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‘Why do I have to sleep with them?’ Jordan demanded, screwing her face up. ‘They snore.’
‘Do not!’ Karel yelled at her. She poked her tongue out.
‘Do too.’
Teddy looked helplessly around. But Gage had gone off into the trees with the little hand shovel and the roll of toilet paper. She supposed she’d have to follow his lead soon enough, and the thought made her clench her muscles and wish they were at home.
At least the tents had gone up fairly easily. If only she could stop the bickering now. Exhaustion washed over her.
‘Kids,’ she said. ‘Jordan.’ The girl looked at her, eyes dark in the shadows from the trees.
‘What?’ the girl spat. ‘I suppose you’re going to try telling me what to do? It’s a waste of time – you’re not my mother.’
Teddy sucked in a deep breath and held it for the count of three. ‘I’m not trying to be your mother, Jordan. I’m trying to relax, and that’s what you need to be doing as well. We’ve another day’s hiking ahead of us tomorrow.’
The teenager pouted. ‘Tramping.’
Nonplussed, Teddy shook her head. ‘What?’
‘We call it tramping, not hiking. You can’t even get the language right.’
Teddy didn’t know what to say. What was she supposed to say to this girl who was determined to hate her? She tried to laugh. ‘There’s so much different here,’ she said. ‘It’s going to take me a long time to learn everything.’
‘Why’d you come here anyway?’ Jordan muttered. ‘You should just go back where you came from.’
Another deep breath. The count of five this time. At this rate, by the end of this trip she’d be holding her breath until she passed out.
‘Let’s just try to get along,’ she said. ‘Okay? For your father’s sake?’
The eye-rolling again. Honestly, the teenager was a pro at it. But then, Teddy remembered she’d been pretty good at it, too, at Jordan’s age. Which wasn’t all that long ago, actually.
Karel broke into the conversation. He was clutching an old stuffed dog that he’d refused to leave at home. His twin had also declined to leave her favourite toy at home.
‘How come you’re called Teddy?’ he asked.
Relieved at the opportunity to change the topic and to talk to a kid who didn’t hate her guts, or seemed not to anyway, Teddy looked at the little boy and smiled. Karel was just a scrap of a thing, all knobbly knees and elbows, and hair that refused to sit flat on his head. She thought she might like the kid one day, given the chance.
‘Is it your real name?’ he asked, fingers plucking at the stuffed dog’s ear.
Teddy heard Jordan’s snort but ignored it. ‘It’s a shortened form of my real name,’ she said.
‘What’s your real name, then?’ Karel asked.
She smiled. ‘It’s a real embarrassing name,’ she said. ‘But it’s been in my family for years. Handed down from mother to daughter, only my mom decided she liked it enough to give it to me for a first name.’
Karel’s eyes were wide in the creeping gloom. He had his fingers hooked in his mouth now, and she could see his spit glistening on them. Kids had some pretty disturbing habits, but she guessed that went with the territory, as she was bound to find out one day when she had her own. Maybe she should look at these guys as practice.
Bree poked her head out of the kids’ tent and piped up. ‘I want to know what your name is too,’ she said.
‘Well, you asked for it,’ Teddy said. ‘It’s Theodosia.’
Both the twins frowned over it. ‘What?’ Karel asked.
‘Theodosia,’ she repeated, speaking slowly.
‘That’s a real weird name,’ Karel decided.
‘Yep.’ Teddy nodded. ‘That’s why I’m called Teddy. It’s short for Theodosia.’
The girl was trying the name on, rolling it around on her tongue. Teddy heard her whisper it a few times until she had it right. Bree was really cute for her age, was going to be a total knockout when she grew up, and everyone knew it. Probably part of the reason Jordan had such an attitude. Well, that and the fact that her father had left her mother for Teddy. Which, she guessed, kinda sucked for the kid. Not that it could be helped. You didn’t choose who you fell in love with. And Gage hadn’t loved Ling, Jordan’s mom, for a long time.
There was a crashing in the undergrowth, and Bree’s dog, Taffy, tumbled into the clearing, making a bee-line for Teddy, aiming her tongue at her face like she always did. She held out her hands, ready to push the dog away, like she always did. She preferred cats. Gage had promised her a cat at some stage, but it hadn’t happened yet.
‘Guys! You gotta come and look at this.’ Gage was right behind the dog, and Teddy could see his teeth shining white in the darkness that had come on almost without her noticing.
‘What is it?’ she asked, feeling her heart jump again. What would be so exciting out here in the middle of the wilderness? Thank goodness there were no predators in this country. Only the sandflies. They were brutal, and she stunk to high heaven of citronella and lavender oil in an effort to keep them away from her tender, foreign flesh.
‘Yeah, Dad – what is it?’ Karel was staring up at his father, arms tight around his stuffed dog, while the real dog was suffering a death grip in his sister’s arms.
Gage gestured at them. ‘Come have a look.’ He threw the shovel and toilet tissue at Teddy. ‘You got a torch somewhere there, babe?’
She put the bathroom things beside the tent and reached between the flaps of the door for the flashlight, then handed it to Gage.
He switched it on, aiming it at the dark of the forest floor. ‘Come on, guys, get up and come look.’
Teddy had the sudden urge to stay exactly where she was. Whatever it was that had Gage so excited, she didn’t want to know. She had the definite feeling she’d be better off not seeing whatever it was. They were in the middle of a forest. It was practically dark. There was no one around. Whatever he wanted them to see, she didn’t know how it could be anything good. The woods were a spooky place. She’d always thought so. Touching the side of the tent, she thought about refusing to get up and go look.
But Gage was already hoisting his youngest daughter into his arms and reaching for Teddy. She got to her feet and avoided looking into his shining eyes. What was out in the forest in the middle of the night that was so exciting? She wanted to go home.