Early in the morning, Kate found the babuszka at the side of the house. She was tilling the soil, a variety of garden tools at her side. She looked like a picture, with her layered dress, shawl, and kerchief over her hair, tied under her chin. She also wore the amber necklace.
Kate took out her camera and focused. She framed the babuszka to the left of center, her hoe crossing the center line of the frame. She paused. The babuszka looked different. Refreshed. Click.
“May I help?” Kate asked in Polish. She put her bag down on the edge of the rectangle of soil the babuszka was tilling.
“Of course,” she answered in clear English. “I’m planting my pumpkins.” The words came out unmuddled, but from a voice that was dry and unused.
Kate blinked. Her English was excellent. And where was the tired old woman from yesterday?
They’d all bunked down after sunset, but the old woman had stayed out by her fire all night. The stew she had made them tasted as good as it smelled. Lidka had finally relaxed in the cozy cottage, convinced Malwinka wouldn’t find them here. But Kate had trouble sleeping. She kept picturing Gustaw looking right at her and then walking away.
“A little late this year,” the babuszka continued, “but I know a few tricks to get them to grow. I remember another year I was late planting my pumpkins.” She smiled. “And what a year that was.”
“You’ve been a gardener for a long time?” Kate asked, marveling at the woman’s transformation.
The babuszka nodded, then demonstrated how she wanted the soil broken up. “This will be my first pumpkin patch in this kingdom.”
Kate glanced at her, wondering at the reference to a kingdom. Did she know she was in the modern country of Poland?
“Why did you leave Italy? The Kolodenkos are worried about you.”
The babuszka stopped tilling. She braced her hands on the tip of the handle and examined Kate. “I was never meant to stay. I was only there to be close to Fyodora. The war took its toll on my health, and it was time for me to return. I thought I had the necklace to get me here.”
Kate’s face burned. She should have given it to the woman at the piazza, but at the time she didn’t know who she was.
“But you didn’t return to your first home,” Kate said, testing her guess that the babuszka once lived near the castle.
She nodded and returned to her tilling. “You have seen the beautiful valley, have you not? It is quiet, like here. But it has sad memories. People stay away. They are afraid of the place, though they don’t know why.” She looked up and waved her hand to the forest. “I am needed here, now. These people who live beyond this place are in turmoil. I can be a servant to them.”
“How old are you?”
The babuszka turned her back as she continued working. “I stopped counting years long ago. Now I count girls.”
Did the babuszka suffer like Aunt Elsie? Confusing words without even knowing it?
“You are not curious what I mean?”
“Yes.”
“Your babcia is Katja Petrov?”
“Yes.”
“I knew her. And Elsie, her sister?”
“My aunt.”
“I’ve known them all.” She looked deep into Kate’s eyes. “And now I’ve met you. The next Keeper.”
Kate was not exactly surprised, but to be here, with her fingers getting chilled in the early morning air, and talking with the woman who could answer all her questions, did leave her in awe.
“Are you . . .” Kate couldn’t say the words out loud. Fairy godmother.
“My friends call me Esmerelda. But I have grown accustomed to being called Babuszka. This is fine.” She patted her kerchief. “I look the part.”
“You are different from when we first saw you,” Kate said, trying to be tactful. How do you tell someone that you once thought she was walking on the edge of insanity, but now she seemed normal?
Esmerelda cackled. “I feel so much better now that you are here and have brought the amber necklace. I never realized how much of me was in there until your babcia took it so far away.” She hobbled over to the pile of tools and dropped her hoe. “You know, I felt the very day it set sail. I knew then that I had to stay close to the Kolodenkos if I were to ever see it again. That family always has been kind. Each person makes a life for themselves, but it does help to be taught right from wrong early on. The Burgosovs still pass down hatred and wickedness in their family.” She dug around in her pocket and pulled out a folded paper filled with seeds. She handed some to Kate. “You are both Burgosov and Kolodenko. You are also Keeper?”
“Yes.”
“You are the first.” Esmerelda demonstrated how to plant the pumpkin seeds.
They worked in silence. Kate suspected Esmerelda was giving her time to reflect. So much had happened on her trip, she hadn’t had time to process it all. Finding her dad had overshadowed everything else she had learned, particularly her connection to the Burgosovs, and by extension, the Kolodenkos.
What a strange position to find herself in, at the point of union between two feuding families. She was the official Keeper through her family line, but using the Burgosovs’ logic, she could lay claim to the Kolodenko treasures, too.
Of course, Lidka told her she was more Burgosov than Kolodenko because Kate wasn’t a direct descendant of Cinderella, only a relation. She didn’t want to take sides in a feud; rather, she liked it when she thought she was outside of the conflict, keeping the collection safe while they battled it out. For her, the stakes had been ones of family pride, a heritage of service. Did that have to change now that she knew who her grandfather really was?
“You are still you,” Esmerelda said, as if reading her thoughts. “When you find out something about where you came from, it does not change who you are or who you are becoming. Nadzia was like you. She was an orphan girl, left on my doorstep when she was a baby. Someone had gone to great trouble to bring her to me. The people in the village always thought I was strange. I preferred to live in the mountains by myself. But when I heard that baby cry early one morning, well, my life has never been the same.”
“She was left in a basket on your doorstep? I thought that only happened in stories.”
Esmerelda smiled. “I was used to quietly helping people, staying in the background, doing my bit, and then leaving. But now I had a girl come to live with me. I thought about giving her away. Finding a nice family to leave her with—on their doorstep as I had found her on mine. But the mother who left Nadzia with me must have had her reasons. I thought maybe she might return, and if I moved on or gave the girl to someone else to raise, the mother would never know. Her planning would have been for nothing, and how sad she would be.”
Kate finished planting her final seeds and, standing, brushed the dirt off her hands. “Did the mother come back?”
Esmerelda shrugged. “Perhaps. Whenever we went into town I studied the faces of the girls. Did any of them follow from afar? Did any try to get close to us? I never could tell with all the strange looks I got anyway, showing up with a baby all of a sudden. I’m sure the people thought I stole her.” She wiped her face with a kerchief. “Have a drink?” she asked, her eyes squinting against the light.
A gourd filled with water sat on a stump near the house. Esmerelda poured them each a drink in little tin cups. By now, the sun had fully come up, touching the soil and warming the seeds.
“How did Nadzia end up at the castle?”
“Kopciuszek came to us. Poor, wretched girl. She was being mistreated at home and would escape to the mountains, like me, whenever she could. I grew herbs that her stepmother liked, so it was a good excuse for her to come visit me. The stepmother would get first pick of the herb garden, which made her happy, and Kopciuszek would get a few hours of freedom. She and the younger Nadzia became good friends. When Kopciuszek’s fortunes changed, she invited Nadzia to go with her.”
“How did her fortunes change?” Kate asked, hoping for the magical tale.
Esmerelda cackled. “Oh, that is a fun tale, but one to be saved for another time.” She grew serious. “All you need to know is the blessing doesn’t have to stay the way it is. I bound Nadzia to Kopciuszek so the girls would look after each other. I didn’t realize the trouble it would cause in future generations. If you want, I can release your family.”
Esmerelda called it a blessing. Kate had only been Keeper for such a short time. Did she want it to change? Should it change? Now that they were safe again, could she walk away from the dresses?