“Very powerful,” she murmured, her eyes never leaving his.
Adam sighed. “If it were up to me, I’d go tomorrow. Tonight even, but I’ve got to get Robbie settled. We have to take care of the youngsters in our life. You and Kelly, me and my hardheaded, disaster-loving brother. Are we agreed on this?”
Vera could only nod.
He leaned forward. “You really want to go, don’t you?”
“More than you can imagine. At work I envy my clients with all my heart. They fly to places I’ve read about but I can’t go. I—”
He kissed her. “I know. You’ve sacrificed yourself for your family. We should put a plaque up for you. Or maybe a statue.”
“It’s what had to be done.”
“My house in Africa, if you can call it that, has a dirt floor. I saw hyenas. They—”
“Save the animals for Kelly. What’s the hierarchy of the tribe? Or do they let you know that? Tell me the politics. How are the women treated? Did you—?”
He smiled. “Slow down and come here, and I’ll try to answer all your questions.”
CHAPTER TWO
Kelly yelled at Adam until she saw his truck drive away. But maybe she was shouting in anger at both of them. With Adam’s reappearance, everything was going to change. She had an idea that Adam would want to stay until the end of summer and of course Vera would agree. But then, her sister would do/say/agree to anything if it got her out of Kansas.
Kelly nuzzled against the big horse. She knew him well, as he was ill last summer and she’d been the one to sleep in the stall with him.
Kelly adjusted the length of the stirrups, then hoisted herself up to Xander’s back. He pranced a bit, but she leaned forward and stroked his neck. “Calm down. I’m not Adam showing off. Let’s go for a walk.”
There was woodland between the crop fields and she knew it well. There was an old wagon trail, but it had too many potholes to risk running on. A quiet stroll would do them good.
Thirty minutes later, they halted at a stream. She dismounted, tied Xander loosely since rabbits tended to make him run off, checked the area for poisonous plants, found none and let him graze.
She wanted time to think. The last couple of years had been relatively peaceful. Well, sort of. Vera had been like Xander and wanting to run, but she’d done her duty. She took care of her mother, her sister, the farm, and held down a part-time job in Kansas City. It would have been too much for most people, but not Vera. She could do anything!
Kelly ran her hands over Xander’s neck, then leaned against him.
“Can I do her job?” she whispered. The minute Vera left, everything would be handed over to Kelly. Nella Exton was a “taken care of” woman. She did her canning, freezing and baking, and she expected others to do the rest. First it had been her father, then her husband, then Vera. It would soon be her youngest daughter’s turn to do the things that Nella didn’t.
Kelly sat down on a patch of grass by the stream.
“Adam will stay for Robbie,” Kelly said to Xander. “Everyone knows that it wouldn’t be safe to leave Robbie alone for a whole summer. He’d do nothing but party. A deputy sheriff would have to move in with him.”
She sighed. “And of course Vera will wait for me.” Xander nudged her with his head and she leaned into him. “She just might stay here to wait for, you know, my wedding.” She stroked the horse’s head; he gave a snuffle, then went back to eating.
Kelly lay back on the grass, her hands behind her head, and looked up at the sky. This plan was all about the future of her with Paul.
He had entered her elementary school when they were in the third grade—a small, quiet boy, with blond hair and blue eyes. He was the son of the woman Dr. Carl had recently married and they were all curious. But Paul didn’t reply to their questions, just stared at them in silence.
In the evenings, Kelly often heard her mother complaining about Dr. Carl’s new wife. “She thinks she’s better than us,” Nella said to her husband. “We invited her to a potluck and she said she couldn’t imagine eating food made in a private kitchen. She said, ‘What if it wasn’t clean?’ We told her—” She cut off when she saw Kelly in the doorway, a puppy in her arms.
“What’s the new boy like?” Mac asked his daughter.
“He’s very quiet,” Kelly said. “He won’t talk to anybody, so we leave him alone.”
“Good idea!” Nella snapped.
Mac, who was kind to everyone, said to his daughter, “Be nice to him. Everything’s new and strange to him.”
With a nod, Kelly went to the barn to give the puppy to its mother.
The next day at school, she tried to be nice to Paul, but he just looked at her in silence. He was a pretty boy, with dark lashes and a small mouth, and he was never dirty like the other boys. Kelly tried for a week to draw Paul out but she could get nothing from him, so she, too, left him alone. Besides, Kelly was a very popular child. She had lots of friends and invitations to join everything.
When Paul had been there three months, everything changed. Their teacher had to leave the room and she threatened them with death if they so much as moved while she was out. Then she’d run out, slamming the door behind her. The kids looked at each other. All their mothers had told them that Mrs. Wilson was expecting a baby.
The room was quiet for about three minutes. Then Susie Brown let out a scream. She jumped up so fast her desk fell over. She was staring at the back of Paul’s neck. Sticking out of his jacket was the head of a large brown snake.
In seconds, the room was in chaos. Children leaped up; desks fell. There were whispers of fear and a few screams.
All of the children were slammed against the walls, scared, or trying to pretend they weren’t.
Except Kelly. She hadn’t moved out of her desk, and her eyes were as wide as theirs, but in wonder.
As for Paul, he was just sitting there, not moving, and his eyes were beginning to fill with tears. Kelly got up, went to Paul and gently pulled the long snake out of the boy’s jacket.
“He was cold,” Paul whispered. “He didn’t move. I thought he might die.”
Kelly had never held a snake before and she was fascinated with how smooth it was. Its eyes were bright, its tongue flicked in and out, and it had a beautiful white underside. “He’s beautiful,” she whispered.
“Dr. Carl—I mean, Dad—says he’s good for a garden,” Paul said.
The children against the walls were beginning to loosen up, but none of them stepped forward.
They were all watching Kelly as she let the snake wrap around her arms. She rubbed her cheek against its head.