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Royce slowed down as she saw me approaching. Instinctively, perhaps, she pulled my daughter closer to her.
“Hello,” I said.
“What are you doing here?” she asked sharply. It occurred to me that I
might have been in her nightmares, that she might have often dreamed I would come.
“I wanted to see her,” I replied, nodding at my daughter.
“You were not supposed to come here . . . ever,” she told me. She knelt down and scooped my daughter into her arms. “Please leave this instant.”
“She’s my daughter,” I said.
“No, she’s not. Not anymore, not ever. Now, get off our property. I’m calling my husband, and he’ll be calling your father.”
“Anyone looking at her could see she’s a Heaven-stone,” I said. I felt a little like a puppet, mouthing Cassie’s words. “You’re deceiving yourself if you think otherwise.”
Despite how Royce was attacking me, my daughter kept her eyes on me. She’s fascinated with me, I thought. Yes, Cassie’s right. She knows who I am. In her heart, she knows. The bond of blood is too strong to be denied by any legal papers or courts.
“Couldn’t I just hold her, talk to her for a few minutes?”
“Are you crazy? Get out!” Royce shouted, and ran past me toward the house.
I didn’t run after her. I stood watching, expecting my daughter to turn around and look back at me. She did, and that made me smile. I lifted my hand to wave. Royce bounded up the steps and rushed into the house, slamming the door. I heard her lock it as well.
“What hysteria,” Cassie said. “I can’t imagine a woman like that bringing up a Heaven-stone. She’ll probably get away from this place as soon as she’s able. We’ve got to do something.”
Yes, I thought. We’ve got to do something. There were many cases concerning women who mistakenly gave away their children and then got them back.
“And few had the power and financial stability of the Heaven-stones,” Cassie reminded me. “You’re married now, too.”
Yes, yes, I continued to think as I walked away. I didn’t quite reach my car before I heard another vehicle racing down the road. The driver hit his brakes, and the tires squealed as he pulled up alongside me. It was Shane Norman. He leaped out.
“It is you,” he said, standing with his hands on his hips. His face was flushed and his eyes were wide with disbelief. “Why did you come here? Why did you frighten Royce like that?”
“I didn’t frighten her. I came quietly and asked only to see and speak to my daughter.”
“Anna is not your daughter, and you were specifically forbidden to make any direct contact until she was eighteen. It’s written clearly in black and white. Does your father know you’re here?”
He stepped closer, threateningly.
“She’s my daughter,” I said, turning away and walking to my car. He didn’t follow. He stood back watching me. I opened my door, and then I turned back to him and said, “She’s got Heaven-stone blood. She’ll always be my daughter.”
“You’re crazy!” he shouted. “You stay away, or I’ll call the police.”
I got into the car and started the engine.
“You did well,” Cassie said. “Don’t worry. We’ll win in the end.”
I drove home. The emotional roller coaster exhausted me. I went directly to the bedroom to lie down. Not long afterward, the phone rang, and I heard Daddy leave his message. It was curt, full of rage.
“Call me immediately, Semantha. Immediately!”
“Ignore him,” Cassie said. “He’ll calm down.”
He didn’t. I remained in bed for the rest of the day, dozing on and off, but much later, when I heard his familiar footsteps pounding on the hallway’s tile floor, I braced myself. He didn’t knock. He burst in and stood there for a moment. Then he closed the door softly and approached the bed.
“Why did you do that? You frightened them both, and after all these years.”
