Already.
Anna had indicated it would take a few days for our children to be rehoused, but it seemed they’d managed to get things rolling faster. Hell, they couldn’t have even processed our papers yet.
My little sister was leaving me now.
I clutched Bea as the women advanced toward us. About a hundred of them were going to take in… how many of our kids? I wasn’t sure what the count was, with our two communities combined, but it had to be at least three hundred who fell within the age bracket. Which meant each woman would have to take more than one.
But how was this going to work? Were they just going to pick out the ones they most liked the look of? From the way their eyes were moving around our children, it almost seemed like it.
I instinctively avoided eye contact with all of them, andinched further back, hoping to make us more inconspicuous, but one of the women had already spotted my sister, her smile broadening.
She was a tall, slender woman with rich brown hair swept back in a high ponytail. She wore a simple white blouse and black pants, and on her thumb sat a platinum ring.
I held my breath as she moved closer to us, wishing my sister and I could just disappear. I looked around to my family, as if for help, but their eyes were glued on the approaching women, too distracted to notice me. I spotted Jessie about ten feet away in the crowd with her parents, each of them clutching her siblings.
“Well, good morning,” the woman said to me, reaching us and holding out a hand. Her lips were painted a deep red.
I shook her hand. Her palm was silken, and a heady floral scent surrounded me as she leaned in.
“I’m Martha,” she said, her honey-brown eyes glowing with enthusiasm. “Martha Hedgerow. And what are your names?”
“Bea,” Bea murmured, before I could get my mouth to work.
“Bea,” Martha replied, her entire face breaking out into a radiant smile. “What a sweet name. How old are you, Bea?”
Bea slowly held up three fingers.
“Three! Wow. You’re a big girl then.” Martha grinned.
“I’m Tani,” I managed. “Tani Lockwood.”
“Also a lovely name. I take it Bea is your daughter?”
“Oh, no. She’s my sister.”
“Oh, I see,” she said, her brow furrowing with a slight confusion, while her eyes traced the crowd around me. “And where are your parents?”
“They’re back in the outreach center,” I said. “They sustained some injuries and have some recovering to do.”
“Ah, I see.” Her face fell slightly but then perked up again as she set her gaze back on Bea. “Well, I’ve been looking to invite a little one like Bea into my home. It would have been nice if your parents were here, but you seem very mature. How old are you?”
“Nineteen, almost twenty,” I replied.
She nodded, then reached into her slim, beige handbag. She pulled out a thin screen and ran a finger over it. It glowed as she swiped a few more times, and then turned it toward Bea and me, revealing a photograph of an expansive white house, at least six times the size of the houses on our island, with windows that shone like crystal and a neatly manicured lawn.
“This is my home,” Martha explained. “As you can see, I have plenty of space and would be delighted to look after her.”
“Um… How do you know?” I couldn’t help but ask.
She frowned slightly, bemused. “How do I know what?”
“How do you know you’d be delighted to have her?” I mean, she knew nothing about Bea’s personality. She could be inviting the devil’s child into her home, for all she knew.
Martha chuckled. “Honestly, who could resist those cherubim cheeks?” She brushed the back of her hand against Bea’s chubby face.
It was true—my sister was too cute for her own good. Which was how she managed to wrap me and my parents around her little finger. But, given that I was supposed to be entrusting this woman with Bea for the foreseeable future, I had wanted to hear a deeper reasoning from Martha for her choice. I guessed that might be alittlesilly—I mean, did I expect Martha to sit down and conduct a formal interview with Bea? She was still only three, and children’s demands, in general, were quite similar at around that age.
Still, I definitely had more questionsfor Martha.
