Miss Betty and Mr. Joe rushed into the lobby. Henry hopped out of his chair and was across the room in two steps before the arms of his parents swallowed him whole. Miss Betty’s shoulders shook as she murmured his name.
Rosie wished she had her video camera to capture this moment. She could watch it over and over again: the meaning of real love.
Miss Betty crouched down until she was at Henry’s eye level. “Why on earth would you put yourself in that much danger?”
“I wanted to find the train treasure. I overheard you talking at night about your medical bills, and I thought we could use the treasure to pay them off and then we wouldn’t have to move,” Henry said.
Mr. Joe hugged Henry to his side. “We’re not moving.”
“We’re not?” Henry looked over at Cam and Rosie. A grin wavered on his face.
“Mayor Grant gave us the name of his cousin who’s a lawyer. We talked to him this afternoon. He handles health care disputes all the time and says we have a good case for appealing our bills. I’m sorry you were worrying about that, son. From now on, you let your mama and me do the worrying, okay?” Mr. Joe said.
Miss Betty hugged Henry tight to her again, then pulled back and swatted him on the shoulder. “This excuse will only work once, young man. If you ever put yourself at risk like that again, you are grounded for the rest of your natural-born life. As it is, we’ve got to get you over to Dr. Ford tonight for a full check-up.”
“I have developed a pretty bad cough,” Henry said seriously.
Miss Betty looked around the room, her eyes settling on Rosie and Cam. “I can’t thank you enough for saving Henry.”
Rosie gestured to Sheriff Parker, who had walked back into the lobby. “Thank Sheriff Parker. He did most of the work, and the Miracle did the rest.”
“Wait until I tell the ladies at Beauty and Bows my son was Miracled,” Miss Betty said, squeezing Henry’s shoulders.
“It may not have been an actual Miracle,” Sheriff Parker said. “We don’t know for sure.”
“How else do you explain finding Henry in the middle of the river at night?” Cam asked.
When she caught Rosie’s surprised look, she rolled her eyes. “Come on, how could I not believe in the Miracles after tonight?”
Sheriff Parker blew out a breath, shoving his hands into his pockets. “I … I can’t explain it.”
Rosie knew the truth. She’d felt the magic on the boat. Henry had gotten a Miracle.
Pulling the blanket up around her, Rosie’s elbow knocked into her still-full mug of tea on the side table. The mug tumbled toward the ground, heading straight for destruction. In a move right out of a classic martial arts film, Henry dove forward and caught the mug in his hand. The tea sloshed against the sides but didn’t spill. Not a single drop!
Henry straightened up and stared down at his hands as if he couldn’t believe it. This was the same boy who was unable catch a hat, much less a full mug of tea.
“Wow. Good reflexes,” Sheriff Parker said.
Cam and Rosie exchanged shocked glances. It was more than good reflexes. It was more than amazing reflexes. No one could have caught that mug.
No one who wasn’t Miracled.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Mama stood behind their kitchen counter, her hands fluttering in every direction. She had shown up at the police station five minutes after Henry’s parents, shuffled Rosie out the door, and whisked her straight home.
Now Mama gathered up a plate of food and set it in front of Rosie. “All the essentials are here: brownies, cookies, lemon squares. Miss Betty insisted I take it home after I went over to tell her about the missing boat. I swear half the town dropped something off at her house tonight. Is there an unwritten rule that if a child goes missing, you must drop off baked goods?”
“I think this is enough for the entire seventh grade.” Rosie plopped down on a counter stool.
Mama poured a glass of milk, her movements never stopping. “Are you hungry? You must be hungry. I’ve heard people who face grave danger are hungry after their experiences. David told me how the storm was hitting but you insisted on going out on the boat anyway to get Henry. He said you were brave and—” She broke off and covered her face with her hands, suddenly still. A sob escaped from beneath her fingers. Her chest heaved with deep breaths.
“Mama?” Rosie asked.
Mama removed her hands. Her face was red and splotchy, her eyes filled with tears. “Oh, sugar, when I think about what could have happened to you … Why didn’t you tell me first?”
Rosie squirmed in her seat. “Because I knew you’d say no.” She met Mama’s eyes straight-on, tractor beam and all. “And, Mama, I had to go. All I could think about was getting to Henry before something terrible happened.”
“You should have told me.” Mama’s forehead wrinkled. “I can’t help feeling like you’re keeping things from me. First skipping school, then sneaking out. Now this. You’ve been acting so secretive.”
Rosie put down the brownie and frowned at her plate. “There’s something else I need to tell you.”
“I knew you were upset about the whole David thing, but it’s more than that, isn’t it?”
Rosie’s mouth went dry, her appetite suddenly gone. It was time to tell Mama the truth.
“I—I invited Michael to the festival to see my documentary.”
“You invited your father?” Mama’s voice rose on the last word.
Rosie swallowed hard. “Yes.”
“But—but how?” Mama asked, looking wildly around the room, as if she expected Michael to materialize on the spot. “How did you get in touch with him?”
“I searched for his name on your e-mail account. I found out he was working on a film in Richmond, so I came up with this idea to film the documentary and convinced Mayor Grant to show it at the festival. I figured if I invited Michael to see my work on the big screen, he might actually come.”
“You came up with this entire idea of filming a documentary to have an excuse to invite your father, who you’ve never met, to Glimmer Creek?” Mama asked.
Rosie winced. When Mama put it like that, it sounded a bit crazy. “Well … yes.”
Mama looked away, her face unreadable. “And what happened?”
“Michael said he was coming, but he e-mailed and canceled while we were at the festival,” Rosie said.
Saying the words to Mama made it final. Michael hadn’t shown up, and he probably was never planning to.
Mama took Rosie’s hands. “You should have told me about this.”
“I know.”
Mama opened her mouth, closed it again, then sat silently for a moment before continuing. “Michael was—is—a good man in a lot of ways. I loved him, and he loved me too, and for a time that was enough. But he never wanted to settle down. He never wanted to be a husband.” She hesitated.
“He never wanted to be a father,” Rosie said, saying what Mama couldn’t.
“I suppose that’s … that’s right.”
Rosie bit her lip to stop it from trembling. It wasn’t a surprise, not really. She’d known this all along deep inside, but hearing the words tore at her heart just the same. “But—but why?”
“Michael wished for an exciting career, to travel all over the world. That doesn’t make him a bad person. It’s just the unfortunate truth.”
“I guess it’s hard to travel all over the world with a little kid,” Rosie said, staring down at their joined hands and trying not to cry.
“Oh, Rosie. I’m so sorry.” Mama squeezed Rosie’s hands so tightly, almost as if she wanted to squeeze away the words she was saying.
It was the most Mama had ever said about Michael, and it made a horrible kind of sense. Michael was an actor, chasing down roles. He wanted adventures. He didn’t want to be stuck in Glimmer Creek.
“D-did you ever want to travel the world and have an exciting career?” Rosie asked, needing to hear the answer and afraid to hear it too.
M
ama tipped up Rosie’s chin and stared into her eyes. “Sugar, I have something so much better. I have you. You are my greatest adventure. There is nothing—nothing—I would change about our life. Okay, maybe I’d get the faucet fixed, but that’s it.” She smiled down at Rosie.
Rosie stared back up at her. This was Mama, who kept her safe and warm and loved. She wasn’t going to leave Rosie, not even if she started dating Sheriff Parker, not even if they didn’t agree on everything. Mama and Rosie had always made two halves of a perfect whole, but maybe they didn’t need to be only two halves anymore. Maybe they could make room for someone else.
Mama put her arm around Rosie, and Rosie leaned into her.
“I’m really sorry,” Rosie said.
“For what?” Mama asked.
“For skipping school, lying about Michael, and e-mailing him without telling you.” Rosie pulled back. “Only—I wanted to meet him so badly, and I know you think I’m too young.”
“I was worried Michael would hurt you, and I don’t want you to get hurt. Ever.”
The lump in Rosie’s throat expanded, making it hard to talk. “But it does hurt that my father doesn’t want to see me, and there’s nothing you can do to stop that.”
Mama bowed her head, her own lip trembling. Her brown eyes were wet when she looked up. “I know that. I do. We could … ” She swallowed. “We could drive to Richmond tomorrow. I can’t promise we’ll see Michael and I have no idea how he’ll react, but we can try.”
“I don’t want to see him yet.” The words tumbled out of her mouth before Rosie stopped to consider them. “Maybe someday, but not now.”
Rosie didn’t trust herself to speak. Letting go of Michael Weatherton shouldn’t have been a hard thing to do. Not when he’d never been there in the first place. But letting go of the dream of a father wasn’t easy either. Still, she was glad she knew the truth about Michael. There was a good side to most everything, and finding out the truth was a gift. She didn’t want to spend time wishing for a father who wasn’t coming home. There were too many other things to hope for. There were too many other hopes she could make real. It was time to find a new dream.
“If you change your mind, you can tell me,” Mama said. “I’ll be right here. Always.”
“I know,” Rosie said softly.
And that knowing felt a lot like its own Miracle.
* * *
When Rosie walked into the kitchen the next morning, Mama popped up from the kitchen table. The house smelled like lemons, and she spied a round, creamy cake studded with blueberries on the counter.
“Finally,” Mama said, sighing dramatically. “I’ve been up for hours waiting on you. What movie are we going to watch this morning? Is it my turn to pick or yours? I think we need something light after yesterday, unless you want something serious, and then I guess I could watch it. Also, I woke up early and baked your favorite: lemon blueberry cake. I know we don’t normally have cake for breakfast, but I figured you deserve it after last night.” She said this all without taking a single breath.
Rosie peered at the clock over the table. “It’s barely nine o’clock. I would have slept longer, but there was this loud commotion coming from downstairs. Did you drop those pots on purpose to wake me up?”
“Maybe,” Mama said, smiling. “Okay, yes. But in my defense, I was bored.”
“You do know I’m not here to entertain you,” Rosie said.
“Yes, you are. Why else do you think I had a child?” Mama said, slinging an arm around Rosie. “Henry and Cam have already called, and I invited them over for our Saturday-morning movie. Of course, they had a couple of requests.”
Rosie rolled her eyes. “Let me guess. Henry doesn’t want anything scary, and Cam said nothing boring.”
Mama laughed. “That’s about right.”
“How about Roman Holiday?” Rosie said.
“Ah yes! One of our favorites.”
They had seen that movie more times than Rosie could count. Come to think of it, when Gregory Peck got into the fight on the riverboat while protecting Audrey Hepburn, he looked an awful lot like Sheriff Parker before he dove into the water to save Henry.
“You know,” Rosie said casually, “I’ve always thought Audrey and Gregory should have ended up together in the end of the movie. If I were the director, I would have filmed it differently. Scripts get rewritten all the time in Hollywood.”
“I’m not sure you should rewrite a classic,” Mama said.
“Why not?” Rosie asked. “Even the classics can be improved upon.”
Mama’s phone jangled on the counter. She checked out the caller ID and made a face. “This will only take a minute,” she said before scooping it up and walking to the family room.
Outside, a dark-gray truck pulled up to the curb, and Sheriff Parker got out with a bunch of yellow roses in his hand. He lingered beside the truck, staring up at their house. He then turned around and opened his car door as if to leave, before closing it again. He looked back at their house. Rosie tried not to laugh. It was nice to see someone making him nervous for a change.
Mama appeared back in the kitchen moments later. “That was Mayor Grant. He convinced Gloster to let him keep the movie screen for another day. He wants to show your documentary tonight. Isn’t that great news?”
Rosie’s pulse jumped. “I don’t know what to say.”
“You should say yes,” Mama said. “You’ve worked hard enough on it, though don’t think you’re free from a serious punishment for skipping school and sneaking out.”
Her very first film premiere could take place tonight. Everyone in Glimmer Creek would see it, and she had time to add in what she’d found out from the Blue brothers—the cause of the Miracles. It would make her film great, and she would prove to everyone she had what it takes to become a professional director. Still, Rosie hesitated.
Miss Lily had said the mystery of the Miracles was part of what made them special. She worried that solving that mystery could somehow change their town and its people. It wasn’t only Miss Lily who thought so. Mr. Jack, Miss Matilda, Mrs. Bolling, and many others felt the same way. Rosie didn’t know if her documentary could really alter anything about Glimmer Creek, but some things weren’t worth risking. She didn’t want to change the way everyone had helped look for Henry last night at the festival, or how the entire town turned up for the too-long town meetings. And Rosie couldn’t think of a time when she walked down Magnolia Street and didn’t run into at least five people who would ask how her Mama was doing and what movie she was working on.
Rosie had a responsibility to Glimmer Creek. After all, she had discovered the secret of the Miracles, or some of the secret, because nothing could really explain magic. But she knew the Miracles came from a choice to help, to save, to love. In this world, in this whole wide world, there really was no greater Miracle than that.
“You know, I found out something about the Miracles last night,” Rosie said, lowering her voice to a whisper. “They only happen when you’re trying to help someone else.”
Mama leaned over the counter, face puzzled. “But the Blue brothers—”
“Were trying to find their daddy’s fishing rod on the night of the hurricane.”
“Miss Lily?”
“Wanted to make her family proud.”
“Donna Davis, and Mr. Jack, and Beth Moore …”
Rosie lifted one corner of her mouth. “They were all trying to save someone.”
Mama sat back. Her eyes glistened. “Rosie, that’s … that’s amazing. I’ve never thought of it that way before.”
“I’m not sure anyone has,” Rosie said.
“Is this all in the documentary?”
“Not yet,” Rosie said.
“It will cause quite a sensation if you add that in. Your documentary would be a hit,” Mama said.
“The thing is,” Rosie said, “if people knew the secret, maybe they’d act different. Maybe they’d do things to try to get a Miracle, and I’m not sur
e that’s how it works. Part of the magic is the mystery. I wouldn’t want to ever do anything to make that go away.”
Mama’s gaze softened. “That’s a good point, sugar. So, what are you going to do about the documentary?”
Mama’s eyes shifted to one side, and Rosie got the feeling Mama knew what she was going to say before the words left her lips. Mamas were like that sometimes.
“I’m not going to add in the secret, and even though the documentary taught me a lot about Glimmer Creek and filmmaking, I can’t show it tonight or ever,” Rosie said, and exhaled. A calm she hadn’t felt in weeks settled over her. “What if analyzing the Miracles makes them less powerful or less believable? I won’t take that risk. Besides, I’ll make other films, better films, and I’ll get those on the big screen someday.”
“I have no doubt about that,” Mama said, reaching out to squeeze her hand. “I’ll call Mayor Grant and tell him there’s no need to hold on to the movie screen tonight.”
“Wait!” Rosie said. “Maybe he’ll still want to show the feature film he’d planned for the festival. I think everyone in town would like that. I’ll call him and talk to him myself.” And she planned to do so right after Sheriff Parker got up the nerve to ring their doorbell. It was lucky he’d come over this morning. Roman Holiday was a good place for her to start his movie education, and they had plenty of lemon blueberry cake to share.
“Has anyone told you how smart you are?” Mama said, and double winked at Rosie. “You must take after your mama.”
Rosie double winked back. “I sure hope so.”
When the doorbell finally rang, Mama was the only one surprised. Rosie let her answer it alone and waited for them in the kitchen.
Beyond the window, the morning sun draped the water in gold. A breeze sent lacy whitecaps skittering across Glimmer Creek, and falling leaves traced lazy crisscross patterns against the blue sky. Houses lined up on either side of her in crooked rows, connected like beads on an invisible thread, each one separate but also part of something bigger. It was the view she saw every day. It was home. Rosie’s heart swelled at the sight.
Forever Glimmer Creek Page 19