We have completed Part One of Daughter of the Wolf Clan!  It needs quite a bit of revising, editing, and polishing, but the bones are there.  Now we are about to embark on Part Two. I confess I haven’t gotten too far with it. The action has moved back to Kearney and I’m getting a little bogged down in the next generation. I have no idea why Victoria (Shadow and Glory’s daughter) is doing stealing the show. Oh, I know that at twenty-six she is fed up with her dad’s over protectiveness, and with her mom’s help has gone to spend the winter in Kearney looking for a husband. Poor Shadow must be beside himself to be stuck in the winter camp in the Black Hills while his baby girl (all 6 feet 1 inch and 210 pounds of her) is partying in Kearney. I think she’s angling for her own story.  No! Down, Vic!

But enough of that. I really am bogged down with the next generation. I started a family tree to help me keep track of who was who, but I got bogged down with that too!  I need names for the multitude of Wolfe Offspring! Help a writer out and tell me names in the comments. If you’d like to see it, here is the FAMILY TREE.

Some people are new to this story, so if you’d like the read the VERY UNEDITED Part One all in one spot, Daughter of the Wolf Clan Part 1  Please remember there are a ton of typos and changes in here, so please be kind and ignore them.

And now, here is the beginning of Part Two:

Part II

Fourteen Months Later

Kearney, Nebraska

Chapter 8

Olivia shifted her sewing basket to a more comfortable position on her hip and waited for Red Wing and Nathan to finish their quick of the Martins’ Trading Post before stepping into the store. Behind her were some of the other single women from the Plane Women’s House, but she paused in just inside to inhale the spicy scent of the Christmas potpourri Hannah Martin had sitting in bowls around the store. Olivia loved Christmas. She loved the little conspiracies of making gifts in secret to surprise her family, she loved baking and eating the Christmas goodies, and she loved having everyone she loved gathered all together in one place. Last year had been difficult, because her family hadn’t been with her. It was her first Christmas ever without her family. Her parents and brothers had stayed at the ranch, and although she loved her cousins and friends in Kearney, it hadn’t been the same. But this year everyone was coming to the den to celebrate. Christmas Day was only three weeks off, and her parents would be here on the 22^nd.

“Do you mind?” groused her cousin Victoria from behind her.

“Oh, sorry.”

Olivia stepped further into the store and to the side, to let the other women enter. Red Wing nodded and gave his daughter Kendra a sharp nod. “You be good today.”

Seventeen-year-old Kendra sighed. “I’m always good, Dad.”

He smiled. “I know. Well, have fun sewing. We’ll come back before suppertime to collect you.”

Hannah Martin waved to them from behind the counter.

“Go on back to the workroom, ladies,” she called. “We’ll be getting started in a few minutes.”

Olivia led Vic, Sabrina, Sammie, and Taylor through the store to the room in the back that had been made into a workplace where the Lisa & Hannah clothing line was created. The Lupa from the den and her daughter Patia were already there, along with Lisa Madison, her daughter Emily, and her son Ray and her brother-in-law Marty. Patia and Ray were standing close together, whispering to each other. Olivia stopped for a moment, wondering how they were getting away with it. She looked around quickly. None of Patia’s brothers were here, which explained it. Uncle Taye had –amazingly—given permission for Ray and Patia to court, but normally the boys would have forced them to maintain a chaste distance. Aunt Carla didn’t seem to notice that her daughter and her beau were practically leaning on each other.

Victoria cleared her throat and pushed past Olivia. “Mart,” she purred, pushing past Olivia to saunter toward the mayor’s younger brother like a wolf stalking prey.

Marty smiled at her. “Good morning, Miss Victoria. I’m glad your parents allowed you to spend the winter here in Kearney. It’s been great getting to know you better.”

“Call me Vic,” she invited. “All my friends do.”

Olivia walked over to a long work table and put the sewing basket down. Not only was the spicy scent of Christmas potpourri in the air, she reflected, but so was love. For everyone but her. Ray was devastatingly handsome, and really nice. Marty was twenty six, only a year older than his nephew, but he made a good living. Either of them would have been an acceptable husband. If only she could forget about what had happened to her! Her earlier happy mood began to slip, and she doggedly grabbed hold of it to keep it from disappearing. She smiled at Mrs. Madison.

“I’ll do my best to help,” she said to the Mayor’s wife. “I’m not much of a seamstress, though.”

Mrs. Madison, the Lisa half of Lisa & Hannah Originals, smiled back. “We have so many orders to get out for Christmas that we’re happy to take any help. If you can press a seam or sew on a button, you’ll be a godsend. Even someone to sweep the floor and collect pins will be needed.”

“I think I can manage that.”

She turned to survey the work room. There were four long tables, each with a sewing machine on one end and a padded pressing surface on the other. Dressmaker dummies stood along the walls in various stages of undress. Bolts of fabric leaned drunkenly in corners. She hadn’t lied. She couldn’t sew, especially not on one of these fancy electric machines. When word had come to the Plane Women’s House that Lisa and Hannah were looking for last minute seasonal help, she’d decided to volunteer.

“Run along now, boys,” Lisa said sternly to her son and brother-in-law. “Marty, you mom needs you at home this morning. Her wood box is getting low. Ray, your dad is expecting you at the stables.”

Marty gave Vic one last smile before. Olivia didn’t think he was anywhere near as handsome as Ray, but she admitted that smile completely made up for it. She waited until the men had left and then gave Vic a raised brow.

“How serious are you about him?”

Victoria smirked like a cat in the cream. “More serious all the time.”

“Really? Do you think Uncle Shadow will approve?”

Vic swung out of her coat and hung it over the back of a chair. “Mom talked him into letting me come to Kearney for the winter to meet men. I’m only doing what I’m supposed to.” She made a face. “Besides, I’m twenty-six years old. How much longer do I need to wait to find a man my dad approves of? Much longer and my girl parts will forget what they’re for.”