“Mom!” Cody said, and kissed her cheek. “Mrs. Johnson was sick, so Rachel’s stupid cheerleading practice got canceled and Mrs. Lippincott gave us a ride home so we wouldn’t have to walk.”
She looked over Cody’s head. “Sorry about your practice, Rach, but I’m glad I got to see you.”
Rachel shifted her book bag and walked past her mother and up the steps. “We’ll never make it to the State finals at this rate,” she snapped, then turned around to stare at her mother. “What’s the big deal?” Her face clouded, and Tala saw a flash of anxiety in her eyes. “Nobody’s sick, are they?”
Tala slid Cody to his feet and walked over to touch Rachel’s shoulder. Rachel didn’t exactly flinch, she just moved out from under her mother’s fingers.
“Everybody’s fine so far as I know, Rach.”
“Great. I got homework. Bye.” She walked up the steps and into the house.
Cody made a face at her retreating back. “Boy, is she ever a pain. How come I can’t be an only child?”
“Little late for that, I’m afraid, Cody bear.”
“She’s not mean to anybody but you—well, mostly.”
“Is she mean to you?”
Cody snickered. “No way. I’m a big martial-arts type, Mom. Yee-hah.” He proceeded to throw his fists and kick out, just missing his mother’s shoulder.
“Very impressive. But don’t use it on your sister or anybody else, you got that?”
“Oh, Mom.”
She glanced at her watch. “Drat. I’m late. I love you, Cody bear. And tell Rachel I love her, too.” She kissed the top of his head. He waved and scurried up the steps and into the big house. Tala watched him go as she climbed into her truck. She felt her eyes sting with unshed tears. He looked so much like the pictures of his father at that age.
She drove out and turned toward the road to the sanctuary. She barely had time to drop off the supplies and get to the Food Farm on time.
Most people, looking at Cody, would assume he was over his father’s death. Tala knew better. Cody kept his feelings all inside, while Rachel bared her teeth at the universe. They both probably needed to talk to a psychologist of some kind, but the closest one was fifty miles away, and he didn’t have much of a reputation.
She’d have to muddle through and try to help them. Herself, as well.
As much as she longed to be with her children, Tala could not give up the farmhouse, the house where she and Adam had been married, had loved and given birth to their babies, and where Adam had lain in his coffin before he was buried in the little cemetery behind the Episcopal mission with the other Newsomes.
The day they were married she’d sworn to him she’d preserve the place as long as she lived, so that no matter how much development, how many vacation homes went up around her, the farm she’d inherited at Bryson’s Hollow would always stay a refuge for the wild creatures he loved so much. In the end he’d given his life for them. The least she could do was keep her word.
No untenanted farm survived long these days without squatters and thieves and even arsonists destroying what they could not appreciate. She simply could not abandon the place, even if she’d been able to afford something halfway decent in town.
But with a day job, she could bring Cody home for at least part of the summer, and perhaps even convince Rachel to give the farm another try. Tala had always found the woods healed her wounds. They might heal Rachel’s, too. A few days’ fishing on the banks of the stream where she’d fished with her daddy might possibly smooth out her daughter’s soul.
One step at a time. First the new job, then work on getting the kids home.
“TOOK YOU LONG ENOUGH.” Pete loomed huge and grumpy outside her truck door. “You get everything?”
“Yes, Doctor. Including premixed cement that sets up in any temperature. Regular cement would stay wet for a month in this cold air.”
“Oh. Yeah. Guess you’re right.”
He sounded surprised—maybe he didn’t think women knew things like that. She brushed past him, and her shoulder touched his chest. She caught her breath and kept walking, although her heart thumped.
He, on the other hand, shied away as though she’d attacked him.
“Where are you planning to build Baby’s cage?” Tala asked, ignoring both his reaction and hers. She glanced back at him, and was startled to see that the tips of his ears were red. And he was suddenly breathing as though he’d been running a marathon.
He cleared his throat. “Mace and I talked it over. Round back under the overhang and behind the hay storage. Be protected from the wind, and the hay offers good insulation. Plus nobody’ll see her if they drive in.” He refused to meet her eyes.
“If you could teach her to keep her mouth shut we’d be in business,” she said.
“Move over. I’ll drive the truck around back. It’s still pretty slippery where the elephants have trampled the ground.”
Tala opened her mouth to protest that she was capable of driving in mud, but then she shut it. She barely had enough room in the passenger seat by the time he’d fitted his bulk behind the driver’s seat. He’d had to move the seat all the way back to get in. She wouldn’t be able to reach the pedals until she moved it to its former position.
A few moments later they were at the site for the cage. The location was perfect. The overhang offered protection, and the steel outside wall closed off one side, so they only had three sides to construct.
Mace was already digging postholes in the dirt. Tala climbed out and looked at the perimeter. “Doesn’t look very big,” she said.
“Not nearly big enough if she were healthy and we were going to keep her forever,” Mace said, resting on his digger.
“She can’t stay where she is,” Pete said. “She’s already getting antsy. This way, at least she’ll be able to pace, and we can add a ladder or two so she can climb, although lions don’t actually do much climbing in the wild.”
“Have you tried to find a home for her yet?”
“You’ve only been gone a few hours.”
Tala dropped her head. “I meant to get back sooner. I’m sorry. About the job…”
“Say yes, m’dear,” Mace said.
“I have to speak to the manager at the Food Farm tonight. Give him a chance to meet your offer. I can’t just leave him in the lurch. But if he says no, and if you’ll really let me work from early until school lets out, and let me have the weekends off, I promise I’ll work very hard for you.”
“Wonderful!” Mace said, and clapped his hands. Pete merely turned his back and mumbled something unintelligible.
“I hate to leave you with this now, but I’ve really got to go home and get ready for work,” she said. “And I think I left my gloves inside last night. May I go get them?”
“Of course. Pete and I will unload so you can take your truck. Call after you’ve spoken to your manager. If he does offer you more money, we’ll meet his offer. If you have to give him two weeks’ notice, so be it. We want you, m’dear.”
Tala smiled and walked around the edge of the building, leaving the men hauling posts and wire out of the truck. Maybe Dr. Mace wanted her. She wasn’t sure about Dr. Pete.
She opened the small door to the side of the overhead and walked inside the workroom. The light was dim, and the room felt even colder than outside. The faint aroma of raw meat met her nostrils. She looked over at Baby’s cage to see whether she was still sleeping.
Empty!