Chapter Ten

	The next few days passed in a relatively friendly atmosphere.  Although Jules had
become somewhat reserved after the gift exchange, and had not spoken to her much,
Hayley  hadn't allowed herself to dwell on it.  An ever darkening cloud hung over her
head,  occupying her thoughts almost constantly, and that was the ever more imminent
arrival of Carolyn Shellington. Hayley found herself becoming more and more nervous as
each day passed. It had become easy to act her part in front of Dolores, and Hector, but
Carolyn was a different matter.  Carolyn was the only one that did matter, and she was
getting more and more worried that no matter what they did, the ruse wouldn't work on
the woman.
	What if she saw through their charade? Worse still, what if she did believe they
were married, even happily married, but it didn't deter her?  What if she went after Jules
anyway?  Hayley frowned, and glanced at Dolores.  She’d had her chance to lay the
ground work a few days earlier, but she’d been so nervous she hadn’t even recognized the
opportunity until it had passed.  
	Hector had gone for a nap in the early afternoon, and Dolores gone outside for
some fresh air.  She’d had a headache brewing all day and had asked Jules to accompany
her on a short walk to clear her head.  Hayley had been alone in the lodge when the
telephone call had come through.  She had been caught off guard when a young woman
identifying herself as Carolyn Shellington had asked to speak to her mother.
	“I’m afraid she’s gone outside for a few minutes,” Hayley had said.  “Can I take a
message for you?”
	“Then where is my father?”  Carolyn had asked. 
	“He’s taking a nap,” Hayley had informed the girl.  “Shall I wake him?”
	“No, no, don’t bother.  Just tell mother that I won’t be able to come when I had
planned. I — I couldn’t get a flight out of Tucson.  Tell her not to worry, I’ll be there by
New Years. I’ve had to book a flight for New Years Eve.  I’m sure Jules won’t mind
flying out to meet me that day.”
	“Well, I’ll —“  Hayley started, but Carolyn  wasn’t interested in talking. 
	“Good, then I’ll trust you to get the message to my mother. Good bye.”
	Hayley had been left holding the phone and listening to the dial tone before she
had even realized the conversation had ended. She’d been still standing there when
Dolores and Jules had returned from their walk.
	“Dolores, you just missed a phone call from Carolyn.  She said not to wake her
father, and to just to tell you she couldn’t get a flight til New Years Eve.”
	Dolores had sighed heavily and rolled her eyes. She had said very little, other than
acknowledging that there was nothing anybody could do about it, and criticizing the
airlines.  Now, the day had arrived.  It was the morning of  December 31st,  and Jules was
expecting to fly in to Whitehorse in just a few hours to meet Carolyn at the airport, then
there would be a midnight celebration at the lodge, at which Hayley was to wear her new
dress and hopefully Carolyn would clearly see that Jules was off limits to her.  He'd asked
Hayley to go with him to the airport this time, presumably so he wouldn't have to make
the flight back to the lodge alone with the woman.  Although she understood his reason,
she wasn't looking forward to being cooped up in the cabin of he small plane alone with
him on the flight in to town, nor with the Shellington's daughter on the way back.
	To make matters worse, Dolores hadn't stopped talking about her daughter for the
last few days.  Carolyn was going to be delighted with the news that Jules was married,
Dolores said.  Hayley silently wished it would be like that instead of the bitter
disappointment she  imaged the woman  would greet the news with. Carolyn loved New
Years Eve, Dolores said, and she loved coming to the lodge.  She would get along
wonderfully with Hayley, Dolores was sure of it!  And of course, the girl's Christmas gifts
were still under the tree, a constant reminder of the fact that she would soon be there
among them.
	Jules and Hector had gone outside after breakfast to watch Marty with the sled
dogs.  It was one of the few occasions that Hector had set foot outside the lodge since his
arrival, and Hayley was glad to see him up and about more. Just as she made her way to
the window to see if there was any sign of the men, the telephone rang on the desk. 
	Hayley made a detour and reached for the phone. When she answered it, a very
bubbly sounding young female voice greeted her, and asked to speak to Mrs. Shellington.
Hayley eyed the older woman cautiously. She recognized the voice as Carolyn’s once
again.  The question was, why would Carolyn be phoning her mother now, when she
would be arriving in Whitehorse in just a few hours?  She should be on a plane
somewhere!
	"Dolores, there's a call for you," she called, and Dolores looked up from the book
she was reading.  It was one of the books Hayley had bought in Whitehorse, and Dolores
had been reading it ever since, and enjoying it, which usually brought a smile to Hayley's
lips when Carolyn Shellington wasn't on the other end of the phone she was holding. 
	"For me?" Dolores looked surprised, but moved swiftly to take the phone.  The
woman spoke her daughter’s name  in a surprised voice just as Hayley made a quick
retreat to the dining room, ducking around the mistletoe on her way through the door. 
She had never managed to remember to remove it when Dolores wasn't around, so she
had gotten in the habit of walking around it when she stepped through the door.  Jules
had caught her doing it once, and it seemed he found her actions amusing, but he had
never attempted to kiss her under it again. 
	She glanced back at Dolores as she entered the diningroom.  Whatever the
conversation was about, the smile that had appeared on Dolores' face when she had first
spoken into the receiver had suddenly been replaced by an expression of — Hayley
glanced back at the woman. There was only one word she could think of off the top of
her head to describe the look on Dolores Shellington's face at that very moment.
	Horror!
	Hayley stayed out of the room until Dolores was off the phone.  When she finally
returned the other woman was sitting in a chair, wringing her hands together and looking
like she was in a state of shock.
	"Is everything alright?"  Hayley asked, trying not to show that she had noticed the
look on the woman's face or her strange behavior.
	Dolores made a noise that resembled a gasp of pain, and turned to look into the
fire. "That was Carolyn," she said flatly.
	"Yes, I know." Hayley nodded. "Was her flight delayed?"
	Dolores heaved a great sigh and said nothing.  Then at last, she pushed herself up
from the chair with what appeared to be great effort, and walked over to the fireplace,
gripping the mantle so tight her knuckles went white. 
	"As a matter of fact, no.  She's not coming at all," the woman said with a bitter
tone in her voice.
	Hayley tried to conceal her relief at that revelation.  "I'm sorry to hear that. Is
there anything wrong?"
	Dolores turned pain filled eyes towards her. "Everything is wrong!  I should have
known something was up when she refused to come with us on the first flight. Why
would she not want to spend Christmas with us?  I should have known! Go on ahead,
Mother, I'll meet you there in a week," she mimicked a younger voice, then groaned.
"And then, the other day when she called with that excuse about not being able to get a
flight! Why didn’t I see? She had no intentions of ever coming!  She had it all planned! 
Get us out of town so she could — could — get married!"  the last word was spoken in a
wail, and Hayley stared at her in surprise.
	"Carolyn got married?"
	Dolores nodded, but did not look happy about the fact. In fact, she looked
downright miserable about it!  "Yes, married!”  She raised a hand to her eyes and shook
her head. "Oh!  How could she do this to us!"
	“You mean, get married without telling you?” Hayley prompted, and Dolores
raised her pained expression to her.
	“Well, of course Carolyn has always known how important her wedding would be
to me.  It could have been the event of the century!  She could have had anything she
wanted.  The dress of her dreams, flowers, decorations — anything she wanted! Money
would have been no issue! It would have been a fabulous celebration!  But oh no! She
had to — to wait til we were out of the country and run off behind our backs! She knew
how her father and I would feel about this. How could she!”
	“I guess it would be a bit of a shock having her elope like that,” Hayley said,
trying to soothe the woman.
	“Elope!” Dolores’ eyes widened and she waved her hand in the air. “Oh if only
that was all that she's done! It’s who she married that’s brought disgrace to her parents!”
Dolores spoke with almost a violent bitterness in her voice, that Hayley wasn’t sure she
understood.  Obviously Dolores had something against Carolyn’s chosen husband. 
Hayley began to picture all the worst kind of man she had ever seen in her twenty-three
short years.  Images of criminals, drug dealers, and gang members came to her mind.
	“So, he’s not a respectable man, I assume?” 
	Dolores shuddered, as if a sob had just rippled through her body, but her eyes
were still dry. “Oh he’s respectable enough.  He’s the son of our gardener.”
	“Oh,” Hayley raised her brow.  Suddenly things began to fall into perspective.  It
wasn’t that the man was a bad person at all, it was his social status!  Carolyn had married
the hired help, and Dolores could not cope with that.
	Dolores sighed and went on. “He’s a wonderful boy.  Clean, courteous, well
educated. I’ve always thought so warmly of him.  His father has been with us since he
was just a little boy, I watched him grow up.  I always thought he’d make some woman a
wonderful husband, but — but — not my Carolyn!”
	“I think I’m beginning to understand, Dolores,” Hayley said, her voice more terse
than before.  “You feel your daughter had married beneath her by choosing the son of
your hired help.”
	Dolores began to pace the floor, shaking her head and wringing her hands. “Oh,
that's not the worst of it!  How will I ever tell her father! No, no, you don’t understand!
The man she's married, he’s — he’s Navajo!”  
	Dolores spit out the word as if it were a curse, and Hayley stared at her, stunned. 
Living in San Diego, Hayley had often been mistaken for Mexican, but no one had ever
said anything to her that degraded her because of her looks, or her race. Since the
Shellingtons had arrived at the lodge they had shown no signs of any racial intolerance,
although Jules had told her how Hector would feel if Carolyn and he ever became
involved.  When she had thought Dolores was discriminating against her daughter’s
husband on the basis of social standing, she had felt sorry for him, but now, she felt like
she had just received a punch in the gut!
	“I beg your pardon?” Hayley spoke slowly and deliberately.  “Are you saying your
daughter has disgraced you and your husband because the man she married is native? 
Because he’s Indian?”
	All of a sudden Dolores gasped and spun around to face Hayley, her eyes wide,
and her hand over her mouth. “Oh, Hayley! I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to insult your
people!“
	“My people?” Hayley said in disbelief. 
	“Yes, please forgive me! I shouldn’t have said —“
	“Oh, shut up, Dolores!”  Hayley said flatly, and the woman’s eyes opened even
wider.
	“What did you say?” 
	“I said shut up.” Hayley’s eyes were raging now, and she clenched her fists
behind her back, but held the other woman’s gaze with an apparent coolness she did not
feel inside.  “Don’t  move, I’ll be right back.  I have something to show you.”  She spun
on her heels and marched to the stairs, then wasted no time climbing them.  Within
minutes she was back, a framed portrait in her hands, that she placed firmly on the
mantle in front of the other woman. 
	“Do you see these people?”  she said, trying her best to keep her composure.  She
saw Dolores nod, but the woman said nothing.  She hates me now, Hayley thought, so I
might as well let her have it!  “These are my people,” she said, her eyes narrowed
as she looked at the woman. 
	“I don’t understand,” Dolores said, shaking her head slightly.
	“Of course you don’t,” Hayley told her. “You don’t understand, because you can’t
look past what colour someone’s skin is, or what shade their hair is; where they were
born and what sort of lable society had placed on them.  Take a close look at the people
in this photograph, Dolores. They look just like you, don’t you?  Upstanding citizens of
their community; respectable people just like you.  White people, you are thinking.
Howard and Colleen Belton, my parents, bless their souls.”
	Dolores stopped with her mouth hanging open, unable to speak, then snapped her
mouth closed and made her way to the nearest chair and sat down limply.  “Your
parents?” she echoed.
	“Yes, my parents.  The only parents I ever knew,  from the time I was two weeks
old until the day they died.  They couldn't have children of their own, so they adopted.
When they were offered a child to take home and love as their own, do you think they
said oh, no, take her back, we don’t want an Indian child!  We don’t want any other
colour but pure white!  No, they said give us a child to love as our own, no matter
whether a boy or girl; white, black, red or yellow; we’ll love that child as if we had given
birth to it ourselves.  
	“Dolores, no one should be judged by what they look like. You said yourself that
this man is an upstanding citizen, smart, polite, one you think would make a wonderful
husband — oh, but just not for your daughter!   Why?  Just because he’s not white? 
Would you prefer a white man who would beat her or cheat on her, to an Indian who
might  treat her like a princess?”
	Dolores eyed her defensively.  “You don’t know he won’t treat her badly.”
	“You don’t know he will, either.  If he does, it will be because of the kind of
values he was or was not raised with, not because of the colour of his skin.”
	“Well — I — “ Dolores stuttered, but Hayley didn’t let her speak.
	“People are who they are, because of the kind of life they had as children, the
kind of morals they were taught, the kinds of experiences that touched their lives.  Good
people come in all shapes and sizes, all colours and all races. The same goes for bad
people, Dolores. White doesn’t mean perfect.  Look around the world at all the people
who have done companionate work, who have treated people fairly and cared about
others, and those who have the warmest hearts.  For your information, they’re not all
white!  Now look in the prisons, at the criminals on the streets — people you really
wouldn’t want your daughter involved with. Oh, there’s colours  there, but there’s white
there too. 
	“What I’m saying is, all people need to be looked at for who they are — in here.”
She pressed her fist over her heart, then brought it up and pointed to her head.  “— and in
here.  Not for what they look like on the outside.”
	With Dolores staring at her meekly, she spun on her heel, preparing to leave the
room, and for the first time noticed that Jules and Hector were standing just inside the
door.  Her face registered her shock, then her sorrow, and the tears welled in her eyes.  
	"What's going on here?" Hector asked, but she barely heard him. She barely heard
Jules either, calling her name as she raced to the stairs and ran up to her room.  Her
room, not his, and flung herself across the bed and cried. 
	What had she done! The whole idea behind pretending to be Jules’ wife was so
Hector Shellington wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize the lodge, and now, she had just
spent the past few minutes lecturing his wife!  She’d ruined everything!

	Jules rushed to the bottom of the stairs, calling her name, but she did not hear him
and he stopped with his hand on the banister watching her go.  There was silence in the
room behind him, and slowly he turned to look at his guests.  He wasn't at all sure what
he and Hector had walked in on, but his feelings were mixed.  He had no idea what could
possibly have made Hayley speak to Dolores they way she had, and he had a deep sense
of foreboding at the thought of what the repercussions could be.  On the other hand, her
words rang in his head.  People are who they are, because of the kind of life they had as
children, the kind of morals they were taught, the kinds of experiences that touched their
lives. There was nothing she could have said that would have hit home more than those
words. 
	Behind him Hector still stood with a stern expression on his face, waiting for an
explanation for Hayley's outburst, and Dolores, looking visibly shaken, slowly lowered
herself into the nearest chair.
	"Dolores?" Hector spoke to his wife, then looked at Jules.  "GreyWolf, what is the
explanation of this?" he demanded.  "I won't have anyone speaking to my wife like that!"
Dolores lifted her face to her husband. "It was my fault," she said softly and both men
shot questioning glances towards her. 
	"What?" Hector asked, his voice registering confusion and disbelief.
	Dolores lowered her face to her hands and sobbed quietly.  "I'm sorry Hector.  It
was all my fault!"  Then she raised her eyes but it was Jules she turned to face, not her
husband. "Jules, I'm so sorry, I insulted your wife.  She has a far better heart than I will
ever have, and look what I've done!"  She sat there shaking her head and Jules found
himself looking from husband to wife, speechless.
	"I demand an explanation! Dolores?"  Hector said, and slowly his wife nodded.
She glanced toward the photograph of Hayley's parents and sighed. "I wish I had met
those people," she said, for a moment oblivious to the question hanging over her head.
"They raised a wonderful daughter."
	Then she seemed to come out of her trance, as if she had found her courage and
made up her mind to fight some sort of internal battle. She took a deep breath,
straightened her shoulders, then looked directly at her husband. "This was all my fault
Hector.  I said some terrible things, unforgivable things after I received a call from
Carolyn."
	"Carolyn?"  Hector looked even more confused. "What does Carolyn have to do
with any of this?"
	Dolores straightened her shoulders even more, as if preparing for the worst. 
"Carolyn is not coming to the lodge to join us tomorrow. She's not coming at all."
	"Not coming?" Hector's voice boomed, and Jules finally removed his foot from
the bottom step and looked from one to the other of his guests.  What had Hayley done to
make Carolyn cancel her trip, he wondered, and inside he tensed, hoping he could find a
way to defend Hayley when the sparring got rough.  Hector looked accusingly at him,
obviously thinking along the same lines, before he voiced those exact thoughts.
	"What has your wife done to make my daughter cancel her trip?" he demanded.
	"Oh no!" Dolores stood up now, wide eyed and shaking her head.  "No! Hayley
had nothing to do with Carolyn.  Please, Hector, she is completely blameless, you must
believe me."  She looked quickly from one man to the other, realizing she was not
making the situation any better, and wrung her hands together.  
	"Then what?" Hector said, staring at her.  "Why is Carolyn not coming to the
lodge?  What is going on here?"
	Dolores shook when she took in a deep breath, then she looked directly at her
husband.  ”Carolyn got married,”  she said.
	“Married!”  It was Jules who spoke first, not Hector.  He stared at Dolores
in disbelief, then glanced quickly up the stairs to where Hayley had disappeared earlier. 
He felt a sudden clenching in the pit of his stomach.  Here he had put Hayley through
turmoil, asking her to pretend to be his wife to ward off Carolyn’s affections and save the
lodge from hector’s influences, and the girl not only wasn’t coming to the Yukon at all,
but had gone and gotten married herself!  Why, she’d been no threat at all!  He could
understand Hayley’s anger, and he felt guilty about it, but what did any of this have to do
with Dolores? Why had Hayley been yelling at the woman, and why had Dolores said she
had insulted Hayley?  He glanced back at Dolores.  By the look on her face, there was
clearly more that she hadn’t told them. 
	“My baby got married without us?” Hector was saying, looking almost hurt.  He
heaved a heavy sigh, and dropped into the nearest chair.  “So that’s why she’s not
coming? Because she got married?” He lifted his eyes to his wife, shaking his head.
Dolores nodded. “She eloped on Christmas Eve.  She’d had it planned all along, that was
why she wouldn’t come up here with us when we told her we were coming to the lodge
for Christmas.”
	“What does any of this have to do with Hayley?” Jules asked, stepping towards
the couple.  He’d listened long enough, and there was still a mystery shrouded behind
Dolores’ eyes.  What was she not telling?  Hector straightened a little and nodded, his
expression regaining some of the hardness he had shown earlier. 
	“Yes, why was his wife speaking to you like that when we came in? What does it
matter to her that Carolyn got married?” Hector accentuated his question by pointing
towards the stairs.  “I expect something to be done about this, Jules.”   
 	Jules clenched his jaw.  The whole charade was falling in around his ears.  If he
hadn’t asked Hayley to pretend to be his wife, he could have just told he Shellingtons he
would fire her for her bad behaviour and the lodge would probably suffer no damage. 
Now, Hector was free to spread the words anywhere he could, that GreyWolf Lodge was
inhospitable to their guests.  Business would suffer, and it would be his own fault.
	“I’ll speak to my wife about her behaviour, Hector, but I need to know what
happened first.”  He looked directly at Dolores, who’s frown deepened.
	“No, Hector, none of this is Hayley’s fault,” she said. “I haven’t told you
everything.”  
	“I expected as much,” Jules said, crossing his arms on his chest and standing tall,
waiting for the rest of the explanation.  Dolores looked nervous, and turned her attention
to her husband.
	“I said some insulting things, Hector.  I — “ she sighed, as if she could think of
no way to say what she had to say.  Then she shrugged and blurted out her news.
“Carolyn married Tomas.”
	“What!”  Hector’s face turned red as he glared at his wife. 
	“Please calm down, Hector,” Dolores pleaded, then she turned her eyes to Jules.
“Tomas is the son of our gardener.  I made some unpleasant remarks about the fact that
he — “ She paused, then continued.  “The fact that he is a Navajo Indian.”
	As Jules looked from Dolores to her husband his jaw tightened.  This was not at
all what he had expected. But as he looked at them, Dolores looking weak and
vulnerable, and Hector red as a tomato and ready to explode, the words he had overheard
Hayley saying to Dolores came back to him once again. Good people come in all shapes
and sizes, all colours and all races.
	“I see,” Jules said through his clenched jaw.
	Suddenly the expression on the woman’s face changed and she shook her head. 
“No. No, you don’t see. I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking that we are racist
people, hypocrites who accept any other race of people openly, as long as they don’t
marry our daughter.”  She glanced at her husband.  “And you would be right, because
that is exactly what I said to Hayley, and that is exactly what is making my husband look
like he’s ready to have a stroke right now!”  She stood up and confronted her husband
while Jules stood back and watched. 
	“But Hayley made me realize how wrong we have been.  Hector Shellington, we
have no right to such prejudices!”  she exclaimed, and Jules raised his brow at the change
in her. For a moment, she looked slightly guilty at her outburst, then she cleared her
throat and straightened her shoulders.  “Remember Marjory Wetherton’s daughter?”  She
glanced at Jules for a moment to add a minor explanation. “Savanah Wetherton married
the son of one of the most respected families in Tucson.  They had a huge wedding and a
lavish reception.  I admit, I always wanted to be able to plan a wedding for my Carolyn to
rival that one, but — well, that’s not the point here.” She turned back to her husband. 
	“That was five years ago, remember? Look at where Savanah is now, Hector!
She’s got two little babies and she’s living in the studio over her parent’s garage!  Why? 
Because her husband carried on with every floosey in town, drank like a fish, and made
Savanah black and blue!”
	Jules winced at the description, and glanced sideways at Hector. The man still
looked angry, but he said nothing, and the colour in his face had lessened, and when he
spoke, his voice was still terse.  “What does any of that have to do with Carolyn?” Hector
demanded. “And why does any of that give his wife the right to speak to you the way she
did?”  Again, he jabbed his finger in the air, pointing at Jules to accentuate his demands.
	“Everything!”  Dolores insisted.  “Look at Tomas!  We’ve known him since he
was a boy.  Have you ever known him to do anything disrespectful towards anyone? I’ve
had no qualms about giving that boy free run of my house, and I’ve always trusted him
implicitly.  He is polite, and always respectful; he would never lift a finger to hurt
anyone; he’s never been in any trouble with the law and he has a university education! 
He’s probably far better husband material than Savanah Wetherton’s ex ever was!  What
do we have to hold against him, other than his race?”
	She crossed her arms and stared down at her husband.  Hector said nothing, and
after listening to the speech Dolores had given, Jules rather felt sorry for Tomas.  He
found himself wondering about Carolyn’s reasons for marrying the man.  Was she really
in love with him, or was he a pawn she was using to get under her parents’ skin?  His
guess was it would have worked, too — if not for Hayley.
	Suddenly it all made sense.  The lecture Hayley had been giving Dolores when he
and Hector had stepped inside the lodge had not been in defense of herself, or even of
Jules.  Nor, he was willing to bet, had it been entirely in defense of native people alone. 
She had been crusading for the whole human race.  He looked down at the photograph of
Howard and Colleen Belton, and wondered why it was there, instead of in Hayley’s
room.  If only you were here, he thought, as he looked at it. You would be proud of your
daughter right now!
	Dolores had turned to face her host, and he realized she was talking to him.  “I
owe you an apology, Jules,”  She said.  “Hector and I will leave today if you want us
to.”	Hector jolted upright in his chair and stared at her wide-eyed, but she gave him a
stern stare, and he closed his lips to a tight line. 
	“You owe me nothing, Dolores, and you don’t have to leave until your vacation is
over unless you want to.  I have never asked a guest to leave the lodge ahead of their
time, and I'm not about to start now.”  Jules assured her.   Dolores managed a weak
smile, then picked up the photograph and smiled at it. 
	“I’m pleased to have met your daughter,  Mr. And Mrs. Belton,” she said. “You
raised a wonderful girl!”
	“What the hell are you talking about?” Hector finally spoke, looking at his wife as
if she made no sense at all.  “Who are those people anyway?  Why do you keep talking
about them? What do they have to do with any of this mess?”
	“Those are Hayley’s parents.”  It was Jules who answered him, walking over to
take the picture from Dolores.  “And I’m damn glad I met their daughter too!”  He turned
to look up the stairs. Maybe it’s time I told her that myself, do you think?  he said to
himself, then handed the picture back to Dolores. “If you’ll excuse me, I need to go see
my wife.”