Part 11 (1/2)

”No. No, that's not true, Bobby. You're perfect, just the way you are.”

”I am?”

”Yes. And you're my brother too. And my best friend.”

”I am?”

”You are. And I'm going to stay for a while so that I can be your friend because I think you're perfect just the way you are.”

He grinned his wide, crooked-tooth smile, too overwhelmed with joy to speak, I think.

”And that will be our secret, okay?”

He nodded. ”Okay.”

Maybe if I had an easy way out, I would have still tried to escape that night, but I don't think so. I think I found my brother that night by the lake and suddenly I was more than just a lost girl who needed to be adopted by strangers to find a home.

In my own way, I already had a home. It was with Bobby, my brother, at least until I knew he would be okay.

We talked another half hour, mostly about things he was familiar with. Alligators and broken-down trucks and moons.h.i.+ne and trees and fish and eggs and bacon and the G.I. Joe that Wyatt had bought for him. He loved Wyatt.

”We should go back to the house,” I finally said.

”Okay.” He started up the path without waiting for me, eager to be of good use.

Kathryn was sitting on the porch when we returned, and for a moment I was sure that we were both in terrible trouble. But Bobby didn't seem worried. He walked right up to the porch and reported the good news without delay.

”I'm going to show Eden how to fish,” he announced. ”She's going to stay with me.”

Kathryn stood from her rocking chair, smiling. ”Why, that's wonderful, Bobby. I'm glad to hear that.” She looked at me. ”It's so good to have you back with us. Come here, darling.”

I walked up the steps and she took me into her arms.

”I want you to know that it's okay, Eden,” she whispered, kissing my cheek. ”You'll find your way here. It's what G.o.d has planned for us all. I love you, sweetheart. You are so precious to me.” Another soft kiss.

She stepped back and brushed a strand of hair off my forehead. ”Now you two get some sleep. We have a big day ahead of us tomorrow.”

10.

I was awakened the next morning by the creaking of my door, my thoughts still caught in a dream that had haunted me throughout the night. In the dream I was Alice, and I was in a special hospital made for people who had psychological problems. There I'd met a girl named Christy who thought she was trapped. I told her she could just walk out, but she didn't believe me.

What a silly girl, I kept thinking. Just walk out, silly.

And that's when I woke up to the creaking, half expecting to look over and see Christy at the door. Instead, I saw a woman standing in the doorway, smiling at me.

It took me a moment to remember that she was Kathryn, my birth mother. I was in her house.

It crashed into my mind all at once, like a data download. That and the events from last night by the dark lake.

Kathryn walked in wearing a black dress that looked new, then closed the door behind her. ”Good morning, Eden. Did you sleep well?” She crossed to the window and pulled back the curtain. ”Hmm?”

”Yes.”

”Good.” She turned back to me. ”Because today's a very special day.” She sat down on the bed next to me. ”This is the beginning of a new life for all of us. The old will pa.s.s away, behold, all things will become new.”

She said it with such a.s.surance and beauty that I thought she might be right. Maybe there was some greater good that would come out of my being brought back to her.

Or maybe I was just too nave to see the impossibility of that. I was still too confused to know which. But I did feel better than I had the night before.

”It's time to get up,” she said. ”I'll help you make the bed and then I have something I want to share with you. Something very close to my heart. Okay?”

”Okay,” I said.

Together we made the bed per her instructions, folding the corners just so, smoothing the bedspread with the palms of our hands, and setting the pillow squarely at the top of the bed.

She inspected the room with a satisfied smile, then asked me to kneel down on one side as she crossed to the other side.

”Kneel down here?” I asked, standing across from her.

She removed her shoes and settled down to her knees, with her elbows on the bed. ”Yes, right there, Eden. Just like me.”

I knelt down and rested my elbows on the bed.

”Fold your hands.”

I folded them, thinking she was going to lead me in a prayer.

”That's my precious girl. Now I'm going to tell you about the old to help you understand why we need the new. Behold, the old wineskins will be made new. That's what we're going to do today, sweetheart. And you need to know why. Do you understand?”

”I think so.”

”Good.”

She s.h.i.+fted her gaze and stared at the wall behind me.

”My father's name was Byron Miller. We were wealthy. He was a religious man and served as a deacon in the church. But on the inside he was rotten to the core. He liked to gamble and run shady deals and when his sin caught up to him it was more than he could bear, so he killed himself. With his death, the blessing of G.o.d was vanquished from our lives. We went from being rich to dirt poor overnight.”

A far-off look had edged into her eyes and her smile fell away. She spoke in a near monotone, and I could feel the pain and bitterness in her voice.

”My mother's name was Sarah, and she couldn't manage the guilt and shame of her loss so she turned to drinking. It destroyed her and she couldn't take care of me properly, so child services took me away from her. I ended up in an orphanage, just like you. I was eleven when they took me. It was like living in h.e.l.l for me. I was a slave in Egypt and I hated it. So when I turned fourteen, I ran away.”

She paused, eyes faintly misted by tears as she thought back to her childhood.