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The row of pictures in the back showed both Sandy and Lucy at various ages. He lingered over the pictures of Lucy. In the early ones she was too young to have figured out how to put on her tough act, and her bright eyes and wide smile showed a little girl in love with life. The hospital picture of Button with a misshapen head and mashed-in face bore no resemblance to the baby beauty queen who was currently trying to stuff a finger up her nose.
He was about to turn away when he caught sight of the photograph at the end of the row. It was a picture of Sandy and himself that had been taken at a friend’s party. Both of them were holding drinks, something they’d done a lot of in those days. She was beaming and beautiful with her dark hair and full mouth. He wondered if the tall, gangly kid sitting next to her trying too hard to look older could actually have been him. The photograph was depressing, and he turned away to see Nico staring at Nell.
“Don’t I , you know, know you from somewhere? ”
Before Nell could respond, Lucy said, “She looks like Cornelia Case, the First Lady.”
Nell tensed, but Nico only smiled. “Yeah, man, you really look like her.” He turned to Mat. “So, are you on vacation or what?”
“Not exactly. Lucy, get lost.”
Normally she would have mouthed off, but now she didn’t dare. Instead, she snatched up Button and headed out the front door. Through the window, he watched her take a seat on the glider, where she’d be near enough to the door to eavesdrop.
He turned to study the kid who was the closest thing the girls had to a relative and began to dig in. “Here’s the way it is, Nico . . .”
Nealy eventually went outside to check on Lu
cy. The teenager had retrieved Squid from the motor home, and the dog lay next to her on the porch like a pile of smelly rags. Button was watching a robin hop on the ground while she gripped a spindle of the railing with one hand and sucked the other. Nealy refused to let herself think about lead poisoning from old paint. This time with Button had been good for her, she realized. She no longer felt quite so much like the Angel of Baby Death.
She sat on the top step across from Lucy and gazed out at the shady street. At one end, an elementary school with a small playground sat beneath the maples; at the other end, two boys dodged puddles with their bikes. Across the street, a man in a business suit was studying his lawn. Nealy heard the tinkle of an ice-cream truck and the sound of a mother calling a child inside. These everyday sights were as exotic to her as foreign lands were to most people.
Lucy toyed with one of Squid’s ears. “What do you think Mat’ll do to me?”
“I don’t know. He’s definitely upset. You shouldn’t have lied to him.”
“What else was I supposed to do? They’d have put us in foster homes!”
And that’s where they were still going. Not for a moment did Nealy believe Mat would leave the girls with Nico Glass, despite the fact that he’d been going to great lengths inside to point out that Nico was the girls’ only relative.
Of course, Nico wasn’t having any of it. When he’d announced he had a rock-climbing trip to Colorado planned, Mat told him to forget about it, but Nico kept throwing his things in a duffel bag.
She glanced over at Button, whose peach denim jumper was already dirty from crawling around on the porch, and then at Lucy, who looked miserable. What was going to happen to these girls? Mat was a decent man, and he was trying hard to do the right thing, but he’d made it clear that his life didn’t include raising children. That left foster care or adoption. Families would jump at the opportunity to adopt Button, but nobody was going to adopt Lucy. She’d be separated from the little sister she was trying so fiercely to protect.
Lucy had moved from thumbnail to forefinger. “He’s going to kill me when he comes out.”
Nealy tried to clear the knot of emotion from her throat. “You should have told him about your grandmother right away. And you shouldn’t have forged that letter.” “Yeah, right. Then Button wouldn’t have had any chance at all. They’d have taken her away from me that same day.”
It occurred to Nealy that this teenager already knew more about courage than most people learned in a lifetime. She spoke as gently as she could. “What did you hope to accomplish by making Mat believe your grandmother was still alive?”
“When something bad happened, Sandy used to say, ‘It ain’t over till it’s over.’ And I thought that, if the trip took long enough, something good might happen on the way.”
“Mat might decide to keep you.”
Lucy didn’t answer. She didn’t have to.
“I’m sorry, Luce. You know there are lots of great foster homes. And Mat will check up on you.” Mat had never said anything of the kind, but Nealy knew he would. “I will, too.”
“There won’t be any reason to check up on me because I can take care of myself,” Lucy said stubbornly, “and I won’t go to a foster home. ” Her bravado faded. “You guys both like Button a lot, I know you do. She’s really a great baby. She’s cute and smart, and she’s hardly any trouble. Well, maybe a little, but she’ll grow out of it real soon, probably next month or something.” Lucy gave up on subtlety. “I don’t see why you and Mat can’t get married and adopt her.”
Nealy regarded her with dismay. “Lucy, we’re not going to—”
“That’s bullshit, man!” Nico’s angry voice cut in. “Those kids don’t have anything to do with me!” The door flew open and he shot out carrying his duffel and a guitar, with Mat following. “Look, I’m taking off. If you guys want to crash here for a while, that’s fine with me. But that’s it.”
He tossed a set of house keys at Mat, then vaulted off the steps without looking at either Lucy or Button. A few moments later, he shot down the narrow drive on his motorcycle.
Grim-faced, Mat pointed a finger at Lucy. “You. Get in the Winnebago. The two of us are going to have a talk.”
She wasn’t stupid. She immediately snatched up Button as a human shield.
