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“Yes, Piper wanted your daughter to be able to talk
to you anytime she wishes.” She handed him yet another file. “Those are the things that I can do for you. I’m to tell you that I’m a wolf. Most of the people here are ex-cons getting a second chance. Anything you need, my home number is there for you to use. But not after ten unless you’re in deep shit. All right?”
After telling her that he understood, he asked what time the meeting was. Maggie told him that it had been changed until tomorrow, and that they wanted to meet his daughter then too, if possible. Joel went home feeling like a man on the edge. It was almost too good to be true, and perhaps it was.
~*~
Miley was trying her best not to be too excited. They were going to have a house to live in. All she could think about was that it wasn’t going to be any different than the one they had in New Mexico—a house, and not a home. When her dad had picked her up a little while ago, she could tell he was feeling the same thing—not expecting too much in the way of housing.
“This is your car?” Dad said that it was their car. “Yes, well, I don’t think I’m going to be driving anytime soon. Not even later.”
“I’m sorry, Miley. I didn’t mean that the way it came out.” She waved him off. “Piper wants to meet you. The staff does. I don’t know what that’ll entail, but you’re to come to a meeting with me tomorrow. Is that all right with you?”
“Yes, I guess. This house, do you know anything about it? Is it in the worse part or town or something?” He shook his head while he drove carefully. The car even smelled new to her. “Did you ask them about the school I was going to go to?”
“Maggie said that there was information in the folder she gave me. Oh, before I forget.” He pulled out a cell phone and handed it to her. It was the best on the market. She’d been looking at them for so long. Handing it back to him, she only said that it was nice. “That one is yours. I have one just like it. I guess it’s programed with my number, as well as Maggie’s. Don’t call her after ten. She said she’d make me regret it unless it was a dire emergency.”
“Mine? This is mine?” He said that it was a perk of the job, for her to be able to talk to him whenever she wanted. “Then I can only use it to call you. I see.” It was like having cake and ice cream with this and having it taken away.
“No, Miley, it’s your cell phone to use as you want. It has unlimited data, and it has a lot of apps already loaded on it. You can finally open yourself a social media account. But I want you to be careful with it.” She promised that she would. “Also, we have insurance. It started today. So that means when I cut myself again, I don’t have to duct tape it closed and hope it doesn’t get infected.”
She remembered that day. He’d been trying to cut a roast in half so that they could have it another day too. But the knife had slipped and had gouged out a long slice around his wrist. Miley had been terrified that he’d cut his wrist and was going to bleed out before help could arrive.
“Dad, why are they being so nice to us?” He told her what he’d heard from Piper. “I told you that she was nicer than you said.”
“And I have since changed my mind about that too. It was all on me.” He’d said that too. Two days after Mercy had left, Miley found him in his room sobbing about how he’d done Mercy wrong, said things that were mean and hurtful. And that he’d driven her away by his hatefulness. It had taken her another two days to figure out that Mercy wasn’t human—she’d found a feather by the window—and that her dad had fallen in love with the woman.
Miley maybe be only thirteen, but she wasn’t stupid. And she loved Mercy as well. She was someone that she could have looked up to, someone that she thought she could talk to. Yes, she told herself that they had only had a few hours together, and Miley assured herself that it wasn’t the gifts but the woman. Mercy was a very nice person.
Dad whistled when the car came to a stop. Miley looked where he was looking and had to remember to shut her mouth. Goodness, this was their house? She asked her dad if he had the right address.
“Yes. I looked three times. See the numbers on the wall there? That’s it. And this is the street too.” He got out and came around to get her wheelchair for her. “I have to tell you, Miley, my girl, it’s much easier to get this sucker in and out with all this room, isn’t it?”
“I know. And you don’t cuss nearly as much either.” They were both laughing as they made their way to the house. “Dad, look. There’s a wheelchair ramp for me. She thought of everything.”
The ramp was newly made. Dad pointed out that the wood still had the lumber marks on it. And as he pushed her up the nice wide ramp, he pointed at the rockers on the front porch, the flowers in the window boxes. This was, she thought, just too good to be theirs.
The house was one level. And as soon as they entered the double doors, Miley looked at her dad. The place was beautiful. There was furniture in this room that she had dreamed of all her life. And there was a fireplace, and a big picture window that looked out over the trees behind the house. Miley could just imagine the Christmas tree there in a few months, with actual presents under it this year.
Miley never complained about the lack of money to her dad. He was doing the best he could. He never missed work, even when he was very sick, but he’d take the day off if she had just the sniffles. Dad was the best possible person that a child like her could have had.
She didn’t remember her mom, nor the accident that had taken her life. Miley had been told last year how she’d ended up with her dad. And she was so happy every day that he’d been willing to take her. The accident had left her so that no one at the adoption agency would be able to give her a loving home. Only one that, she knew, could see her raped or killed because of how she had to have extra care.
They moved through the house like they were afraid to touch anything. When they entered the big warm kitchen a woman was there, kneading bread, and she had on a big smile. Miley liked her immediately.
“My name is Dutch. Last name...? I don’t rightly remember if I had one or not. But you can just call me Dutch.” Dad told her their names. “The miss, she told me that you’d be coming around today, and that I was to tell you if you don’t like the way the house is filled, you just tell Miss Piper and she’ll be the one to fix you up. I can serve you dinner anytime you want. Just you let me know any of your likes and dislikes.”
“What time will dinner be ready?” She grinned at her, and Miley grinned back. “I’m betting that you knew Mercy when she was with the queen.”
“I did. You know about that, do you?” Miley nodded. “Well, I did know her way back in the beginning. She wasn’t no human back then, though. Just a giant bird with them others. You’ll meet them soon enough, I’m thinking. But Miss Mercy, she was sure the favorite of the queen. And oh, what a wonderful queen she was. Kept us safe in the keep when all the other kings and queens were killed, and their people too. Then that nasty king of the land, he decided that Lady Dante would be his wife. Do you know what she did? Why, that queen, she came out to see us and told us that she’d be taking care of us all. That we only had to do what she asked, and no one would kill them off for their own people. And she did it too. Now. What can I make so that you’ll be able to not starve between now and dinner time?”
While she ate cheese and an apple, Dutch told them about the queen and how she’d come to move them. If she hadn’t believed in magic before, she did today. And when she went to her room, finally, Miley sat in the middle of the large room after looking all around it and cried.
“What’s the matter, honey?” Dad helped her to sit on the bed, but it would have been easy for her to do it herself. “Do you not like it? Or this house?”
“Dad, she made it so that my room is perfect. Look. I have a view to outside, and I can slide out onto the deck back there. I have a big bed that is low enough that I can get in and out of it all by myself. The bathroom has a specialized tub so that I can get in and not splash water everywhere. There’s everything in there just for me and my wheelchair. And look at that over by
the closet.”
