Page 14 of Barron

After shaking their hands, he made his way out of the building. It was warming up down here in the town, but the mountains where he lived were still cold. Just the way that he liked it. As he went to get into his truck, he saw Willow leaning against it and couldn’t have been happier. After kissing her, he decided that he was suddenly starving. She had packed them a picnic lunch and they were going to find a nice place in the park that wasn’t too busy this time of year and have a good time.

“My father is ready to have the ceremony for John. He wants us both to be there. I hope you don’t mind, but I told him that we would and that we’d be happy to help with whatever they needed.” He told her that was an excellent idea. “Thanks. How did things go in the meeting? I’m assuming since you weren’t arrested, everything is cleared up now.”

“Yes. They’re going to take care that the ranger’s wife and child get his insurance money. And they also said that as a park they’d contribute to the fund that the bank is having for them. We donated a bit of money to it, as well as the rest of my family.” She nodded and handed him a thick roast beef sandwich.

He also told her about what he said about blaming Caitlynn for the other murders in their town and what they were going to do about them. She told him that was something that she wanted to talk to him about and was glad that someone was going to help those other families. He asked her what she’d been doing today.

“After taking my second shower after you mussed me all up, I went to talk to the kids. They’re the watchers of the faeries. I did ask you once before if you knew about them, the faeries, I mean, and we got sidetracked. Strawberry wants to speak to you.” Before he could ask her about that, she dumped a small leather bag of small items on the blanket they were using. “Your grandmother was the watcher before Gibb and his family were watchers. No one knows about them but your family. If you figure out how to see them, you’ll notice them more and more just flittering about all the time. But you have to believe that they’re real in order to do that.”

He picked up a small shell no bigger than the tip of his smallest finger. He asked her why she was collecting things like this when she explained what his grandmother did. How she would find them things and put them in a tin so that they could come and go when they wanted something she’d found.

“The small tin that sat in the window over the sink. The window was open all the time, I remember now. Even in the winter months. She never explained anything else about it just that we were never to shut the window.” Willow said that was right. “What’s happening now that my grannie is gone?”

“Gibbs family is taking over her job. The children will gather things that they find, even if you’d think it was too large for them to use, they use their magic and cut it down so that everyone that wants a part of it can have some.” The things in the pile were moving around on their own, and he watched as Willow continued with her story. “Sometimes, it’s only a scrap of yarn or a broken toy. She would take it apart and put it in the can. They found use for everything that was found for them.”

As he continued to watch the things move on their own, he started to see things. A pair of wings that were simply floating in the air. Sparkles of bright colors were there as well. Then, when he believed that he was seeing something real, he saw the fifty or so faeries that were sorting through the things on the blanket that Willow had dumped out.

Careful of not to move too quickly, he stretched out his legs to get into the front pocket of his jeans and put the things that he’d collected too. She asked him why he’d done that.

“I don’t know that they can use any of this.” Just then, the small shiny bead that he’d found just this morning was picked up by one of the little persons. “The kids, they were picking up things out of the forest one afternoon when we were hunting for truffles. They were picking up little rocks and stones that were as smooth as a piece of glass. Even things that should have been put in the trash, like twisty ties in their pockets. They told me that they use them for crafting. After that day, I began picking things up and keeping them in my pocket so that I could give them to them when I saw them the next time.”

One of the faeries landed on his knee and looked at him. He’d bet anything that this was Strawberry. Every part of her was red like a fresh berry, and she was wearing a top of one of the berries as a hat. Christ, she was so beautiful that he had to tell her that.

“Thank you, my lord. You are most generous with your things, too.” He told her that it was his pleasure. “There are so many of us now that someone is carrying for us that we’ve no more room in the house of Gibb and the children. We have come to you and your lady wife to see if we might become a part of your household as well. I promise you that no harm will ever come to you and yours so long as we are there. Nor will we cause you trouble while staying with you.” He looked over at Willow, and at her nod, he told Strawberry that it was fine with him. “Thank you. We will protect your home too while there, and as a gift for helping us, we’ll make sure that your gardens are plentiful and beautiful.”

“Thank you so much for that help.” The things on the blanket were nearly gone when they decided that they’d better be getting home. When asked how he’d leave things out for them, Strawberry asked if he could just put a jar by the window, and they’d come and go as they wanted. “I do hope that you’ll stop to talk to us while you’re around getting things. Also, if you find that you could use more than we can find here on the mountain, you let me know, and I’ll make sure you get it. Even if I have to cut something down for you to use in smaller pieces.”

After packing up the things that Willow had brought to eat and letting the little people take what they wanted of the things left over, they were ready to go. It had been fun for him to cut up the leftover grapes for them. It was a treat for all of them to have some of the juicy fruits. Packing things in the truck, he found a gift wrapped box on the seat of his truck. He asked Willow about it.

“I don’t know what it is. It smells like the faeries, but I don’t know. He sniffed the ribbon that was on the gift and could smell the scent of fresh strawberries. Opening it up, he was happy that he’d been gifted a bag, much like Willows, to put things in while he was out. He did ask Willow what the writing was on the front of it.

“It’s your name in faerie. I’ve never known them to do that before. Put someone’s name on a pouch that they’ve made for someone. And I’m betting like mine, it’s an endless bag, too. The magic will allow you to put all manner of things in the bag, and it will be room for anything you wish to put in it. So you can carry a great deal and not be weighed down by it. That is a very special gift, Barron. As I said, I’ve never known them to do something like this for a person they’ve only met today.”

As they made their way home, he couldn’t help but be touched by the gift. He’d tied it to his belt and then thought better of it. He didn’t want it to get lost, so he’d have to figure out a way to make it stay on his person. Willow told him that he was to wear it around his neck and that while there, no one would see it unless he showed it to them. That’s what he did, too. Put it around his neck so that he’d have it with him whenever he needed it. Getting out of the truck when they got home, he found a small geode and put it in his pouch. Smiling, they entered the house to get some work done while there.

The ceremony was this evening, and he was glad that they’d been invited. He had spent most of yesterday helping the others get ready for all the people coming. They didn’t want any meat at the meal, so he’d been more than happy to ask the faeries to gather up as much fruit and other things so that they’d have enough. They were, of course, more than happy to help out.

They couldn’t drive to the place where the Indians were, so they rode their ponies. He wasn’t nearly as sore as he thought he’d be this time, but he did have to walk off a little bit of pulled muscles when he got there. Willow looked as if she’d been doing it all her life and more than likely had been. He knew that before the end of the summer, he’d be riding like a pro. Or he’d been confined to a wheelchair. Horseback riding wasn’t anything for the faint of heart, he discovered.

~*~

“This is what I could find out about your parents.” Taking the thick file from Mark, she asked him if they’d abandoned her in the park on purpose. “From what I can tell, it looks like they did it several times over their lifetime, and up until you were left, they were doing it at all the parks, suing each park for the loss of life. A couple of the kids were older than you were when they were left behind, so they were old enough to figure out how to find help. After that, they left younger ones behind. Your brother, Thomas, saw them enter the park with you when he was nineteen. He hadn’t seen them since he’d been about twelve years old, so it was a miracle that he was able to recognize them at all.” She asked if he tried to save her. “Yes, he did. But you had already been found by the tribe, I think, and he lost you in the park. However, he was able to prove in court that they’d been doing this for a very long time. You were presumed dead about the time you turned sixteen, and your body was never recovered. Now we know why.”

She nodded, looking at the pictures that Mark had been able to find for her. They’re both dead, your parents, I mean. They’d been in prison on another crime when there was a prison riot, and both of them were killed after killing a couple of guards. No one claimed their bodies, so they’re buried in the prison graveyard with only a number on their headstones. You have two sisters and Thomas as family.”

“Do they know about me?” Mark nodded and smiled. “You told them what happened to me, didn’t you? I can’t thank you enough for that. I don’t know what I’d say if I had to tell them what had happened.” She smiled at him.

“You’re very welcome. Your name isn’t Willow, as you thought. When you said that you thought that that’s what your father called you, it was Wilma, not Willow. If you ask me, I think Willow suits you better. Your last name is, was Hollister.” She looked over the handful of pictures, not remembering anything about the people in them. Not even when it was pointed out which person she was did she remember who any of them were. “Willow, they would love to meet you. I told them that it would be entirely up to you as you’ve been without them in your life for so long that you might not want to get—”

“How can I get in touch with them? I want to…I might not know them, but they do me, so I’d be honored if I was able to meet them.” Mark looked over her shoulder, and she turned to look. Barron was there with some people. From the pictures, she knew that the three people in front were her brother and sisters. “Hello?”

They started out timidly in saying anything. It wasn’t until Barron told them that this was his wife and that she’d been going by Willow since she’d been found. After a few seconds, tears were flowing quickly, and Thomas asked if he could have a hug. Then it was everyone hugging everyone while they spoke over each other.

Barron sat with her as they told her who everyone was. She had not just a brother and two sisters but she had nieces and nephews as well. The youngest, Wilma Jean, was only three months old but looked like her when she’d been a child, according to the pictures. After she got to hold her, she told them what had happened the day that Chief John had adopted her into his family.

“I’ve been brought up like a Cherokee since they found me. He’s always told me that I must have only gotten lost a few hours before he found me by the water’s edges as I was still clean and had a full belly. It was the first time I remember thinking that anyone had held me in their arms. I don’t know why that popped into my head, but it’s stuck with me ever since.”

“It more than likely was the first time. They never wanted any of us, so why they continued to have us is beyond me.” Willow asked her sister Sara Jane how many there had been. “So far, we’ve been able to find out that in addition to the four of us, there might well have been as many as eight more. All of their names come up as they’d died and nothing more. Amelia, who had been sitting quietly in the living room with them, smiled at them all. She introduced herself as the grand witch. She’d forgotten about that.

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