Chapter 17 Drew #2
"Sick in a boiler room. You carried her out."
"Cora carried her out. I carried the door."
"You carried the door. The door was sixty pounds of bent steel.
You carried it for two hundred and forty feet to clear the way Cora was going to bring my daughter through.
Cora told me. Cora told me on the radio at dusk on day twenty-two.
I had not known about the door. I had been told about the gap and the blood and the Hess.
I had not been told about the door. The door was yours. "
"It was the door."
"It was my daughter's door."
He did not say anything else.
He held Deedee. Deedee had her thumb in her mouth, which Crystal had been trying to stop her from doing since she was four and had not yet succeeded.
The thumb in her mouth was Crystal's failed lesson and was, today, the lesson Crystal had decided to let stand for one night.
Deedee was holding the thumb in her mouth and looking at me.
Her eyes were the gold-flecked-brown that Cora had told me about.
The eyes were the eyes I had not seen at the boiler room because the fever had been on her and her eyes had been closed.
Open, the eyes were the gold-flecked-brown of a half-Vampyren. Open, the eyes were the same eyes as mine.
She took the thumb out of her mouth.
She said: "Drew."
"Yes."
"You are like me."
"Yes."
She put the thumb back in her mouth.
That was the whole conversation Deedee and I had that night. Two sentences. You are like me. Yes. It was enough. It was more than enough. It was the count.
Mark looked at me.
Mark said: "She has been looking at you for an hour."
"I know."
"She has not been looking at anyone like that since she was four. She has been looking at Crystal and at me. She has not been looking at strangers."
"I am not a stranger."
"No. You are not. You are the half-Vampyren her mother told her about on the radio when we knew the team had Drew on it.
Crystal told her Drew is like you, baby.
Drew has the same eyes. Crystal told her in year four when Deedee was four and asking why her eyes were different from the other kids at the creche.
Crystal told her there's a Drew, baby. Out there.
We will find a Drew. Crystal did not know there was an actual Drew.
Crystal made up a Drew. Then we got to Mojave and there was a Drew.
Crystal told Deedee. On the radio. From here. While you were on the road."
I went still.
I had not known this.
"Crystal told her on the radio."
"Crystal told her on the radio. Day eight. The day after Crystal slept for the first time. Crystal told her I told you we would find a Drew."
I looked at Crystal.
Crystal was at the soup pot with Tess. Crystal was watching me from across the tent. Crystal had heard what Mark said. Crystal nodded.
Crystal said, across the tent: "Yes."
I did not say anything for a moment.
Mark said: "Drew."
"Yes."
"You are her Drew. You have been her Drew since year four without knowing it. You are her Drew. The eyes. The hand. The blood. The whole thing. You have been her Drew for eight years. The fact that I just told you is. Drew. Welcome to the count."
I did not say anything.
I ate the soup.
The soup had carrots and salt and beans. The soup was warm. The soup was the soup the camp made when the camp was at home. The soup was the count.
Cora came over.
She sat beside me.
She put her hand on the cot between us.
I put my hand on hers.
Crystal saw.
Crystal smiled.
Crystal did not say anything.
The smile was the saying.
Tess saw too. Tess was at the soup pot. Tess smiled too. Tess did not say anything either.
I ate the soup.
The tent was the family tent.
The family tent had become my tent.
I had not known it could happen this way.
The family tent had become my tent because Cora was sitting beside me and Crystal had said thank you and Tess had brought me soup and Mark had nodded at me twice and Brecca had walked in with Sebastian and had handed me Sebastian for a moment so she could pour herself water, and I had held Sebastian for a minute, the three-week-old Lucian-half-blood baby, and Sebastian had not cried, and Brecca had taken Sebastian back and said thank you, and Auriel had pointed at me from Tess's hip and had said eh and Tess had said yes, that's Drew, you're right, baby and Auriel had laughed.
Auriel had laughed.
It was the first laugh I had heard from Auriel.
I had not been at the camp for her first laugh-with-noise. I had been at the gate in Pampa or somewhere. But I had been at the camp for this one. The one that came when she had pointed at me.
Then she did the new thing.
Auriel said: "D-eh."
The tent went quiet.
Tess looked at Auriel.
Tess said, careful: "Say it again, baby."
Auriel said: "D-eh."
Tess said: "Yes."
Auriel said: "D-eh."
That was three. Three was the count Tess accepted as a confirmed word. Auriel had a word. The word was for me.
Tess looked at me. Tess was crying. Tess had not cried in front of anyone except Kal in two years.
Tess was crying now because Auriel had a word and the word was D-eh and D-eh was Drew the way six-month-olds said names, with the consonant they could manage and the vowel they could manage, and the name was Drew and the Drew was me.
Kal came across the tent.
Kal said: "Drew."
"Kal."
"My daughter just said your name."
"Yes."
"That is. Drew."
He did not finish the sentence.
He sat down on the floor next to my crate. He put his hand on my knee. He did not say anything. He looked at Auriel. Auriel was looking at me. Auriel said: "D-eh."
I held the soup bowl.
I looked at Cora.
Cora was looking at me.
Cora said: "You are okay."
I said: "Yes."
Cora said: "Drew."
"Yes."
"Welcome home."
I said: "Yes."
I ate the soup.
The family tent was the family tent.
The family tent was the count.
The count was the people.
The people were home.
Outside the tent the camp went about its evening.
Tomas was on the south perimeter. Renn was at the radio.
Veron was at the medical tent. Brecca had agreed to take him in for the integration paperwork, and Rael had agreed to mentor him through the cohort-handshake protocols that Veron had been carrying for six years without anyone to hand them to.
Cruz was at the third truck doing the final maintenance.
Sylvia was at the medical tent. Mara was in the truck-bed.
The rosemary was by the kitchen tent. Tomorrow was the burial.
Tonight was the soup.
I ate the soup.
I was home.