Silk and Stone (12 page)

“Hugh doesn’t want me in the house. I know it.”

Mother’s face turned red. She didn’t answer, and walked up the path to the house with her head bent. Jake had to know the truth. He walked over and halted in front of Mrs. Big Stick as she rolled her jeans legs down. Her eyes were squinty and brown as chocolate, and when she met his gaze, they nearly disappeared between her cheekbones and eyebrows. “Are you keeping the faith for your granny, Mr. Jake?”

“Yes, ma’am. But I haven’t heard from her yet. She said she’d let Ellie and me know she’s still listening.”

“She might not talk in a regular voice. It’s up to you to know what she means.”

“But how will I figure that out?”

Mrs. Big Stick bent close to him and whispered in his ear, “When you use the gift God gave you, just like he gave it to Granny, and it does something good for other people, that’ll be your granny talking to you.”

She knew. Mrs. Big Stick knew about their extra parts
. Jake laid a trembling hand on one of the big brown forearms beneath her rolled-up shirtsleeves. Sad. Mrs. Big Stick felt so sad when she talked about Granny. She missed her as much as he and Ellie did. “You didn’t make Granny stop taking her pills, I bet.”

Mrs. Big Stick blinked. He could see her eyes again. “No, but I didn’t fuss at her when she threw them away.”

“Why?” he asked, breathless.

“Because she said they made her head feel too thick. She couldn’t find things anymore. And that made her unhappy. How would you like it if you took a pill that made that part of you go to sleep?”

He shot a gaze at Samantha, who was still having her hair combed, and still glaring at him. To never be able to find someone like her again? He didn’t sense that she could find things the way he and Ellie could. He couldn’t decide what was
extra
about her, but someday he’d figure that out, and it would be important. “I’d feel pretty empty.”

“Then that’s how your granny felt. Understand?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Good. There’s a lot of evil around here, and now that your granny’s busy with other things, you and Ellie come to me if you’ve got worries about it.”

“Okay.”

Mrs. Big Stick straightened up. “Now, why don’t you take your little chick down to the spring and tell her how Granny used to dunk you and Ellie when you were her size? Even if she’s too young to know her fanny from a hole in the ground, you might coax that thundercloud off her face.” Mrs. Big Stick eyed the two of them, then turned to Mrs. Ryder. “Your baby girl looks like she’s had a bone to pick with the world since the day she was born.”

Mrs. Ryder got a funny look on her face. Jake said, “I won’t let her fall in, ma’am. It’s only a foot deep, anyhow.”

“All right.”

He felt a punch on his arm. Samantha stood beside him, mouth flat, as if daring him to explain what in the world the grown-ups had done to her. Jake snagged her fist and pulled her along behind him.
Born mad and still fighting
, he thought.
That’s why she won’t talk
.

Stunned by this sudden knowledge, and wondering if it was just a lucky guess, he practically dragged her in his hurry to reach the spring, which was down another path through a tall stand of poplars. She wound her hand in his and ran to keep up with him.

When they entered the shady hollow, where water bubbled in a clear hole as wide as he was tall, he sat down among half-curled ferns and tugged at her hand. She wouldn’t budge. Jake stared at her firmly. “I know why you won’t talk. Once you make up your mind, you don’t let go. You’re just like an old bottle with a stopper in it. Just need to have your plug pulled.”

When she didn’t make even a squeak in return, he dropped her hand and folded his arms on his crossed legs. He leaned over the spring’s smooth surface, studying their reflections—a frowning boy with short black hair
and a wobbly front tooth that was being pushed out of line by the new one growing in behind it, and a red-faced little girl with yellow hair sprouting fuzzy, dry tufts around her face. She was less than half his age and size; he was no baby-sitter.

“I got more important things to do than try to talk sense to a baby,” he told her. “
You
don’t even know what
taxes
are. Taxes are the money people have to pay to keep the sheriff from taking their homes away.” He waved an arm. “And this place costs a lot of taxes. My granny could find garnets and topazes and sapphires—Granny could even find little-bitty
rubies
sometimes, and those things are worth a lot of taxes. She
died
—she went away, okay? So now me and Ellie have to find those rocks to pay taxes. Ellie’s not nearly as good at it as I am, but I don’t know if I can find things without Granny’s help. She said she’d still talk to us, but I can’t hear a peep.”

All the misery of the past few weeks welled up inside him, and his eyes burned. He tried to squeeze the tears back, but one slithered down his cheek. “Granny won’t talk, and neither will you. Damn.”

Ashamed of crying in front of her—bejeezus, it was bad enough to cry in front of a girl at all, much less this tough little critter—Jake turned his head away and scrubbed the back of his hand across his eyes.

Suddenly he felt her small, soft hands on his head. She patted his hair. He shot a stern, embarrassed look at her, but she huddled against his side, then put her arms around his neck. Tears puddled in her eyes. She took a huge breath, then let it rattle out.

“Jake, don’t cry,” she whispered. “
I’ll
talk to you.”

Her words were clear as a bell, not like baby talk. It took several seconds for him to believe he’d really heard her. But then he realized what had happened. He had brought Samantha to Granny’s spring, and Granny had worked a miracle. Granny was listening, and just like Mrs. Big Stick said, she had found a special way to let him know it.

Frannie ran across the back lawn at Highview, leaving the car door open, carrying Samantha in her arms and laughing. Alexandra had bought a pony for Tim, and she was leading it around, Tim clinging to the pommel of its miniature English saddle for dear life, and crying. William stood on the edge of a stone patio nearby, his hands shoved in his trouser pockets and his expression dark.

Alexandra grabbed the pony’s bridle and brought it to a stop. Tim clutched its mane and whimpered. “Where have you been?” Alexandra called.

“She
talked.
” Frannie kissed Samantha’s cheek and gazed down at her happily. Samantha sighed and patted Frannie’s shoulder. “I took her to see the Raincrows, and they called a medicine woman from Cawatie, and not more than ten minutes after she performed a healing ceremony on Samantha, Samantha started talking to Sarah’s son. Dear Lord, Alex, you should have been there! They came walking up from the spring, and she was jabbering to him as if it were the most ordinary thing in the world. I nearly fell down getting to her, and when I hugged her, she said, “Jake pulled my plug, Mommy.
Mommy
. She called me Mommy.”

Alexandra’s face turned white. “You took my niece to visit people who’ve treated me like dirt. You relied on
them
?”

“It’s good for us all,” Frannie answered, too overjoyed to care about her sister’s feuds. William sprang off the patio with clumsy enthusiasm and, giving Alexandra a thin smile, put his arm around Frannie’s shoulders. “That’s fantastic,” he said. His face was wistful. “I wish it were so easy for me to visit my sister and her family.”

“It can be, William. Anything’s possible. I
do
believe in miracles!”

“No, I—” His eyes were shadowed, but he smiled sadly at Samantha. “So Jake ‘pulled your plug,’ did he? I’ve always thought that boy had a special way about him. Can you say something for your Uncle Will, Sammie?”

Her brow furrowed. “Tim tried to push me down the stairs.”

William’s smile faded. Frannie jostled Samantha and said quickly, “I’m sure he was just playing, sweetie.”

“I want to go home. Let’s take Jake with us.”

“We
are
going home, sweetie. We’re going home right away. What will you say to your daddy when you see him?”

“Hi, Sarge, I missed you. Can Jake live with us?”

Frannie laughed and looked at Alexandra in dazed delight. “From silence to full-blown sentences in one fell swoop. She’s a genius. Alex, I
know
you’re happy for me.”

“Of course I’m thrilled that Sammie’s talking. But I’m disappointed by the way you went behind my back.”

“I had to try everything I could think of. I knew you’d think I was silly to take Sammie to see an Indian medicine woman.”

“God bless Sarah Raincrow and her pack of Indians.” Alexandra’s voice was flat. She stared at William. “Sarah wouldn’t spit in our direction if we were on fire, but she’ll meddle in my sister’s life out of pure spite.”

“Alex,
I
went to
her,
” Frannie said. “What difference does it make? She helped me.
Sammie is talking
. Aren’t you happy for me at all?”

“I … yes. Of course.” Alexandra held out her hands. “But I was so hoping for some more time with you and Sammie. I love having a little girl around here. Can’t you stay? What if Sammie still needs therapy?”

“Therapy? She’s ready to deliver the State of the Union address.”

Alexandra stroked a trembling hand over Samantha’s hair and smiled at her with painful appreciation. “Wouldn’t you like to stay at Aunt Alex’s house a while longer? I’d teach you to ride Tim’s pony, and I’d teach you to swim in the pool at the country club, and take you to meet a lot of nice little girls who don’t speak German.”

“We don’t need a little girl around here,” Tim said, sniffling. “Mom, you’ve got me. You don’t need
her.
”

“Be quiet, son. You know better than to interrupt me. Sammie, don’t you like it here? Wouldn’t you like to visit with me?”

Samantha watched her without blinking. “Jake says you’re a witch.”

Frannie gasped. “Oh, sweetie. Oh, Alex, don’t pay any attention to—”

“Sarah has even coaxed her children to hate me.” Alexandra turned away, her face strained and eyes gleaming with tears. “You see, William? See what’s happened? My own niece is afraid of me because of something Sarah’s son planted in her mind.”

“I’m not afraid of you,” Samantha added, speaking in her astonishingly mature way. “I been dunked in the river. I got my plug pulled. I got
Jake
. He won’t let a witch eat me.”

“Oh, God.” Alexandra pressed her hands to her temple and walked into the house. Moving leadenly, William went to the pony and lifted Tim off. “I’m happy for you,” he told Frannie, but his voice was hollow. “I’ll call for your plane tickets. You need to go on home with Sammie. Go back to your husband. Alexandra will be all right.”

Frannie bowed her head against Samantha’s and exhaled wearily. “You can talk,” she whispered. “That’s all that matters.”

Samantha stared at Tim, who wavered beside the pony, his face screwed into a knot of fury as he looked back at her. “I hate you,” he said loudly.

And before William could catch him, he turned and ran to the house.

After he collected them at the airport, Carl sat in the driver’s seat of their VW with Samantha standing on his lap. Tears ran down his face. She patted his cheek gently. “Don’t cry, Daddy.”

Carl sighed heavily. “Why wouldn’t you talk to us before, honey?”

“I don’t know.”

“Why’d you talk to Mrs. Raincrow’s little boy?”

“
Jake,
” Frannie whispered.

“Why’d you talk to Jake, honey?”

“He missed his grandma. She wouldn’t talk to him,
so I did.” Carl gave Frannie a puzzled look, but she shook her head. “Don’t try to figure it out. I can’t. She’s crazy about Jake. I had a real problem calming her down after I explained that Jake couldn’t come to Germany with us. I was afraid she’d clam up again. But I took her to see him right before we left, and he promised her they’d see each other again. It was sweet, but sort of eerie. Like they had some sort of secret bond. At any rate, it satisfied her.”

They were quiet as Samantha stroked her fingertips over Carl’s damp face, her eyes wide with distress. “Don’t be sad, Daddy.”