Once we were ready, we walked to the restaurant and had breakfast. We had told my aunt, uncle, and mother what we were going to do for breakfast. And just as we were finishing our breakfast, they joined us. We talked while Amy and I finished our meal. Then as we were getting ready to leave Uncle Paul asked, “Are you ready for today?”

“I guess I’m as ready as I will ever be.”, I replied.

“Good. I know everything will be just fine.”

“Where do you want us to meet you at two?”

“How about the hotel lobby?”

“We’ll be there.”, I said. Then with a smile, I added, “And we have to remember not to call you Uncle.”

Amy and I drove down to the hospital and spent a good part of the morning with grandma. She was looking so much better than when we had arrived in New Mexico, and she told us that she was feeling so much better. Grandma did say something that made me a little sad, and that was that she was going to miss us when we went back home. Amy told her, that if we could, we would stay until she went home. But that we couldn’t, and grandma told us that she understood.

Amy and I decided to find the restaurant in Santa Fe that grandma said had good lunches. We found it and had a nice early lunch. Then we headed to the resort.

We were back at the resort at a little after twelve. And as we walked into our room, Amy turned, wrapped her arms around my neck, and gave me a deep kiss. When we broke the kiss, she said, “I love you, Mr. Young.”

I smiled, and said, “I love you too Mrs. Young. And do you love me even when I look like this?”

“You know I do. Now we’d better stop this and get you ready.”

I stripped down to my bra and panties, then we went into the bathroom, and Amy removed all the makeup that I'd put on this morning. She cleaned my face and put on a moisturizer. As we waited for that to set up, she removed the nail polish that I'd been wearing all week. She said she was going for a natural look.

After the moisturizer had set, she applied the new foundation. This foundation was a little darker than what I usually use. Amy told me that she thought it would look better with my natural skin tone. She then went over my eyebrows with the darker eyebrow pencil.

She looked at me, and said, “I want to do your eyes and lipstick, but we’d better wait.”

I then went and started getting dressed. I put on the wrap moccasins first, followed by the Biil dress. When I was done, Amy looked at me, and just smiled.

Then we went back into the bathroom. Amy removed my studs and replaced them with the silver feather earrings. Then she went to work on my hair. She brushed it into a straight look that partially covered my right eye. Then she placed the thin braided headband around my head so that the feathers hung down between my right eye and ear.

We walked back into the bedroom, and Amy retrieved the jewelry from the room safe. I put on the Concho belt, but I wasn't going to put on the squash blossom necklace until just before we met with Uncle Paul and the photographer.

At about one-thirty, there was a gentle knock on the room door. Amy opened the door, and it was my mother and aunt. They came in, my mother looked at me, and said, “Oh honey. That dress is fantastic on you.”

My aunt said, “She’s right. It looks amazing on you.”

I smiled, and said, “You can thank grandma for all of this.”

“Yes. And it wouldn’t look as good on anyone else.”

I think I blushed at that.

I hadn’t noticed that my aunt was carrying a small box until she said, “I thought we could add a little more bling to your look.”

“Bling?”

“Yes. That’s a fancy dress, and you need to be as fancy as possible.”

She set the box on the table, and as she opened it, she said, “Now. I’m only loaning these to you for today.”

After she said that, she took a silver and turquoise bracelet that had nine pieces of turquoise on it out of the box. The turquoise piece in the center was big. As she handed it to me, she said, “Put this on your left wrist.”

As I did that, my aunt took two rings out of the box. Both were silver and turquoise and beautifully made. As she handed them to me, she said, “Put one on each hand. And I'd remove your wedding band, and replace it with one of these.

I looked at Amy, and she said, “Go on.”

“But I have the unisex band so that I can wear it all the time.”, I said.

“Honey. I know. But for today it’ll be fine.”

I took my wedding band off and handed it to Amy. Then I slipped the prettier of the turquoise rings on, in its place.

Then my aunt pulled a choker out of the box. And it was a stunning. She told me that it was a bone choker with a silver Concho in the middle. The silver Concho looked to be about two inches tall. On either side of the Concho and between each set of hair pipe tubes, was a slab of some kind, that was engraved with different symbols. And there were four rows of the hair pipe tubes, which ended in leather ties.

My aunt placed the choker around my neck, and as she tied it in place, she said, “Back in the old days, a choker like this was a status symbol worn by Chiefs, warriors, and medicine men.”

“I’m not any of those?”

“Aren’t you?”

“No.”

“What have you seen grandma do since you arrived?”

“I guess, get better.”

“Not a guess honey. The doctors couldn't believe how quickly she’s getting better. And it started right after the three of you arrived. A few days ago, when I left her to come and pick you up at the airport, she was still not doing well. But a few hours later, when we walked into her room, and she was sitting up and reading. I knew something had happened.”

“So it was just us being here?”

“I think so.” Then my aunt said, “Amy. Get the squash blossom necklace and put it on her. We need to see the total package.”

Amy retrieved the necklace and put it on me. Then she stood with the other two women, and they looked at me. No one said anything for a minute.

Finally, my aunt started to smile, and said, “She’s perfect.”

“There’s my girl.”, Amy said.

“This isn’t too much. Is it?”, I asked.

“No.”, my aunt said. “You look just like a native girl on her wedding day.”

Amy looked at her watch, and said, “Kai. Are you about ready to do this?”

“I guess I'm as ready as I'll ever be.”, I replied.

“Honey.”, my mother said. “You look wonderful. Just be yourself.”

Amy picked up her purse and the makeup bag, and said, “Come on love.”

I took a deep breath and walked out of the room with Amy. We walked down the hall and out into the lobby. As we walked into the lobby, we saw my uncle talking to a woman. My uncle's back was towards us, so the woman was looking right at us.

The woman stopped talking mid-sentence, stared at me, and we heard her say, “Please tell me that she’s my model.”

My uncle turned around, looked at me, and said, “Yes. That’s her.”

“Oh, my God! She’s beautiful!”

“She is. Isn’t she.”

Amy and I walked up to them, and my uncle said, “Kai and Amy, this is Mary Woodham. Mary this is Kai Nez and her friend Amy Young.”

Mary said, “Hello. I don't mean to stare. But you are just so pretty, and I can't believe that you're not a professional model.”

“Thank you. And no I’m not a model. Professional or otherwise.”, I said, “And it’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“So. Tell me a little about yourself.”

I just told her that I wasn’t from around here. That I was born and raised in the Midwest, and that Amy and I had been friends since grade school, that we were now both going to nursing school, that we had just finished our sophomore year, and were doing clinicals this summer. And that since neither of us would accept a high school graduation present from our parents, that they had talked us into coming out here. It would give us a week to relax, and we could visit the places where some of my ancestors were from.

Mary asked, “So you’re a full-blooded Navajo?”

“Almost. There’s some white in me.”

“Is that where the blue eyes come from?”

I told her the same thing that I'd told the woman when I did the other photos, “It’s a recessive trait. My great-grandfather on my father's side was white and had blue eyes. And, someone on my mother's side also had to have had blue eyes. So, I'm a blue-eyed Navajo.”

“That’s interesting. And the turquoise jewelry just brings out the blue in them.”

I smiled and said, “Thank you. My great-great-grandfather was a Navajo silversmith, and most of it is his work.”

“Wow. And the dress.”

“That's new. I saw it in a shop in Albuquerque. The proprietor of the shop is a weaver, and she told us that the person that ordered it never picked it up. So she was selling it. But would only sell it to a person of Navajo blood, so she sold it to me.”

Mary finally asked if we were ready to get started. And we were. She said that she had to make a stop in the ladies before we started. After she had walked away, I just said, “I hate lying to people like that.”

“Kai.”, my uncle said. “Most of what you told her is true. So don’t worry about it.”

“Are you going with us?”

“Of course.”

“Good. I'm worried about wearing all of this jewelry. I know that it’s worth a lot of money.”

“I'll be with you the whole time. I’ll be driving you around. I can easily access places, with a car, that most people can’t drive to.”

“Thanks. So we're not going to be hiking?”

“No. We don’t want you getting all dirty.”

When Mary came back, I said, “By the way Mary. I just love your pictures that are here in the lobby. They’re wonderful.”

“Thank you. I just love the area around here.”

“We do too.”

As we walked out of the hotel, I noticed that we were getting a lot of attention from the people that were around. Mary went to her car and retrieved her camera equipment. And we took a four-wheel drive vehicle that belongs to the resort.

We first drove over to the adobe round barn. When we were there, Mary made some suggestions for my makeup and Amy followed her suggestions. First was a foundation to smooth out my complexion. The a little eye makeup so that my eyes would look good. Mary then picked one of the five lipsticks that we'd brought along and I put it on. But, as she suggested, I used a very light coat. Mary liked the more natural look, and we used the makeup just to make my features show up better.

We took some pictures outside of the round barn. Then we drove to a beautiful area with a big rock formation and trees, and we spent a long time there with me posing by sitting on different rocks and standing next to some trees. Mary was taking both color, and black and white, pictures. And she took a lot, and not just of me, but of the areas where we stopped.

We spent a couple of hours wandering around the outlying areas of the resort. Stopping and taking pictures at places that looked good. Places with trees. Places with large rocks. A place called the mica mines. And other interesting places.

We then headed back to the main area of the resort. We took pictures inside and outside of the hotel, at the thermal pools, and lots of other places. Of course, we received a lot of attention from the people staying at the resort. A few of them talked to my uncle and asked what we were doing. We stopped at the fire pit and looked it over, and took a few pictures there. Inside the hotel, Mary had me pose by the big rock in the middle of the lobby. And then, like I'd done the other night, she posed me by the big wall hanging.

Taking pictures in the hotel lobby also brought us some onlookers. I heard one ask my uncle what we were doing. And he told them that we were taking pictures for a new brochure for the resort. And, I heard one woman say that the native girl was stunning.

As I was standing in front of the wall hanging, Mary said, “Kai. You really should become a professional model.”

“No thanks.”, I said. “I've put a lot of time in at school. And I want to be a nurse.”

Then my uncle asked, “Do you want to take a break for dinner. Then maybe we can go up on the cliff and get some sunset pictures.”

“I heard that they are predicting thunderstorms for later.”, Mary said.

“That won’t stop us taking pictures will it?”. I asked.

“It depends on if it starts raining and how heavy the lightning is. Have you seen any storms while you've been here?”

“No. It hasn’t rained since we’ve been here.”

“The thunderstorms here can be fantastic. Didn’t you see my picture in the lobby of the storm and the tree?”

“Oh yes. It looks fantastic with all the lightning strikes.”

“That one was taken up on the cliff, and it was a time lapse.”

“I’d like to see a storm like that.”

“Tonight you just might. And if we work it right, we might be able to get some pictures with the storm behind you.”

“I’d like that.”

We went in and had a nice dinner. After we had finished, my uncle excused himself. And Mary, Amy, and I sat and talked. Finally, Mary said, “Could I ask you two something that may be a little personal?”

I looked at Amy, then at Mary, and said, “I guess. If it’s too personal, we just won’t answer.”

“Are you two together?”

“What do you mean. Together?”

“Are you two a couple?”

“What makes you ask?”

“It’s not only your body language, but in the way you look at each other, and talk together. It’s like two people that are in love.”

“And, if we are?”

“Nothing. And to be honest with you, I’m in a relationship like that. So it’s easy for me to see it.”

“So you’re a lesbian?”

“Yes.”

I looked at Amy and received mixed signals from her. Then I said, “Yes. We’re in a committed relationship.”

“You know that Santa Fe is a very open minded community. Don’t you?”

“Ah. No.”

“They accept people like us, and there are a couple of clubs in town that accepts us.”

“Are you saying that we should visit one?”

“You might like it.”

“I don’t know. We only have one more night here after tonight.”

Mary took out one of her business cards and wrote something on the back of it. Then as she handed it to me, she said, “This is where my partner and I go, and Friday nights can be a lot of fun.”

“I don’t know. We’ll see.”

“I hope that you come.”

Just then my uncle walked up, and said, “Sorry I took so long. Are you ready to go? We might get some good storm pictures up on the cliff.”

We drove in a roundabout way to the top of the cliff. As we drove, we kept an eye to the west and saw the storm clouds. When we arrived on the cliff top, the sunlight had been diminished by the clouds. Mary took some pictures of me. And she told us that sometimes the low light photos could be very good.

We watched as the storm moved closer to us, and listened as the thunder became louder. There was a lot of lightning in the cloud tops which looked amazing, and the cloud to ground lightning was fantastic.

Mary talked me into posing by an old dead tree that was close to the cliff top, and I wasn’t pleased about being that close to a tree with a storm nearby. She took a few pictures, and we were quickly back in the car. The storm was still some distance away, and it went just north of us. So we didn’t get any rain out of it. But the lightning show was amazing.

Mary said, “I was able to get some great pictures.”

“I’m glad.”, I said. “But, I have to change my underwear.”

We all had a little laugh out of that comment.

“Don’t like lightning?”, Mary asked me.

“I like it, but I also respect it.”, I said. “And it was a little too close for comfort.”

We drove back down off of the cliff, and back to the hotel. It would be another hour before it was dark enough to light the bonfire. As we walked into the hotel, Mary asked me, “Could I use your room to take a shower. I’ve worked up a sweat.”

My uncle jumped in with, “I have a room for you.”

“Oh. Okay. Great. I'll see you back in the lobby in about an hour.”

I had a feeling that Mary wanted to talk about the club some more.

Mary went with my uncle, and Amy and I headed to our room. As we walked in, Amy said, “I don’t believe her asking if we were a couple.”

“Maybe we do come across as a couple.”

“Well, we are a couple. So maybe it still shows when you're Tammy or Kai.”

“Do you want to go to that club tomorrow?”

“No!”

“What’s wrong? Worried that I might get picked up.”

“No. I’m worried that I might find someone that I like better than Tammy.”

“Is that so?”

With a little grin, Amy said, “Yes.”

I didn’t take it any further. And, we sat and just relaxed.

A short time later we were getting ready to go and meet with my uncle and Mary again. I picked up the blanket I had used the other day and hung it over my arm. We met up with them in the hotel lobby, and we could see the bonfire was roaring. My uncle said, “I had them make it bigger than normal.”

“It looks like it.”, I said.

Mary said, “It looks like you’re prepared to sit on the ground.”

“I don’t want to get this dress dirty.”

“I don’t blame you.”

We walked out to the bonfire, and of course, we became the center of attention. My uncle got everyone's attention, and said, “Hi everyone. We hope that you're enjoying yourself. And I hope you don’t mind, but we are taking pictures for a new brochure for the resort. And we’d like to get some pictures of our model around the fire.”

I walked over to my uncle, and said, “You know. It might be fun to include some of these people if they're willing.”

Mary overheard me, and said, “Good idea.”

Then my uncle said, “Everyone. We would like to get some pictures of her by herself at the fire. Then, maybe take a few with her and a group of you. If you're willing.”

Mary took some pictures of me by myself both sitting and standing by the fire. Then she took some pictures with a group of the resort’s guests and me. And it was fun working with the guests.

When we were done taking all the pictures, Mary packed her things up, and we said goodbye to her. We did the usual girl thing, a hug, and a cheek kiss. When she hugged me, she whispered, “Hope to see you tomorrow night.”

I whispered back, “We’ll see.”

After Mary had left, we went with my uncle to his house, and my mother and aunt were there. As we walked in, my mother asked, “Well. How did it go.”

Uncle Paul said, “It was great. Mary said that she had some beautiful shots. And we even used some of the guests at the bonfire.

“Your daughter was a little skittish when the thunderstorm came through.”

“Sure I was.”, I said. “We were up on the cliff, and near a tree, that was probably the highest thing around. Luckily the storm, which in my opinion was a nasty one, went north of us. And the lightning didn't find us. But I guess Mary took some good storm pictures with me in them.”

“That storm wasn’t bad.”, my uncle said. “We have some around here that are a lot worse than that one was.”

“Really!”

“Yes.”

I took off the rings, bracelet, and choker, and handed them to Aunt Ruth. And Amy took my wedding band out of her pocket and slipped it onto my left ring finger.

I said to Aunt Ruth, “Thanks for letting me use these. They added to the look.”

She took them and said, “Honey. They looked incredible on you. And it was fun seeing you enjoy yourself. And to be very honest with you, I'm going to miss having the two of you here. You are welcome back anytime.”

“Thank you, Aunt Ruth. It was fun being here. I wish it would have been for a better reason than grandma being sick.”

“I know honey. But you and Amy lifted her spirits, and she loved seeing you dressed in the Biil dress. It brought back fond memories for her.”

“I’m glad. No. We’re glad. Amy and I had fun. I wasn’t sure about doing this photo shoot for the brochure. The last thing I did like this, wasn’t fun. But this one was.”

“Your mother told me about the other one. And I'm glad this one was better.”

“A lot better. We’re going to run. I’m tired, and want to get some sleep.”

“Goodnight girls.”

“Wait a second.”, my mother said. “And I'll walk with you.”

My mother said goodnight to my aunt and uncle. And we walked together towards the hotel. As we walked, Amy said, “That photographer was something else.”

“What do you mean?”, my mom asked.

“She read us as a lesbian couple, and said something about it.”

“Oh!”

“And she invited us to go to a club with her and her partner tomorrow night.”

“That was a little forward of her.”

“I thought so.”

“Me too.”, I said.

“Not going are you?”

“Mother!”, both Amy and I said together.

“Didn’t think so.”

We walked in silence for a minute. Then we stopped in front of the hotel and looked at the bonfire which was still burning. And I said to no one in particular, “Why do I always get this feeling when I’m here?”

“What feeling, honey?”, my mother asked.

“She feels a strong presence every time we’re here.”, Amy said.

“I mentioned it to the medicine man.”, I said. “And he said that with the area of the fire pit being sacred.”

“Honey.”, my mother said. “You’re special. The medicine man told you that. And you are going to sense things others won’t.”

We went back to our room, and I took a shower. I washed my hair twice to start getting the hair color out. But, in looking in the mirror after I was out of the shower, it looked like I was going to have black hair for a while.

When I came out of the bathroom, Amy was laying on the bed, she looked at me, and said, “You know. I'm going to miss being here. Seeing your aunt and uncle, and more so grandma.”

“Yeah.”, I said. “I’m going to miss them too. But, we have to get back home. And, I promise you that we’ll come back as soon as we can.