged to. I was glad I had decided on that because he came down wearing a coat that really wouldn’t have kept him warm. I guess I hadn’t thought about that while he was in Boston.

This is our coat world – let’s just grab whatever fits and we’ll be off. The high ridges and the path along the river can be brutal. We both found coats that were warm and bulky and it wasn’t a big deal to him or to me. I had decided we’d take a shorter walk this first morning home – I didn’t want him to try and walk longer to impress me. I knew his only exercise had been walking to class and sitting at a desk for the past few months. I shouldn’t have worried; I was beginning to sense that Thomas wasn’t one of those men that had anything to prove. He seemed to be confident enough.

It’s beautiful here Claire. I see why you wanted to come back so badly. I know it’s your home but it’s beautiful too. Anybody would want to live here, Thomas wasn’t trying to make points - he really liked what he was seeing.

I knew very little about New Zealand but I guessed that maybe there were mountains there too that he missed. We walked along the little path that gradually climbed up the mountain. I had chosen a trail that wasn’t too steep and I had chosen the trail that came out along the river. I knew we’d pass a spring somewhere on the trail and I wanted him to see that.

I was thinking about Fletcher Sorge this morning. Fletcher had been the owner of the bookstore where Thomas had worked in Boston. Do you remember when he handed me an envelope on graduation day? I nodded that I did remember.

"I had forgotten about it until I was unpacking my bag this morning. I opened it and two envelopes were inside. One was from him with a very generous check and an even more generous note. It’s amazing how kind people can be. When I get settled in Atlanta, I’m going to invite him to come down and let me show him where I work. I hope he’ll come.

The other envelope was a note from my Mother and a check. I don’t know how she knew I worked at his bookstore but she did. It had been mailed there in my name but in care of the store. She told me that she was very proud of me and that even though my career path wasn’t what they had wanted for me, she told me that she was happy if I was. She apologized for my Dad’s heavy-handed ways. That’s what she called it. She seemed to be regretting some decisions they had made. I was an oops baby I think and she was forty-three when I was born. She seems to be getting sentimental or something now.

She apologized for farming me out to a boarding school so early and she told me that usually what my Father said was what happened. She thought they were doing the right thing too at the time but now she wishes she had put her foot down. She apologized for having her mind in their business so much that she left me out. I believe she meant every word she said in that letter. She wished me well wherever I was going and she sent me her e-mail address in case I ever wanted to talk to her. She told me it was time for her to think about retiring but that my Father wouldn’t hear of it. I think that he must be pressuring her pretty strongly to keep working. Then she added that it was probably a good idea to keep working because she had no idea what she’d do with herself if she didn’t. I wonder how much money and prestige my Father needs. Most people would be looking forward to retiring but he just hasn’t got enough yet. Maybe he never will or maybe he loves the power he wields.

So Claire, one of them showed up at graduation by mail at least. I’m glad for that. I’ve reread the letter a couple of times and it feels good to know that she cared enough to send it. The letter helps and so does the check.

I guess you’re wondering why I kissed you last night on the drive home. You haven’t asked but I could tell you were surprised. The real honest answer is that I’m starved for affection. I could see that you were too. We had both had a rough couple of days. Was it wrong to find comfort with each other?" he asked.

I told him I didn’t think it was wrong at all as long as we weren’t hurting anybody else by doing that and I told him that I was glad he did. By now we were at the spring and we both stopped and drank from it. I explained that there were a lot of springs on the mountain and that I loved every one of them.

Now the trail led off the exposed ridge and through the woods and down toward the river. There was a huge rock and several smaller ones and we sat down to catch our breath a little. I don’t know if I expected him to kiss me again but he didn’t. I was glad that he didn’t. It seemed to me that the kisses in the car were one thing but here we were two adults who had needed comfort but now maybe we didn’t. I was home and he had received a letter from his Mother so maybe we were fine. It was a relief in a lot of ways. A relationship needed to be what it was and there didn’t need to be any shortcuts. Shortcuts always hurt someone. We started walking again after we had rested. The trail came down out of the woods and we were in the sun again on the banks of the river. We followed the river trail until we came back to the orphanage property.

There are lots of trails around here – want to try and do one when we can and when the weather permits? I hoped I wasn’t causing him to think that I expected all of his time – I didn’t and I didn’t want to give up all my time either.

I shouldn’t have worried; he was looking at the clouds and asking me which direction most of our storms came from. Soon we were chatting about weather and I showed him the weather station that had always been on the property. It wasn’t much but all of us checked it. I told Thomas that we were inviting the Wolfe’s and Maxine to dinner Wednesday night and that he could get to know them better.

With our house in sight, Thomas said, "Do you remember when I kissed you when we were standing on the back porch in Boston? I think that’s the first week I met you. That wasn’t a comfort kiss – that was me wanting to kiss you because you were beautiful - kiss. I know I surprised you that night too. I shouldn’t have kissed you. I stayed away from you then for a while and then all that drama happened with Ms. Silverman. I just wanted you to know the difference.

Before I was ousted by my parents, I was a womanizer with loads of money to spend. My parents showed me love by throwing money at me. They gave me plenty back then. Does that surprise you? I thought I was God’s gift to women and that they should all bow down before me and let me do and behave the way I wanted. Mostly they did. After I kissed you that night, I remembered all that and I decided I didn’t want any of that instant affection anymore. I rushed you then and I know you enjoyed the kiss, I can tell things like that but I know it was too soon. The truth is I don’t know how to get to know a woman. I don’t know what’s too slow and what’s too fast anymore. I’ll figure it out eventually. Anybody that knew me back then would be shocked to see me struggling with this the way I am now. I hope it means I’ve developed a conscience and I believe I have. I don’t know what else to say right now and I don’t expect anything from you, I just wanted to say all that so you’d know."

We walked on up the hill toward the house and soon we were back on the front porch. We shucked our coats into the front closet and left our boots on the front porch chair to dry a little. Carter and Colin pulled up then and Thomas grabbed his boots again and started helping them carry Colin’s boxes in. Life seemed to be taking a steady flow and if I had worried that Thomas would be all over me or needy, I was wrong. I took a deep breath. Maybe our kiss the other night was needed at the time. Kindness is never wrong. Thomas seemed to be just fine. Things would go well for him. I wasn’t too sure about how things would work out for me.

We all fell into a good routine that week. Some or all of us walked the trails each day. The weather was much too cold in the early week for camping. Thomas was watching the weather even to the point of chatting with some people he had met at the Weather Channel during his Thanksgiving break. The weekend that was coming up was forecast to be warmer and dry so we all decided we’d target it as our first choice but we knew we might have to have a Plan B. Mountain weather could be fickle sometimes.

On Wednesday night the Wolfe’s came over and Maxine showed up and brought Rich Masden - her new boyfriend. My brothers and I knew him from our college days and apparently the Wolfe’s had already met him. Maxine introduced Rich to Thomas and soon we were all chatting like old friends. I could see that Rich was crazy in love with Maxine and she was positively aglow. They were very affectionate. What a change that must have been for her to have someone who truly wanted her. I don’t recall ever having seen her ex-husband Eddie treat her that way.

Thomas spent some time talking with Louetta. I don’t think he poured out his heart to her but he was interested in hearing what she had to say about a lot of things. She liked the attention and seemed to understand that the attention was genuine. I insisted that we not make Colin cook for all of us so we had put together an assortment of dishes – each of us contributing something to the meal. I was surprised when Thomas made a very decent pineapple upside down cake.

I noticed that Colin had gotten a text message and soon he excused himself to go talk. I hoped it was Maggie sending him a text. He came back a little later with a goofy smile on his face and all was well in his world. I don’t know about Carter but I felt a little envious of Colin. How wonderful it would be to have someone reaching out to me. No one was reaching out to me and Carter had told me that Sara hadn’t contacted him anymore. It seemed like Carter and I were in a little desert. My own desert seemed dry as dry could be with no sign of water and no end in sight. It reminded me of another Bible story Louetta had shared with us long ago. It was the one where the Israelites were roaming around in the desert. She had told us after the story that sometimes we had to go through deserts in our life. She told us that the only way out was through.

Louetta, I was just thinking about the Bible stories you used to read to us. You might not know this but I think of them a lot. They usually come to me when I need them. They are a comfort to me more than you know. I’m thankful when they come and I’m thankful that you did that for us, I felt like crying when I said that.

Thank you Claire that’s sweet. I always wondered if anybody was listening. Some of you were real squirmy children and I thought the stories were going in one ear and out the other. Claire, are you working on anything in your sewing room? she asked. I knew this was her way to get me alone. She had picked up on my signal that I was having trouble.

We walked to the back room in the house where I had my office and my sewing room. It was off limits to my brothers. It was my sanctuary. Louetta had taught me to sew when I was ten years old. She had always sewn all her clothes by necessity and had asked if anybody else wanted to learn. I guess she knew some of us would have hard times coming when we left the orphanage. She wanted to help us all that she could. Several of us had asked but