"That's everything,"
Anna said as she closed the dishwasher door and turned it on. They stood
staring at it for a moment. "Would you like a beer or a glass of
wine?" Anna asked and then waved her hand. "I'm sorry. I'm sure
you're exhausted."
"A beer would be
great," Rona replied.
Anna smiled. "Thank you.
I'm sure you're just being nice." She removed two beers from the
refrigerator and twisted the caps off before handing one to Rona. They sat down
at the table. Anna traced the pattern on the tablecloth with her finger.
"Are you okay?" Rona
asked.
Anna gave a small false laugh.
"I know I'm being silly, but I can't stop thinking about how those men
just appeared out of nowhere. I thought I was being vigilant, but I didn't even
see them until they grabbed me." The bottle in her hand began to shake.
She set it down and folded her hands on her lap.
Rona weighed the pros and cons
of explaining what had happened. She couldn't see the harm in telling. After
tonight, security at the office complex was sure to be increased and she
wouldn't be able to sneak in again. "They saw you come out of the building
and hid behind your car."
Anna looked at her. "How
do you know?"
"Tammy and I were hiding
behind that big cooling system thing behind the building. Those guys showed up
just before you came out. They were looking for something to steal from your
car. They heard you when you came out the door. It makes a loud screeching
noise whenever it's pushed open. They heard it and hid." She stopped and
shrugged. "They came around the other side of the car and then up behind
you. You couldn't see them because they kept the car between you and
them."
"That's when one of you
came out screaming? I remember hearing someone screaming."
Rona nodded. "I didn't
think they were going to leave at first, but when Tammy came charging toward
them, they tucked their tails and ran."
"I'll never be able to
thank you both for all you did tonight." She picked up her beer. "I'm
sorry about the way they treated you at the hospital."
Embarrassed, Rona looked away.
"It doesn't matter."
"It does to me,"
Anna said as she started to take a sip of her beer. The bottle stopped halfway
to her lips. "Did you tell me your name was Shirley?"
"Sorry about that. I was
being an ass." She looked up to find Anna watching her. For a moment,
their gazes held until Rona shifted in her seat and cleared her throat.
"Where will you all go
tomorrow?" Anna asked.
"Does it matter?"
"Of course it does. It
would matter if it were just you and Tammy, but with the twins—" She
stopped. "Aren't there some kind of programs out there to help her?"
"I suppose, but she won't
go."
"Why not?" Anna
asked.
Rona hesitated. She shouldn't
be talking about Tammy's business, but recently she had begun to worry about
the kids. Both were too skinny. They needed a home, with hot meals and warm
clothes. They should have a bed to sleep in rather than some cardboard box in a
vacant lot. They should be in nursery school. If Tammy didn't get them off the
street soon, there was no telling what might happen to them. Besides, it might
make Anna even more determined to try to
save them.
"She's running
from an abusive husband."
"I know there are
organizations that help battered women," Anna said. "My sister-in-law
Lupie volunteers at one of them."
Rona shook her head. "You
don't understand. She's terrified of him. He's already found her once and she
ran off again. She usually avoids people. The only reason she was with me
tonight was the weather. She knows people tend to remember the twins. I think
that's how her husband found her before."
"I could call Lupie in
the morning and ask her to come by after work. She could explain all the
services that are available."
Rona swallowed her
exasperation. This was not going the way she wanted it to go. "You don't
get it," she said as she leaned toward Anna. "It doesn't matter what
organizations are out there. Tammy is scared in ways that neither of us will
ever understand. You don't know how hard it was for her to come here tonight.
She's terrified that you'll call someone and that her kids will be taken away
from her."
"I would never do
that," Anna protested, clearly shocked by the suggestion.
Rona studied her for a moment.
"No. I don't think you would, but then those aren't my kids. If they were,
I might be a lot less trusting."
"There has to be
something we can do."
Rona forced herself to remain
calm. This was going to be easier than she thought. She leaned back and sipped
her beer. "Why do you care what happens to us?"
Anna seemed to consider the
question for a minute before she answered. "I don't honestly know. I mean,
there's die obvious thing that no one should be homeless, and certainly not a
woman with children." She stopped. "I guess it scares me. That whole
there-but-for-the-grace-of-God-go-I thing."
Her answer surprised Rona.
They drank their beer in silence until Rona finally stood. "I'm going to
turn in. Will you be all right?"
Anna nodded. "There are
extra blankets in the hall closet if you need them."
Rona left the room. Anna had
no way of knowing that this was the warmest any of them had been in many days.
As she walked up the stairs, she smiled. Her birthday had turned out pretty
well after all.
Chapter Six
The smell of coffee and bacon
pulled Rona from her dream. Mary was fixing breakfast. She stretched and opened
her eyes. A moment of panic seized her as she stared around the strange room.
As realization took hold, the smell of coffee and bacon began to lose some of
its appeal. She glanced at the bedside clock and saw it was already after
eight. She couldn't remember the last time she'd slept this late.
She quickly pulled on the
clothes she had worn the previous night and wondered if she should try to wash
her old clothes or whether they would simply disintegrate in the washer. She
made the bed and went to brush her teeth.
On the way down, she saw that
the door to the bedroom where Tammy and the girls had slept was open, but they
were nowhere around. She found everyone in the kitchen. They had already eaten.
Tammy and the girls were still dressed in the clothes Anna gave them the
previous night.
"Good morning," Rona
said as she smiled at the girls. "I guess I was a sleepyhead this
morning."
"Would you like some
coffee?" Anna asked.
Rona nodded. "I'll get
it," she said as she went over to the pot. She sipped the black coffee on
the way back to the table. It was a strong dark roast, just the way she liked
it. "How's your head?" she asked as she sat down.
"It's sore, but the
headache is gone." She walked over to the stove. "There's still some
bacon," she said. "How would you like your eggs?"
There was a basket covered
with a yellow cloth on the table. Rona flipped up the cloth and saw biscuits.
"No eggs. I'll take that bacon and one of these biscuits and make myself a
sandwich," she said as she winked at Karla.
Anna placed a dish with bacon
on it in front of Rona before she began to pick up the dirty plates.
Tammy reached over and stopped
her. "No, I'll do that. You sit down and drink your coffee."
Rona ate as Tammy moved around
the kitchen, clearing the table and loading the dishwasher with an easy
confidence, as if she were in her own kitchen. Tammy couldn't be more than
twenty-five, although she looked younger with her long, slightly curly light brown
hair pulled back and caught in a rubber band. Other than being painfully thin,
she was somewhat pretty. A knot on the bridge of her nose gave it a slightly
off-kilter look. Rona suspected the knot was the result of a broken nose. She
was almost finished with her bacon sandwich when she realized everyone seemed
to be waiting on her. "What's going on?" she asked as she looked
around.
"It snowed," Katie
said.
The biscuit she had eaten
suddenly seemed very heavy in her stomach. She walked over to the small front
kitchen window. The light reflecting off the snow made her squint. She pushed
the kitchen curtains all the way open and wondered if Malcolm had found a warm
place to sleep.
"Let's go into the living
room," Anna said. "We'll be able to see the snow better."
Together they made their way into the living room where Anna drew back the
drapes on the large bay window. The front lawn was pristine. "Isn't it
beautiful?"
Rona stared out at the cold
white blanket. From this side of the window it was beautiful, but from the
other side it wouldn't look quite so pretty.
"According to the radio,
four inches fell and they're predicting we may get even more today," Anna
said. "They've closed all the interstates and most of the city is shut
down."
Tammy and Rona exchanged
worried glances. As the small group continued to stare out the window, Tammy
suddenly pointed, and in her soft Southern accent said, "Will you look at
that? There's a man out there on skis." They all watched as the man glided
down the street toward them.
He was almost to the house
when Anna started laughing. "That's Julian, my silly baby brother,"
she said as they watched Julian's slender form ski up the driveway.
Anna went to the kitchen and
raised the garage door for him. A moment later, he burst into the kitchen
wearing an electric blue ski suit.
"Annie Bella, grab your
boots. We're going to build a snowman." He stopped suddenly when he
realized there were others in the room.
Rona saw his gaze take in the
girls' clothing, but to his credit, he didn't miss a beat.
"I'm sorry. I didn't
realize you had company." He yanked off the matching wool cap from his
head as he walked over to the women and shook their hands. "I'm Julian.
Anna's handsome brother," he said as he knelt down before the girls.
"And who are these cuties?" He tweaked their noses.
"I'm Katie and this is
Karla," she said and giggled.
"What's so funny?"
he asked.
"Your hair is
dancing," she replied.
"Dancing?" he
glanced up at Tammy.
"Static
electricity," she said.
"Ah." He reached up
to smooth his hair. "I thought maybe it was doing the robot." He made
a series of slow jerky movements that sent Katie into a new series of giggles.
Karla continued to cling to
her mother's leg.
"I have a set of twins at
home," Julian continued talking to Katie. "But one of them is a boy.
He's not nearly as cute as you two are. Can I trade him for you?"
Katie shook her head and moved
over to stand by Karla, who had hid her face against her mother's leg.
Julian tousled their hair and
stood. "I'm sorry I barged in. I wanted an excuse to play in the snow, so
I insisted on coming over to invite you to the house to help us build a
snowman. Gina called the rest of the clan, and they'll be there."
"Julian and Gina and
their five children live a couple of streets over," Anna explained.
Julian nodded to Rona and
Tammy. "If you'd like to come, everyone's welcome."
Rona saw Tammy tense.
"I think we'll just stay
in and drink hot chocolate today," Anna said quickly.
Julian nodded and winked at
Katie. "Well, I'd best be on my way." He turned back to Rona and
Tammy. "It was nice to meet you." They nodded as he headed toward the
door.
"I wanna build a
snowman."
Rona looked down to see little
Karla staring at Julian.
He stopped at the door and
turned back.
"Not today," Tammy
said stroking Karla's hair.
"But there might not be
no snow tomorrow," Karla insisted.
"Bring them on
over," Julian said, unaware of the situation. "My twins are about their
age. We have three more that are nine, seven and three, and then there's
Hector's and Pietro's rascals, so there will be plenty of kids for them to play
with."
Anna stepped forward.
"Tammy's an old friend of mine from Miami. She didn't anticipate this cold
weather and didn't bring clothes warm enough for the kids to be outside in
this."
Julian nodded. "The same
thing happened to us two years ago when we went to Colorado to visit Gina's
parents. There was a late snowstorm and as soon as we went out and bought
coats, the temperature started warming up." He stopped a moment, and then
turned to Tammy. "I'm sure Gina still has the twins' coats from last year.
If you don't mind, the girls are welcome to use them for as long as you'd like.
It would certainly be better than having to go out and buy one for just die
time you're here." He looked at Katie and winked. "Although one of
the coats is a
boy's
coat." He gave an exaggerated grimace that
caused the child to smile.
Anna linked arms with her
brother.