Chapter 7 #2
He knew how fragile they were. Look at little Gracie.
She reinforced that. The baby had had a mother who no doubt loved her, but now she was on her own.
He might not be sure about adopting her, but he could find out who her mother was and why she was murdered.
Having answers about her was going to matter to Gracie one day.
He sent a brief email to Jacob updating him on the information he’d gathered that day and then got ready to leave the tribal police office. He said good-night to the officer on duty and then walked out to his truck. The night was cold and dark, as if it were midnight instead of only 6:00 p.m.
That was winter. The season seemed to drive you inside. So what was Annie Ross doing wandering around in the wilderness? And why would she have left her baby behind? What had been important to her?
Camille’s disappearance? He’d really like to talk to the officer who took that missing-person report, but he’d missed him all day. He would try again tomorrow.
He needed to know more about the woman so he could follow the trail and find out what linked her and Fern.
Ava hurried down the corridor to Fern’s room. When she got closer, she noticed the door was partially closed and heard voices and some laughter. Hesitating, she glanced at her watch. She was about five minutes early for their session, so she had time.
It was nice to hear Fern talking. Ava hadn’t realized that she had friends or family. From the story that Fern had told, she’d thought the other woman was alone in the world.
But then she recognized the voice.
“Ryan?”
“Oh, hey, Ava. How’s it going?” her brother asked, standing up from the guest chair.
“Pretty good. What are you doing here? Everything okay?” she asked him.
“Yeah. Just checking on Fern,” he said.
“I keep telling him I’m fine,” Fern said, a slight blush to her cheeks.
“I need to see it with my own eyes,” he said gently. “I guess I’ll let you get down to business.”
“To defeat the Huns?” Ava and Fern said at the same time.
They all started laughing.
“Sorry, it’s just when someone says that I’m back to being a kid and watching Mulan,” Fern said.
“Same with us,” Ryan said. “’Bye, big sister. Later, Fern.”
Ryan left the room, and Ava watched Fern as she smiled to herself. It was nice to see the other woman relaxed. That was it. She hadn’t been relaxed one time since the fire, but Ryan had done that for her.
“So, let me close the door and we can get started.”
Making sure the door was closed, Ava sat in the chair her brother had left, noticing that it was still warm and sort of indented. She wasn’t Junie B. Jones, but she was pretty sure her brother had been there for a while.
“How are you feeling today?”
“Better. I’ve been using the techniques you mentioned last time. Whenever that feeling of dread takes place in my stomach, I go through my day. It’s really helping me.”
“I’m glad to hear that. Is there anything on your mind?” Ava asked.
Fern talked a little bit about her leg, which was healing up nicely. She thought that she might be moved out of the hospital.
“How do you feel about that?”
She shrugged and did that thing, making pyramids with the blanket on over her legs and then flattening them out. “Not sure. I feel safe here.”
“That makes sense. The hospital is the first place you haven’t had to worry, so transition from here is going to take you some time. Did the doctors give you a date?” Ava asked, making a note to speak to the hospital staff and find out when the move was going to happen.
“No. Just that I was healing up nicely…which just made me think they are going to want me to leave. Also I don’t have good insurance—I’m not even sure who’s paying for this,” Fern said.
“It’s okay. It’s all being taken care of, you don’t have to worry about that,” Ava said, knowing that Fern’s bills were being covered until the investigation was finished.
“One less thing to worry about,” she said.
“Do you want to talk about another one?”
She shook her head. “It’s nothing concrete. Just fear that those guys will somehow come back. I mean, am I being ridiculous? Why would they risk coming to the hospital?”
But those men hadn’t seemed impervious to risk. “You’re right. The nursing staff, doctors and myself are all stopping by to check on you.”
“And Ryan,” Fern said.
“Does he visit you a lot?”
“Pretty much every day,” she said. “He’s nice.”
“He can be,” Ava said. “As a little brother, he can also be a bit of a pain.”
“I guess,” she said.
Ava realized Fern was forming an attachment to her brother, which was fine and would probably go a long way to speeding up Fern’s recovery. But how did Ryan feel about her?
It had always been her policy to never meddle in his life. Was she going to change that now?
Maybe. Fern was vulnerable, and her brother, who had a big heart, might not realize how attached the other woman was becoming.
“Have you been working on that list I asked you to make?” Ava had suggested Fern make a list of things she was looking forward to once she left the hospital.
“Some. I’m not ready to share it,” Fern said.
“You don’t have to. It’s for you. I’m glad you’re doing it.”
They spent the rest of the hour discussing other techniques that Fern could use to get ready to leave the hospital.
“Try to picture something that would make the new place feel like home. It could be a view out the window or something on your dresser or nightstand. Just an item that makes it feel like it’s your place. ”
Fern glanced toward the closet where a balloon had been tied to one of the handles. The slogan on it read You Are Essentially Awesome!
“The balloon?”
“Is that silly?”
“No, it’s perfect. You have it here with you and can bring it to your new place. What else would make it homey? Anything I can bring for you?”
“No, that’s okay.”
“Not even a cat with a motivational quote poster?” Ava teased.
Fern laughed and shook her head. “I think that balloon will be enough. I’m not a collector of things.”
“What do you collect?”
“Memories,” she said.
“Do you want to share any of them?” Ava asked her. She hadn’t delved into anything in Fern’s past—she knew the other woman had been in the foster care system, but Fern hadn’t brought it up. Ava was here to discuss whatever Fern had on her mind.
“Just one. When I graduated from high school, my foster mom gave me a balloon that said ‘The Future Is Yours.’ I think…this balloon is giving all the same feels.”
That was a nice connection. They talked for a few more minutes before Ava left.
Fern was making progress and healing nicely, but there was a part of Ava that feared the other woman was putting on a show.
At some point the memories of what happened to her were going to become bigger, harder to contain.
Ava hoped that the techniques and conversations they’d had together would be enough to help her when that time came.