my real pa. And Otha ain’t my real ma. Abby said I ain’t really Ella Tutt neither.” She sighed. “I don’t even got a home now.”
Yes, you do, Riley Jo! Kate swallowed hard and resisted the almost overwhelming desire to put her arms around her daughter. Instead she gently brushed the hair out of the girl’s eyes and relished the first touch. “While we’re waiting for our apple juice, let’s sit at the picnic table, and we can talk about Abby.”
“Okay. Abby’s nice. She says she’s my sister, but I don’t remember nothin’ about her.”
Virgil stood and stretched his lower back. “You ladies have a nice time visiting.”
“Mister Sheriff, you promise I don’t hafta go back to Pa?” Riley Jo said.
“Absolutely. Isaiah’s going to jail, honey.”
“Good.” Riley Jo folded her arms across her chest. “Now I won’t hafta marry Bobby Lee Hoover. I really don’t like him that much.”
Kate tried not to show how appalled she was that a seven-year-old was already dreading her wedding day. Kate locked gazes with Virgil and mouthed the words thank you.
Virgil smiled and tipped his Stetson, then turned and walked back to his car. A few seconds later, he drove away, leaving a cloud of brown dust hovering over the road.
“I guess we should sit down,” Kate said, suddenly afraid she might not have anything at all to say to her daughter.
Riley Jo sat at the table next to Kate, then reached down and grabbed a tall blade of wild grass and spun it between her thumb and forefinger. “The sheriff ain’t mean like Pa said he was.”
“I’ve known the sheriff a long time,” Kate said. “He’s a very good man.”
“My pa ain’t. He was gonna kill us.” Riley Jo looked up at Kate. There were those sad eyes again. “I guess I ain’t never gonna see him no more.”
“Are you sorry about that?”
“Not really. But I’ll be sad if I can’t see the twins and Otha. And Granny Faye.”
“I’m sure you’ll be able to see them, honey. Everyone wants you to be happy.”
“Then why can’t I just go home?”
“What did Abby tell you?”
“She said my real family’s been lookin’ for me since I was two years old. But I don’t know none o’ them.”
“When you do,” Kate said softly, “maybe you’ll like them, too. You don’t have to stop caring about Otha and the twins and your granny Faye. I’ll bet your heart is big enough to care about both families.”
“But Otha might feel sad if I like my real ma.”
Kate tilted Riley Jo’s chin. “I think Otha would be happy to see you happy. And she would not want you worrying about this. Everything’s going to work out. I promise.”
Riley Jo seemed lost in thought for a moment. She replaced the blade of grass with a lock of her hair, which she twisted around her finger. Finally she said, “I had another baby brother. His name was Luke.”
“Really? I didn’t know that. Where is he?”
Riley Jo shrugged. “Pa said he died in the night. I heard him cryin’ and cryin’. Pa hollered at him, and then he was quiet. The next mornin’ when I got up, Luke was gone.”
“Where was he?” Kate’s heart nearly pounded out of her chest. Was the man a worse monster than she had imagined?
“Pa said Luke stopped breathin’ so he had to bury him. Otha wouldn’t talk about it. But I seen her cryin’ when Pa weren’t around.”
“Did Isaiah take you to Luke’s grave so you could say good-bye?”
“Nope. He wouldn’t let us talk about him neither.”
“How old were you when Luke died?”
“Six.”
“Have you told anyone else about Luke?”
Riley Jo shook her head. “Pa got really ugly and made me promise never to speak of it, but I ain’t ascared of him now. The sheriff said I don’t hafta see him no more. I wish Luke didn’t die. I think Pa shaked him. I seen him do it before.”
Kate felt sick to her stomach. She would have to tell Virgil to add that to the charges he was mounting against Isaiah. And he’d have to question Otha about why she didn’t report it.
“You were brave to tell me that,” Kate said, blinking quickly to clear away the tears of empathy. “I’m sorry you lost your baby brother. I’ll bet that was very hard.”
“Yes’m. Powerful hard. I cried in my pillow sometimes, but I did what Pa told me and didn’t say nothin’.”
Riley Jo was quiet for perhaps a full minute. Finally she lifted her gaze. “Miss Kate,