A Gentle Rain (52 page)

He nodded.

"There's a church store called Helping Hands for people who ddon't have money," Mac whispered. "They were nice to Lily and her g-grandma."

Lily ducked her head, embarrassed. "We were so poor."

"Two million to Helping Hands," I told the bank president. "And send me a list of other civic and charitable organizations in the community, please. Mac and Lily will make very generous donations to all of them."

Lily tugged on my arm. "Can we buy the woods where you were born? Could we put in a little walking path and some bird feeders? And plant some daisies?"

I looked at the agents. "The acreage between Oak Street and the river? Including the ruins of those old neighborhoods? I believe I noticed your real estate signs in the vicinity?"

They nodded numbly then hurried to peruse their maps and notes. "That would be ... approximately one hundred acres with riverfront footage on the northwest property line... zoned commercial ... it's a little pricey, because we've had inquiries from developers who might want to build condos."

"We'll take the Oak Street property. All of it. We'll turn it into a community park. As part of the park, perhaps we'll build a . . . oh, I luiow! We'll build a small museum devoted to Cracker culture." I eyed Mac and Lily for approval. "And we'll name the park and the museum after Estrela!"

Mac and Lily gaped at me. "What are we g-gonna do with all that land?" Mac said.

"Nothing. Just as nature intended."

They smiled.

Ben

"Miriam, lemme talk to Karen."

"Ben ... she's gone."

"Gone?"

"She bought up half the town of Tolbert, then she took Mac and Lily away. She said there's only one place they'll be safe until she's sure the legalities are settled with Glen. Ben, they're so happy to have their baby girl back, they'll follow her to the ends of the earth. She brought `em by the ranch a couple of hours ago. Her and them gathered up some clothes and Mr. Darcy, and they headed out. She said they'd charter a plane in Tallahassee and figure out the rest from there. She said she could get Mac and Lily some passports."

"Miriam, godawmighty, you wait this long to tell me all that? Where'd she take `em? Where'd Karen go?"

"She took `em to her home. To Brazil."

I sat in Joey's hospital room with my head down. I felt flattened. A hot, rainy Atlanta night misted the window. Joey slept again, no surprise. Sleepin' would be his main hobby for a few days. Phil was somewhere around, at a hotel. He came and went like a kind of paint, the old folks' word for a spirit that haunted the living.

I felt like a haint, myself.

Gone. She was gone.

Just the knowledge that Karen wasn't at the ranch no more, wasn't within easy reach, made me feel so empty inside I could barely breathe. I got up and wandered out to the waiting room, but just stood starin' at the rainy night at the windows.

"My friend," Phil said, behind me. Probably formed out of a cloud ofvapor. "I'll sit with Joey tonight. Here." He stepped up beside me and handed me one of those little envelopes hotels put the room keys in. "Go. Eat. Drink. Sleep. I'll call if Joey needs you. You look terrible."

"Why, thanks." I hadn't slept in a real bed for days. "But I ain't sure I can sleep, period."

"News about Karen?"

"You ain't gonna believe this. Karen took her folks and left. They're on their way to Brazil."

"Ah. Actually, it makes sense."

"For all I lanow, she ain't comin' back."

"She told you she loves you."

"Yeah, well. You can love somebody from a distance. Why didn't she call me with this trip news herself, instead of just leavin' it up to Miriam to tell me?"

"Perhaps she's giving you some space. After all, you're the one who's been reluctant to accept this new reality, not her. Have you accepted it?"

"Phil, this afternoon she sat in a Tolbert real estate office and spent something like five million dollars in less than thirty minutes. That's damned frightenin'."

"The power of it?"

I nodded. But then I looked at him quietly. "And the little thrill that went up my spine when I heard about it."

"Ah hah. The lure of her money."

"She took out her checkbook and beat Glen Tolbert over the head with it. She wanted him and everybody else in that town to treat Mac and Lily like rich royalty from now on. And they 'will. I can't blame her for doin' that for her parents. But man, I don't know where I fit into that picture."

"You helped restore her birth parents to her."

"And then she saved Joey's life. Maybe we're even."

"This is a rich, smart woman who has pledged her love for you, entrusted you with her parents' ashes, and, to top it off, she seems to totally accept the fact that you were once a wrestler named El Diablo. You've beaten the system and won the lottery, my friend."

The gold heart locket was in my shirt pocket. I took it out and looked at it. "What's the fastest way to get to the rainforest of Brazil?"

"Fly south to Peru and take a left."

"You know people who can get me there?"

Phil smiled. "My friend, I know people who can get you any where."

Karen

Later that night

Our chartered jet was somewhere over Central America. My eyes seemed permanently swollen from tears, both happy and sad. It had been hard saying goodbye to Miriam, Lula, the ranch hands, Grub, Rhubarb, Gator and especially Estrela. I hoped it was only temporary.

I gazed out a rain-spattered window, wondering what Ben must think of my antics in the real estate office. I had `put on airs.' Very, very big ones. I had thrown my bank balance around like a glittering lead balloon, smashing all opposition.

And, yes, given the need, I'd do the same thing all over, again.

I was an unrehabilitated heiress.

I touched the empty place on my chest where the locket had rested. I hoped Ben understood.

"Are we there, yet?" Lily asked.

I wiped my eyes and swiveled in the plush seat to smile at her and Mac. Mr. Darcy sat on Mac's knee, eating grapes from Mac's palm. Mr. Darcy was perfectly relaxed. Mac and Lily were not. They'd never traveled outside the United States before, or flown on an airplane. "It will be a quite a few hours, yet. In a minute I'll call the steward. He'll bring us dinner. And we can watch a movie."

"C-can we call the ranch to see if they m-miss us?" Mac asked.

"It's getting awfully late, there. We'll call first thing in the morning, from Sao Paulo." Mac nodded, but looked disappointed. "I promise you, we'll go back home when my lawyers tell me it's safe. It won't take long."

Lily brightened. "We're with you. We trust you. That's all that matters. We couldn't let you go away, alone. You're our baby."

I wiped my eyes again. "We'll have a wonderful time in Brazil. We'll fly into Sao Paulo before sunrise. Sedge has a home, there. We'll spend a day with him before we take a plane to a small city in the Amazon region, Manaus. From there, we'll take a very small plane to Dos Rios. We'll land on an air strip in the rainforest, and the staff at the preserve will be there to meet us. You'll get to see where I grew up, and I'll show you some of the research projects I've worked on. You'll see photographs and videos of my ... my Mother and Dad, and some of their favorite belongings. So you can get to know them."

"We'd 1-like that," Mac said. Lily nodded somberly. "To know about your M-Mother and Dad."

My throat ached. "I shouldn't go on calling you, `Mac and Lily.' It's not right. May I call you Mother and Dad, as well?"

They stared at me. Tears welled up in their eyes. They traded a look, communicating silently. Then Mac shook his head at me. "N-no. We don't want you to call us that. That's what you call them."

My heart sank. "I didn't mean to hurt your feelings."

Lily gasped. "Oh, you didn't hurt our feelings. It's just that we want you to call us `Mama and Papa."'

After a stunned moment, I exhaled with relief "All right, Mama. All right, Papa."

They beamed.

Later, in the soft shadows of the cabin, while Mac and Mr. Darcy dozed, Lily and I sat close together by a window, watching the lights of the world fade away into ocean and wilderness. "The world is such a big place," she whispered. "But it's not lonely, anymore." She held up her hand to the window. "Look how the raindrops make little shadows on my fingers."

I held up my hand beside hers. "Mine, too."

She took my hand. "There's nothing sad about a gentle rain. It makes things grow" We bent our heads together. She pecked my arm with a soft fingertip. "When we get to that `sow paul' city?"

"Sao Paulo?"

"Will we have time to see some almost-naked samba girls?"

"There are clubs where they dance, yes, even when it's not Carnivale. We can watch the naughty samba dancers perform. I'll take you and Papa."

She smiled. Her blue eyes lit with mischief. "I want to see if they really do have fringe on their behinds."

We laughed.

Below us, the world wasn't so lonely anymore, indeed. A gentle rain was all we needed to start our family tree anew.

If only Ben were with us.

Chapter 32

Kara

At Dos Rios, Mac and Lily were like kids. They roamed the rustic porches and verandas of the preserve's main house with parrots on their shoulders and small monkeys in their arms. They marveled at the greenhouses filled with exotic orchids and other spectacular native plants. They played with orphaned ocelot kittens in the wildlife rehab center. They smiled shyly at the semi-naked native men and women who brought them gifts.

"I've seen samba girls with fringe on their bare behinds," Lily said. "I'm gettin' used to naked people."

They spent hours eagerly studying pictures of Mother and Dad and listening to my stories about them. Mac took my hand. "Do you w-wish you had them b-back?"

I covered his hand with mine. "Yes. Because then I'd have two sets of parents to love."

He liked that answer.

We called the ranch at least twice a day, so Mac and Lily could tell everyone about their newest adventures and hear the latest ranch news. According to Miriam, Joey was progressing nicely up in Atlanta, and had just begun getting out of bed to sit in a chair.

Ben, she said, was finally getting some rest. No mention of his thoughts about me.

Ben

"You look a mite familiar," I said to Sedge, as his driver opened a door. "Believe we met at a barrel race somewhere." He sat in the back of a big Land Rover that met me at the airport in Manaus, a backwater city deep in Brazil's Amazon area. The kind of place where there were more boats than cars.

He leaned on a fine, silver-headed cane and gave me a kindly nod. "I had a feeling we'd meet again." He indicated a man and woman in bush hats, cotton shirts and khakis. Karen's tribe, judging from their native dress. "Joaquin and Editha help manage the preserve. They'll fly you in."

I said my hellos. They took my canvas duffle. I looked back at Sedge. "I appreciate your help in getting me to Dos Rios You're not coming along?"

"No, no. Too hard a trip for these tired bones. I'll return to Sao Paulo. One of the most beautiful cities in the world. Mac and Lily loved it. I doubt they'll ever forget the samba dancers. Malcolm and I will host you and Kara at our villa there, one day soon."

"So you're really pullin' for me?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact, I am. I had my reservations at first, I admit it."

"But I won you over, even if I'm an ex-wrestler and bad soap opera actor?"

"Indeed."

"You think I'm after her money?"

"No. I've come to the conclusion that your biggest problem is not wanting her money badly enough."

"Do tell."

"There are many good ways to use a fortune, Ben. Charles and Elizabeth Whittenbrook's dream was for their daughter to follow her own dreams while being a wise and charitable steward of the money. She will, no doubt, prove to be that. But she can certainly use a good-hearted partner in the effort. Now, go. Go and surprise her at Dos Rios, and speak your truth to her. And I will think. good thoughts about the outcome."

I thanked him. His driver shut the door. I turned to find Joaquin and Editha waitin' for me. Deep breath. Headun' into the uncharted wilderness.

In more ways than one.

Kara

At dawn I told the staff to let Mac and Lily know I'd be back by afternoon. Then I rode one of the preserve's horses deep into the forest. I needed to be alone, to come to terms with Ben's silence. To mourn.

The rainforest is towering, majestic, a cathedral. I rode down a steep trail to a magical lake nestled in the greenery. It drew hundreds of parrots and macaws. They decorated the surrounding trees like chatty members of a very colorful congress. I tethered my horse then sat quietly beside the blue-gray lake, hugging my updram-i knees.

Mother and Dad were there. They were everywhere. They hadn't gone away, they didn't die, they just shifted, to make room for Mac and Lily. I could feel them, their presence. Imagine their voices, see their smiles. The rest of my life stretched before me, not orphaned, but re-birthed.