Now it was my turn to smile a little. Instead of explaining, I held out my right hand. Once more, small bolts of electricity danced above my palm. This time, however, tiny rain drops fell around them. Glancing up, I saw the understanding reflected in Amy’s eyes.
“You’re an elemental.”
I nodded. “Air is my primary gift. But I also see energy patterns and can harness them.” At least sometimes.
“Can you create anything other than water and lightning?”
She seemed honestly interested and I couldn’t help drawing a comparison between her attitude and that of those I’d grown up with in Maxon’s Mill. They’d thought Mom and me freaks. But not Amy. Not only did she not take my gift for granted, she wanted to know more.
“I can.” I closed my eyes and concentrated. A soft, gentle breeze wafted through the room. When I looked at Amy a moment later, she grinned in approval. “Air is easy, a part of me. Water and electricity are just as easy because they are so closely associated with air. With preparation, I can do a few other things, but mainly my gifts are associated with Air.”
“I hope you’ll let me watch you work when you feel better. Quinn’s element is fire. My best friend Lexie’s talent first manifested with her calling fire, but she’s not an elemental. Her talents run more toward the empathic. That makes her a wonderful teacher because she can sense not only when her students are having trouble but why. I’ve never worked with anyone who is an air elemental.”
She seemed so excited, I found myself smiling in response. But I couldn’t make any promises. I’d come here for a reason, because Mom asked me to. Once I found out why, I’d be on my way. My home and my life were in Wichita. I needed to remember that.
“Come on. Grandma’s waiting.”
Amy helped me to my feet. By the time we reached the second-floor landing, I was more than glad to have her supporting arm around my waist. My left leg felt tight and that knee ached more and more with each step. Sweat pricked out on my forehead and I gripped the railing tightly with my right hand. Battered as my body already was, the last thing I needed was to take a header down the stairs.
“Here you go.” She pulled a chair out from the kitchen table and waited for me to sit. Then she hurried to one of the largest refrigerators I’d ever seen and opened the stainless-steel door. A moment later, she returned to the table and handed me a bottle of water. “I’d really like to talk some more, Meg, when you’re up to it.”
“I’d like that.” And I would. It was nice to be able to talk about what I was and what I could do with someone who didn’t look at me like a sideshow freak – or worse.
She smiled and patted my shoulder, much as her grandmother had when I first woke. “Grandma, I need to run. Do you want me to pick anything up at the store while I’m out?”
Miss Serena turned from the drain board where she’d been working. “I don’t think so. Unless there’s something special you’d like?” She looked at me.
I shook my head. “No, thank you though.” At least I remembered my manners.
A few minutes later, Miss Serena set a basket of homemade breads and muffins on the table. Tall glasses of iced tea, fortunately not the abomination known as “sweet tea”, followed. After making sure I didn’t want or need anything else, she joined me at the table. As she did, I realized she looked more worried than I’d seen in our short acquaintance and my stomach did a slow roll. I had a feeling I wasn’t going to like what she had to say.
“Meg, before we look at your mother’s letter, there are a few things I think we need to discuss.”
“All right.” I drawled out the words, feeling much like I had when I was younger, and Mom said we “needed to talk”.
She glanced down, as if watching the patterns she drew with her glass as she moved it across the tabletop. When she looked up again, the look in her eyes almost undid me. Instead of the evasion or anger or any of the other emotions I’d expected, there was nothing but concern and perhaps even a trace of apology. What in the world was going on?
“Meg, do you have any idea why your mother never told you about Mossy Creek or her life here?”
I shook my head. How many times did I need to repeat it? Until I received her letter telling me to come here and find Miss Serena, I’d never heard of the town or anyone who lived here.
She sipped her tea and I had a feeling it was more to give herself time to gather her thoughts than anything else. “All right, a quick history lesson then. You heard some of it this morning. Faith was in school with my daughter Angela, Amy’s mother. They weren’t exactly friends. People like your grandparents didn’t approve of me and my kind and they did their best to keep Faith away from us.” I didn’t need her to explain she meant the Others. “So, when your mother started showing signs of her own talents manifesting, Angela told me. She also told me what she suspected was happening to your mother. Your grandparents weren’t gentle in their attempts to stop what was happening. There were days Faith would go to school with bruises on her arms and legs. One day Angela came home, worried because your mother had a black eye. Other days, Faith would miss class because they’d either beaten her so badly they didn’t dare let her be seen or because they’d locked her in her room to keep the world from knowing what she was becoming.”
I swallowed hard against the bile roiling in my stomach. No wonder Mom never spoke about her childhood. How could a parent act that way toward their child?
“I don’t know what happened that last day at their house. Your mother never talked about it in anything but generalities. As for your grandparents, once they threw her out, they acted as if she had never existed. Not that it stopped your mother. She took the few personal belongings she’d been able to grab before your grandfather and uncles hauled her out of the house and found someplace to stay the night. Even now, I don’t know where. I suspect she stayed in a barn nearby. There are enough of them around here.
“The next morning, she showed up for school. Angela overheard her talking with a couple of their classmates, all Others like Faith, about what happened. For once in her life, Angela showed some common sense. She went to the office and called me. As soon as she told me what she’d heard, I made a few calls of my own, including to the sheriff. Trust me, your grandparents did not appreciate it when he showed up, asking what happened.
“They claimed your mother ran away. They also said they didn’t want her to come home. According to them, she’d been nothing but trouble and it was good riddance. They all but dared the sheriff to try to convince the district attorney to file charges against them. I believe they thought your mother would leave town. I’ve no doubt that’s what they hoped she’d do.”
I looked down at the table and my heart broke for my mother. She deserved so much better than that.
Damn them!
“Why?” It was out before I could stop it. “Why would they do that?”
“Because they were bitter, scared people, so rigid in their so-called religion they couldn’t see what a gift Faith was. They didn’t deserve her.”
Well, that much we could agree on.
“I made sure I was at the school before classes ended that day. I talked with the principal and explained the situation to her. I’d talked with my attorney first. I wanted to make sure Faith was protected from her parents. Fortunately, Mrs. Banta, the principal, didn’t object when I said I needed to see Faith. Instead, she sent for Faith and then left us alone to talk.”
Miss Serena stood and crossed the kitchen. I watched as she opened a cabinet. When she turned, she carried two glasses and a bottle of bourbon. After pouring us each a healthy shot and handing me one, she returned to her seat.
“Your mother tried to play it off, telling me nothing had happened. It took time, but she finally agreed to come home with me. On our way out, I told Mrs. Banta that Faith would be late the next morning. Annie’s grandfather was my attorney back then and he’d made it clear that he wanted to talk with Faith and that he wanted a doctor to have a loo
k at her. It seems he trusted her grandparents no more than I did.”
Tears burned my eyes and I reached across the table, resting my hand on hers. “Thank you.”
She shook her head. “I should have acted before. All of us should have, but we didn’t. We didn’t want to believe someone we knew, even if we didn’t know them well, could treat a child like that. So, I did what I could to make it up to your mother.” She took a sip of her bourbon before continuing. “To make a long story short, after having several serious discussions with Faith about what she wanted after she spoke with Annie’s grandfather, steps were taken to emancipate her from her parents. I became her legal guardian until she was recognized as an adult. She moved in here and I trained her to use her talents. When she got ready to go to college, I helped her there as well, at least as much as she would let me.”
Which, knowing my mother and the mile-wide streak of independence she had possessed, wasn’t much.
“Where did she go to college?” It pained me that I didn’t know even that much about my mother. Until her death, I’d never given much thought about her reticence to talk about her past before my birth. Now, I wished she was still alive so I could tell her how proud I was of her and all she’d accomplished.
“Texas A&M. She graduated with honors with a degree in chemistry.”
A degree she never used. Why? For as long as I could remember, Mom had run her little store in Maxon’s Mill, selling her candles and other handmade crafts. What sent her away from Mossy Creek and a career she’d trained in?
I reached for my bourbon. “I don’t understand any of this, ma’am. I don’t understand what happened to my mother, and I don’t understand why she didn’t tell me any of this.”
“As for the latter, I don’t know, Meg. I swear I don’t.” The pain in her expression and voice couldn’t be faked. “I asked her that question many times and never received an answer.”
I noticed she didn’t say the same with regard to the first part of my question.
“As for the rest of it, it’s a long story and one I think should wait until you’ve read your mother’s letter.” She lifted a finger to stop me from interrupting. “Before we get to that, I want to offer you what I offered your mother so long ago. This was her home and, at least as long as you’re in town, I’d like it to be yours as well. I’d be honored if you would think of Amy and me as family.”
I swallowed hard. The last thing I’d expected when I left Kansas the two days ago was to find people who knew my mother and who loved her, in their own ways, as much as I had. I could almost hear Mom telling me to accept Miss Serena’s invitation. But this wasn’t home, and I didn’t know them. The skeptic in me said I should thank her and return to my hotel in Dallas as soon as possible. But, if I did that, I wouldn’t be on hand to keep an eye on the investigation into my wreck nor would it be as easy to talk to everyone who had known my mother. It was a big step, but one I needed to take.
I hoped I wasn’t doing the wrong thing.
“Thank you. I’d like that.”
Miss Serena smiled, and I saw her relax a little.
“Then, if you don’t mind, I’d like to show you your mother’s rooms. Your rooms now. After I have another look at your injuries, we’ll see what your mother had to say in her letter.”
“Okay.” I didn’t want to put off reading Mom’s letter, but she was right. I’d seen enough of my injuries earlier to know the dressings needed to be kept clean.
A few minutes later, I sat on the edge of the bed in the suite of rooms that had been my mother’s so long ago. As I looked around, a slight smile lifted one corner of my mouth. A small sitting room led to the bedroom and attached bath. The only thing missing was a kitchen. In fact, it was almost as big as my apartment back in Wichita. That, along with other things I’d seen around the house, spoke of money. Lots of money. I had a feeling there was a great deal about Miss Serena I needed to know but now wasn’t the time. But first, my mother’s letter. Then I could start asking some of the growing number of questions I had about what happened and about the people who knew her.
“Amy brought everything Drew found at the crash site up before she left.” Miss Serena pointed to my now battered leather saddlebags where they lay on a chair by the window across the room from the bed. “We thought you might like to dress in your own clothes.”
I smiled and nodded. I didn’t ask how she knew I had a change of clothes inside the bags. Most any woman would simply assume I had. After all, you never knew when an accident might happen and you’d need to change your shirt or pants. In my case, the accident had been more than a spilled cup of coffee. We also knew it had been anything but an accident. That, too, was something we’d need to discuss. But later.
“Thanks.”
“Now, let’s see how your injuries are doing.” She motioned for me to lie back.
Half an hour later, I looked at the jeans and tee shirt I’d retrieved from my saddle bags. Suddenly the thought of putting them on didn’t seem such a good idea. The jeans would be too constricting against the all too raw road rash along my left side. The tee shirt wouldn’t be much better. For a moment, I considered staying in my robe. Then a soft knock sounded at the door. It opened and Miss Serena stepped inside. She looked at the clothes on the bed and stepped back out. She returned a short time later, bringing several folded items with her.
“You’re about Lexie’s size. She left these the last time she stayed the night.” As she spoke, she handed me a pair of loosely woven black pants and matching long-sleeved shirt. “She won’t mind you borrowing them.”
“Thanks.”
I sat on the bed and carefully eased the pants up over my legs. Normally, I’d hesitate to dress in front of almost anyone, but Miss Serena had already seen me undressed. She’d needed to in order to treat my injuries. I slid out of the robe and reached for the shirt, trying not to wince as I pulled it over my head. Dressed, I almost felt ready to face the world.
“Miss Serena, may I ask you something?”
“Of course.” She sat next to me on the bed.
“You said you talked with Annie’s grandfather about my mother and became her legal guardian.”
She nodded. “Which reminds me, I called Annie and told her to let you see all references to your mother or her family in my legal files.”
“Thank you.” She hadn’t waited for me to ask and that said a great deal about the kind of woman she was. “Miss Serena, Mom changed her name at some point. Do you know when?”
“I do. Before she left for college, we had a long talk. She’d been with me almost four years then because she took a year off after she graduated from high school to earn some money. Even though she had scholarships waiting for her and even though I said I’d cover anything else she needed, she wouldn’t accept any money from me. After what her parents did to her, she swore she’d never rely on anyone again.”
My mouth firmed and my right hand fisted on the mattress. Now I understood at least some of my mother’s stubborn, often to her own detriment, determination. She’d been hurt so badly, she wasn’t going to let herself be in that position ever again. Had she ever been close to anyone except me after leaving Mossy Creek?
“A couple of weeks before she left for College Station, we sat in this very room and talked. I knew then, even though I didn’t want to admit it, that your mother would never return here to live. Or, if she did, it would not be for a very long time. Even though she’d managed to thrive after what happened, it scarred her. She needed to prove to herself not only that she didn’t need them but that she could thrive without them. What I didn’t expect was what she planned on doing.”
“Changing her name.”
Miss Serena nodded. “She told me she wanted a fresh start. She’d already been in contact with the university and had explained the situation to someone in the admissions office. They assured her that, as long as she showed up with the appropriate legal documents, the name change wouldn’t impact her admission or
her scholarships. She had already started the paperwork and would be going to court the next day to finalize everything. She wanted me to know because she was also asking the records to be sealed. She didn’t want her family to be able to find her before she was ready. This was her final step in cutting all ties with them.”
“She loved you, Miss Serena, and she trusted you.” I might not have known Mom as well as I thought, but that much I was sure of. If she hadn’t, Mom never would have told the woman what she planned.
“I loved her as if she were my own daughter, Meg.” Tears glistened in the old woman’s eyes. Before I could say anything, she climbed to her feet. I watched as she moved across the room to a beautiful cherry dresser. With her back to me, I couldn’t see what she did. A moment later, I heard a drawer slide open. When Miss Serena turned back, she held something in her hands. “I took this picture the day before Faith left for A&M.”
I took the frame from her and looked down at my mother’s smiling face. Determination shone in her eyes. She had known she was starting a new phase of her life and she looked forward to it. I’d seen that determination many times over the years. Now I had a better understanding for it and my heart ached for what she went through.
“Miss Serena.” I shifted slightly on the mattress so I could look her in the eye. “I don’t understand a lot of what happened, but I can look at this picture and tell she loved you. You helped make her into the woman she was, a woman who stood on her own two feet and who raised me on her own. She’s brought us together for some reason, maybe because she thought we needed one another. I don’t know. But I’m glad she did. You’re helping me see her in a new light and I respect her even more because of what you’ve told me.”
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