Where the Forest Meets the Stars(36)

“No, but you’re right about her being bitter. She was always desperate for our father’s approval, and she hated that he bragged about how smart I was when I was little. Mostly to please him, she majored in English and tried to become a writer, but she failed. Around that time, she got really mean. She used to tease me relentlessly until my temper blew. She enjoyed trying to make me look bad in front of our parents, especially our father.”
“That’s all pretty typical sibling rivalry.”
“Is it typical for a woman in her twenties to play games with a little kid so she could crush him and tell him how dumb he was? Or to say her newborn brother looked like a toad and call him Mr. Toad into adulthood? Around her, I felt like the ugliest, stupidest thing on Earth.”
“That’s awful. I’m really sorry.”
“Don’t be. I got over it a long time ago,” he said in a hostile tone that contradicted his assertion. “I stopped hoping she would like me the day she abandoned me in the woods. I was picking flowers for my mom, and she just walked away. I still remember how terrified I was.”
“How old were you?”
“Five. It took my mother an hour to find me. She’d asked Lacey to take me for a walk while she worked on a poem. Lacey lied, said I’d wandered off. And she went on and on about how I’d have found my way home if I was smarter.”
“God, I hope she never had kids of her own.”
“She has two sons, and she spoiled them rotten. They’re both in college now.”
“Does she have a job?”
“She kept writing while she did the stay-at-home mom thing, but none of her books ever took off. She felt like she’d disappointed my dad. But she shouldn’t have chosen that field just to please him—especially once she realized writing wasn’t her talent.”
Ursa had returned during their conversation. “Are you talking about Lacey?”
“Yes,” Jo said.
“Why did you yell when I was over there?” she asked Gabe.
“I was just fooling around.”
“I thought Lacey was here and she came to make you leave.”
“She can’t make me,” he said.
“Will you stay?”
“I’ll go soon. I’m sure you two are tired.”
“You have to stay!” Ursa said. “If you go back, they’ll keep you prisoner again. But this time, they’ll lock the door and we won’t be able to rescue you.”
“It’s not as dire as all that,” he said.
“Please? Jo wants you to stay. Jo, tell him not to go!”
“Maybe you shouldn’t go back,” Jo said. “Show your sister you have a life of your own. And your mother needs to learn that, too. Why doesn’t she ever stay with Lacey in Saint Louis so you can have a break? Or they could hire someone to help her. Who voted you the forever caregiver? You’re way too young for that burden.”
Gabe stared at her.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I tend to spew opinions when I’m pissed.”
“Don’t apologize. Everything you said is true.”
“Then teach them a lesson and sleep on the couch. Ursa can sleep with me, if that’s okay with her.”
“Yes, it’s okay!” Ursa said, thrusting her arms in the air. “And tomorrow Gabe can come with us to Summers Creek! It’s the best place, Gabe! It’s like a magic forest!”
“I’ve never seen a magic forest,” he said.
“It’s pretty damn magical,” Jo said.


15

“Hey, Jo . . .”
Gabe stood thirty yards away in chest-high vegetation. “What?” she called.
“I think there’s a nest over here that lost its tag.”
She waded through the brush toward him. “I don’t believe this—did you really find a nest your first hour out?”
“It has three white eggs in it.”
“That’s an indigo bunting nest!”
Ursa heard what was going on and ran over. She and Jo arrived next to Gabe at the same time and looked down at the nest built in cane stalks. “Congratulations on your first nest,” Jo said. “But damn it, now I have to pay you field assistant wages, too.”
“It probably beats selling eggs,” he said.
“We’re all ornithologists now!” Ursa said.
Gabe touched one finger to a tiny egg.
“It’s kind of a rush, isn’t it?” Jo said.
“I’ve seen nests before, but finding one when you’re looking for one is way better.”
“Watch out, nest searching can become addictive. There’s something about it . . . you’re uncovering these little secrets of the wild.”
He smiled.
“Do I sound like a kook?”
“No. I totally get it.”
He watched Ursa record location, date, and status on a new data sheet as Jo dictated. She carefully printed Gabriel Nash on the FOUND BY line.
“I’ve contributed a data point to science. My existence is no longer meaningless,” he said.
Jo liked that. “We’d better go,” she said. “The parents are going nuts, and we don’t want to bring in a predator.”
“No predator may touch my nest,” Gabe called into the forest as they walked away.
“Maybe saying that will be magic that protects it,” Ursa said.
“That could be a new line of research,” he said. “The Use of Magic in Preventing Predation on Bird Nests. ”
“I’m sure you’ll get a grant from the National Science Foundation,” Jo said.