Previously Loved Treasures (Serendipity #2)(49)

Rose could lie to others but could no longer lie to herself. It was a long time before she answered, and when she did her voice was weighted with finality.

“No, I don’t suppose he’ll ever change.” She blinked back the tears gathering in her eyes and stood there for several minutes before turning back to stack the dishes.

That was the last time they mentioned Joe Mallory.

~

Rose moved through the days without voicing her fear, but it was always there. At night when the house was dark and quiet, it came and whispered in her ear. He’s coming.

He’ll not find me, she vowed. In the wee hours of morning when the only sounds to be heard were the soft whispers of Sara’s breath, Rose set a plan in place to make sure she and her child would remain safe. No one had seen them come, and as long as they remained inside the house they could not be found.

For a while the child was content to sit at the table and color pictures as her mama and Aunt Caroline cooked. But Sara was five, not an age when sitting still comes easy. On occasion Rose would turn to slide a tray of biscuits into the oven, then turn back to find Sara gone. On several such occasions she found the girl chattering away with Louie or Harriet.

“You mustn’t go bothering people,” Rose scolded, but it was easy to see that neither of them seemed to mind.

“She’s no bother,” Louie said. Then he hoisted Sara onto his knee and magically discovered a piece of candy in his pocket. Two days later Harriet came home with a Cat in the Hat book she’d gotten for ten cents at a garage sale.

It was the same with most of the other residents. Wilbur enchanted the child with stories of boyhood adventures: fishing, camping in the woods, the Scout trip where he’d earned his Woodsman Badge. “Ah, yes,” he said with a sigh, “Boy Scouts, that’s the making of a man.”

“I wanna be a Boy Scout too,” Sara said.

“Afraid not, Missy,” Wilbur replied. “But when you’re a bit older you can be a Girl Scout.” He told stories of the great adventures that awaited. “Why, pretty as you are, I bet you’ll sell more cookies than any Girl Scout in history.”

That very afternoon Sara began asking Rose to make some cookies for her to sell. “I need to practice.”

“I’ll make some cookies that you can sell to Mister Washington,” Rose said, laughing

Little by little Sara made friends with the residents and gained greater freedom, but she was not allowed outside.

“You can go visit Mister Washington,” Rose said, “or play with the boys, but do not step one foot outside the door.”

“Okay, Mama.”

“And stay away from Mister Sweetwater’s room,” Rose added.

She didn’t need to warn Sara to stay clear of Max, because the child was already frightened of him. He seldom spoke to her, and when he did it was only to criticize her behavior or to tell her to get out of his way. On one particular morning he’d slept at a lady friend’s house and came stumbling in as Sara ran down the hall chasing after Clarence. First the dog ran into Max and threw him off balance, and then Sara came flying around the corner and got tangled up in his legs. Max slammed into the wall and thundered, “Get the hell out of here!”

After that day, Sara avoided Max without anyone telling her to.

~

Max was the only resident who was off limits. The others were friends, and Sara thought nothing of tapping on the doors of their rooms. “You wanna tell me a story?” she’d ask. Even Doctor Payne would set aside the magazine he’d been reading and find time to chat with the girl.

He was sitting in the parlor with the latest Dental News when she wandered in and wanted to know if he was reading a story.

“Not a story,” Payne said. “It’s a professional magazine.”

“What’s a professor magazine?” Sara asked.

“It’s a book of information that helps you be better at your job,” Payne answered. “My job is being a dentist. What do you want to be when you grow up?”

“A princess,” Sara answered.

“Princess?” he repeated. “Princess is not an occupation. Have you thought about dentistry? Now that’s a fine occupation.”

When a look of dismay slid across Sara’s face, Louie came to her rescue. “Princess is a fine occupation, and I think you’d make an excellent princess.”

Sara’s smile returned.

“Besides,” Louie added, “dentistry is for people who have no personality. You have lots of personality, way too much to become a dentist.”

Doctor Payne gave a harrumph, then slid down behind the magazine he’d been reading.

Sara went running off to the kitchen calling, “Mama, I got a princess purse-some-ally.”

~

On the second Sunday after they’d moved in, Laricka came to the kitchen and asked Rose if Sara could go to the Rialto. “The boys wanted to see Indiana Jones again, and I thought it would be nice to have Sara join us.”

While the thought still hung in the air, Rose said, “No.” Not the type of genteel “No, thank you” one might expect, but a flat, rock hard no, one without any margin of error.

Laricka pulled back like someone bitten by a snake. “Well, excuse me! I was only trying to be polite, so there’s no need to—”