” My excitement starts to take over with this new step in our relationship. “I think I'm going to be too excited to sleep!” Patrick laughs a lit...le before assuring, “No worries, I know what you’ll need to sleep. Grab some clothes pins, the Hitachi, and your paddle. You’ll be crashing hard and sleeping in no time. He was right. * No surprise, when I ask Addie at the breakfast table the next morning how she’d feel about Patrick staying the night, I’m met with an eye-roll and an ‘It's about time’. ‘His ex-wife and my husband are brother and sister but we’ve remained friends since their divorce 2 years ago.’ I was asked some cursory questions about what I knew about Kevin and any violent tendencies. I told them the truth about his temper, especially after a few drinks. Although I had never seen him physically harm Drea before, I had an utter disdain at the way he talked to her. From there they wanted me to give examples, which I was happy to do. ‘What happened, Drea?’ I finally asked.. If you have any brains at all, you will head to the class and ask them what happened. Doofus is going to rely on the fact that you will believe him and Dean over me since I am the school bully, and Dean is such a sweetheart.”“You should show more respect for your teacher.”“You want me to respect a man that demands the biggest kid in his class hit me as hard as he can in the back of the head. C3-4 and 4-5 are where the nerves for the arms and heart come out of the spine. If Dean hit me just. We could get by talkin in Cheyenne but mostly we just used sign. She cooked, cleaned and did all the other things around camp that an Indian woman should. She also kept my bed warm at night. Star seemed to be happy and I know I was.The end came three years later as we were traveling back to the high country in the fall. We passed within a couple of miles of a Ute village and when I woke up the next morning, Star was gone. All my gear was still there but her things were missing. I followed her.