Chapter 13

 

Star and Sunny were almost too good to be true. Although I was tired, it was not because the girls were a trial. They were polite, neat, and hard-working. I thought about that as I stacked the smoothed pattern pieces, setting them aside to await our next sewing session. The girls were probably on their best behavior with me. Perhaps their grandfather had warned them to be good, or maybe they were somewhat like newly-adopted orphans—afraid they’d be sent back if they weren’t perfect. It made me feel special, but it was also intimidating. I couldn’t live up to such a high standard for the long haul. Well, maybe I could pull it off one day a week. But I also knew that a perfect adult wasn’t what they needed. And I didn’t want to be a mother substitute.

My Chad was almost grown. I was fine with that. My thoughts drifted to Chad’s summer pursuit, researching moose on Isle Royale in Lake Superior. I hoped I’d hear from him sometime soon, but they only had intermittent phone service where he was, and I knew that I might not hear anything until he arrived for a scheduled visit in late August. He hadn’t yet seen my house in Dead Mule Swamp.

Thinking of mothers, I guessed that Sunny didn’t remember much, if anything, about Angelica. But, I wasn’t sure why Star had nothing at all to say. Surely she had memories of her mother. She hadn’t said a word when Len was pointing out the pictures that morning. Len implied that they still saw their father occasionally. I wondered if I should try to get them to talk about their parents. Then I wondered how to make that happen. Should I just ask? I wasn’t sure I was up to the task of helping children with serious trauma in their past.

I crossed through my bedroom and looked out a window on the side of the house facing the swamp. I couldn’t see the girls or the dog. They must have taken the trail. I wished they had let me know that they were leaving the yard, but I hadn’t told them they should, so I could hardly complain. And hadn’t I just been grousing that they seemed too perfect? I glanced at my watch and realized I’d been mulling over the situation for nearly a half hour. What on earth had the girls found to do?

I saw a movement in the trees to my left, on the other corner of the yard from the trail, and Star jogged into the mowed area. She looked a little breathless and flustered. “Miss Ana,” she called.

I pushed open the window and answered, “Up here, Star.”

“You need to help us get Paddy. He’s found something and we can’t get him to come back to the house with us. He’s acting really weird.”

“All right, I’ll be right down.”

This seemed odd. The dog had stayed close to the girls when he’d been out with them before. I hurried down the stairs and out the kitchen door to meet Star. Just then, Paddy and Sunny burst from the same direction as Star had come. Paddy had a yellow circular object in his mouth. It didn’t look right for one of his tennis balls, and in fact, the ball in current use was practically at my feet. Sunny was once again chasing the dog and yelling. It was pretty much the same scene as a week ago, but with less wet mud. And a different prize.

“Come, Paddy,” I said in my sternest dog-trainer voice. He actually obeyed and came to me, wagging his tail. “Sit.” He sat. I could hardly believe my luck, but I pushed it a little farther, “Give.” He dropped the object at my feet, and I picked it up. He looked at me with his liquid brown eyes, and I checked my pocket for treats. I did have one, and rewarded Paddy for his exceptionally good performance.

The yellow thing was a rubbery band about a half-inch wide, and maybe two-and-a-half inches in diameter. It looked like one of those bracelets you could buy to support cancer research or some other cause. It seemed to be scratched or roughed up. I brushed some of the dirt off, and in the process the band rolled so that the inside became the outside and I realized there were words inscribed in the rubber.

I was rubbing my finger across them, to make them readable when Star suddenly snatched the ring out of my hands. “Sunny!” she exclaimed. Her voice was high and angry. “You shouldn’t have worn this today. How could you?” I could hear her voice crack, and a glance at her face showed pain as well as anger. I couldn’t figure out what was happening.

Sunny’s face darkened and her eyes flashed. “I didn’t! It’s not mine.”

Although Sunny was looking stormy, I watched the color drain away from Star’s face. Her skin turned a muddy gray-brown, and she began to sink to the ground. I grabbed for her and managed to keep her from toppling over, but she ended up on the grass in a tangle of knees and elbows, clutching the bracelet. Tears were already running down her face.

“Star! What’s going on? What’s wrong?” I asked. I looked to Sunny for assistance, but she wasn’t looking very well either and came over to sit beside her sister.

“Let me see,” Sunny whispered, and Star rubbed the dirty band against her cheek, and then handed it to the younger girl who took it reverently.

Star lifted her tear-streaked face to me, sniffed, and said, “It belongs to our mom. Both of ours are home. Put away to keep them safe, you know.”

“Surely there are lots of rubber bracelets,” I protested. But something in Star’s eyes made me stop.

“Not like this one. Our mother special ordered these. You can get custom ones for only a few dollars. Show her what it says, Sunny.”

Sunny handed me the band. I turned it and read the inscription: “Sunny and Star - Happy Birthdays – Mommy Angel.”

Star explained, “We all have the same birthday. It’s so weird. Sunny and I were both born on August 21, but five years apart. And even stranger is that it was Mom’s birthday, too. All of us girls were born on the same date. That’s why she gave us the names we have. She said we were all heavenly. The three of us always wore these bracelets after she bought them, like a secret club or something. I suppose it was silly, but we were little and it was fun.”

I sat down beside Star and put my arms around her. She leaned against me. She wasn’t crying any longer, but every so often a shudder ran through her body. Sunny crept around to the other side of me, and I kept one arm around Star but pulled Sunny close with the other. Paddy laid his chin across Sunny’s knees. We sat there quietly for several minutes. Sunny seemed sad and curious, but less broken up than her sister.

“How did Mom’s bracelet get in the swamp?” Sunny asked.

“That’s an important question,” I said. “I think we are going to have to call the police.”