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There was something revealing in the way she spoke, her spirited tone, that made me study her more closely.
She lifted an eyebrow, challenging me to make the connection.
I sat up. “It was you?Yousent me the letter? Why?”
Her eyes flashed. Liquid silver. “In light of your current condition, I thought you would be better suited here with all of us.”
With all of us.
Her. Maggie and Dez. Rose. Juniper and Grace. Hannah and Jolly. Norman and Sam.
Sam. His name echoed around my head, making it hurt worse than the concussion I’d suffered.
Estrelle stood up, patted my hand, and placed a gift bag on the bed next to me. The bag itself was designed in Stitchery colors. I had the feeling I knew what was in it.
“But how did you even know ofme? My condition? I don’t understand.”
“Questions for another day. The only one that matters now is whether becoming my protégée is of interest to you. These are mighty big shoes you’d need to fill, after all.”
I lifted an eyebrow, purposely copying her trait. “I don’t actually have to wear those particular shoes, do I?”
She glanced upward, as if seeking advice from her pillbox hat. “Do not sass. It is not becoming.”
I smiled. “Estrelle, I’d be honored to learn from you.”
She acknowledged my words with only a slight nod.
“I’ll let you rest now.” She lowered her veil and headed for the door. There, she turned back to me. “I’m most pleased my letter brought you to Driftwood, Ava. I fully believe everyone deserves the chance to fly. Some, like you, deserve that chance more than others.”
I swiped at a tear. “Thank you. For everything.”
With a nod, she was gone.
I leaned back against the pillows, my mind spinning as I looked at the monitors.
According to the doctors, my epilepsy was still, miraculously, in remission. Earlier, my EEG and MRI had been deemed unremarkable.Normal. Only two blood tests had been flagged. One was my iron level—I was anemic.
I opened the gift bag Estrelle had given me, parted the tissue paper, and lifted out a folded square of soft fabric printed with smiling dachshunds. I shook the square loose, letting the fabric fall open, then I hugged it close to my chest. When I saw Estrelle working on this piece in her shop recently, I thought it had been intended as a toddler’s shirt or dress. But I’d been wrong. It was a small sleeper sack, the perfect size for a newborn.
The other test out of whack? The elevated level of hCG, a type of hormone, in my blood.
An ultrasound had confirmed the result—I was two months pregnant.
CHAPTER 27MAGGIE
“A cat-taker?” Ava said, her voice holding a note of disbelief.
“Just hear me out, Sprite. It’s like a caretaker, but forcats.”
I stood just inside the French doors at my father’s house, listening to the conversation taking place in the screen room. There was a pile of MoonPies on the table, and seeing them made me smile.
Dad and I had brought Ava home from the hospital early this morning. She’d been advised by the doctors to take it easy for the next week, and so far she seemed to be taking the instructions to heart. Since getting back, she’d been outside, sitting in the shade, sipping from a big glass of water. In between visitors, she’d been quiet, staring out at the water.
She had a lot to think about, what with the baby and all. I’d been in her shoes once, facing single motherhood, taken by surprise, caught completely off guard. I knew how hard it was to deal with all the emotions.
She claimed she’d had absolutely no idea that her health issues lately could be caused by pregnancy. It would’ve been the last thing I thought of, too, considering all she had going on in her life. What with Alexander’s death, moving here, and the health history she’d revealed to us.
It was a complicated situation she was in, to be sure. But she’d been insistent from the moment that she first heard the news that she was keeping the baby, and it had been easy to see her motherly instincts taking root as she wrapped her arms around herself protectively.
