Guardian's Hope (9 page)

“It was lucky your father didn’t find them
first.”

Hope’s eyes cleared and she laughed bitterly.
“Luck had nothing to do with it. Taking care of the chickens is
woman’s work and they’d already become one of my chores. I was
always a curious child, always in trouble for sticking my nose
where it didn’t belong. She probably thought that hole in the
ceiling would be irresistible to me, but after she was gone, I
didn’t have the time for mischief. Her chores became mine as
well.”

“Ah, you poor child, such a burden for one so
young.” Manon’s words were kind, but her scowl was fierce. “Was
there no one to help?”

“At first, neighbors volunteered, but my
father always refused. He told them we could handle it and by we,
he meant me.”

“And your sister? Did she not help?”

“Not much and that was my fault. I wanted her
to have a happy childhood so I did it all and after a while it
became a habit. I spoiled her, I’m afraid.”

“Your father, he encouraged this?”

Hope smiled and shrugged. “Faith was a pretty
child, pleasing in her face and in her manners. Unlike me, she
could make my father smile and seeing them both happy made life
easier for me. Arguing made him angry, so it was easier to do
things myself. Of course, by the time she was an adult, I realized
my mistake. She became willful and headstrong. My father was no
longer pleased with her pretty ways.”

“Did he beat her, too?” While Hope had never
said it, Grace recognized the emotions flowing from her. “Like he
did you?”

Hope didn’t deny it. “He had no reason to
beat her. She almost always pleased him and when she didn’t, I
covered for her mistakes. Of the two of us, I’m the more sturdily
built. It would have hurt her so much more. He only beat her once
and that was the night before she ran away. That was two years ago
and I haven’t seen her since.”

“He had no right to beat you.” Grace’s anger
was palpable. The room seemed to grow cold. One of her gifts was to
feel the emotions of others and Hope’s were powerful enough to
cause pain.

Hope smiled and patted Grace’s balled fist as
if she were the one needing comfort instead of the other way
around. “So I’ve lately discovered, but how was I to know that
growing up. Our community lived ‘away’ from the world, protected
from its evil. My father’s word was law as was every other man’s.
Scripture supports it.”

Grace snorted with derision. “Sure it does,
according to the guys using their fists. We’ll argue that another
time. Get to the part about the athame.”

“I left home about six months ago. I met a
man named Lenny, Leonard Abramowitz, who became my friend. He
taught me how to use a computer and about the internet. I found out
about the things in my mother’s box. The letter opener is an
athame, used in the practice of witchcraft. I was so angry with my
father that I turned to my mother’s past. I tried to use what she’d
left me. I came in contact with a woman who said she had the same
interests and we agreed to meet. The two men who were with her…”
Hope cringed. “Oh, please, don’t make me say it. You’ll think I’m
insane.”

“Let me guess,” said Grace, “The two men
turned into the big ugly. Long faces, pointy teeth and, my
favorite, no noses. Monsters like you never imagined.” And at
Hope’s shocked look at her casual acceptance, she laughed. “Been
there, done that, didn’t buy the t-shirt. What happened next?”

Hope didn’t know whether to be relieved or
not. Being insane might be preferable to monsters being real. “I
ran. I saw them through the window and I ran. I kept running until
I couldn’t run anymore.”

“So how the hell did you come up with the
idea that Col getting stabbed was your fault?”

Hope winced. “It was my athame. If I hadn’t
been so determined to learn more about witchcraft, those things
wouldn’t have been there. Col wouldn’t have been hurt.”

“Bullshit,” Grace snapped. She placed both
hand flat on the table and leaned toward Hope. “And you can wince
all you want. That’s the largest load of bullshit I’ve ever heard
and I live with Dov and Col so that’s saying something. There’s
nothing wrong with wanting to know about yourself. There’s nothing
wrong with looking for a friend. There’s nothing wrong with owning
that athame. Lay the blame where it belongs: on that bitch and her
henchmen. Lay a little on Col’s stupidity. He knew better. He took
a gamble and he lost and he almost paid with his life. You had
nothing to do with it. Stop taking the blame.”

Hope stood up, ready to flee. “I’m
sorry.”

“There you go again!” Grace threw up her
hands. “You’ve got nothing to be sorry for.”

“Grace, she has been taking the blame all her
life. She cannot stop being sorry because you tell her to.” Manon
took Hope into her arms, rocking back and forth with loving
comfort. “You must unlearn what you have been taught, my little
witch. It won’t be easy, but the best lessons never are. You are
one of us now and we will help you all we can.” She held Hope at
arm’s length. “I must get ready for the night. You may stay here
and hide or go back to the house of beasts with Grace. It may be
amusing for you to see how they dance when she calls the tune. It
is up to you.”

“I’ve already caused so much trouble.”

Grace gritted her teeth. “You didn’t make
Canaan behave like an ass or the others to sit there and let him.
You didn’t make me hiss and spit in your defense. All you did was
try to eat a peaceful breakfast. There’s nothing wrong with
that.”

“I’m sor… I’ll try to remember. I didn’t do
anything wrong.” Hope smiled tentatively.

Grace beamed. “Atta girl.”

Nico was waiting on the half-finished deck,
sitting in an old lawn chair that looked dangerously rusted, and he
rose to meet them. “Is everything all right?” One eye was swollen
closed and his lip was split.

Hope cried out, “Oh Nico, I’m so sor…” and
felt Grace pinch her arm. She fluttered her hand in front of her
face, trying to think. “I-It’s too bad you chose to use your fists
to defend me, though I appreciate the gesture.” Her words sounded
so artificially formal that she cringed. She looked more closely at
his battered face. “Is it very painful?”

“It will heal.”

Grace gave an unladylike snort. “That’s not
what she asked, tough guy.” She turned to Hope. “Why don’t you stay
out here and comfort the wounded while I go in and see what the
damages are.”

“Canaan looks no better than I,” Nico said
defensively.

Even Hope couldn’t help but smile at that.
Men and little boys, they were very much alike and nothing but
trouble. She gently pushed Nico back into the chair. She took a
handkerchief from her pocket and held it up to his lips.

“Spit,” she said.

“I am not a child,” he said.

Hope drew back, hesitating. She almost
apologized, but took a breath instead. “Well you certainly acted
like one. When the little boys at school fight, this is how I clean
them up.” She held the handkerchief to his lips again. “Now
spit.”

He spat and she began to wipe the blood from
his nose and mouth.

“You’re a teacher?” he asked between swipes
of the cloth.

“Yes,” she answered, “At our community
school. I’m not formally trained, of course. I never went to
college, but I always did well in school and when Miss Granger
married Martin North, my father decided I would do. So the job
became mine. I liked it. I miss it.”

“Why didn’t you go to university?”

“No one in our community goes to college.
Some who have left may have, but I don’t know that for sure. The
children learn what they need to know. They read and write, do
arithmetic, learn history. It’s enough for those who stay. I like
to read. I got a library card when I first came to the city, when I
was learning my way around. You can spend the day in the library
and as long as you’re reading, they won’t chase you away. If you
happen to doze off while you’re studying, they usually leave you
alone. But if you snore, they ask you to leave.”

She giggled a little and Nico smiled at the
sound. “And do you snore, Miss Parsons?”

“I never thought so, yet apparently I do. I’m
afraid it’s not very ladylike.”

She was so warm and kind, honest and
innocent. How could they believe she had anything to do with Col’s
attack?

Hope tucked the bloodied cloth back into her
pocket. “Grace and Manon don’t believe I had anything to do with
it.” She looked up and smiled, then reddened when she saw Nico’s
face. “You didn’t ask that out loud did you?”

“No. I did not. How much did you hear?”

She turned away from him and hung her head.
When he placed his hand on her shoulder, she jumped and began to
tremble. He left it there, resting softly and used his other hand
to turn her gently back to face him.

“Why are you afraid of me?” he asked, his
voice barely above a whisper. Yet even as he asked the question, he
thought he knew the answer.

“I’ve angered you. I’m sorry.” she whispered
back.

His answer was confirmed. Who had done this
to her? Who had made her so afraid? Her reaction brought up
feelings best left buried and he spoke more harshly than he
should.

“I am not angry. I merely asked a question.”
She cringed and he immediately regretted his tone. He gentled his
voice. “I was surprised, not angry. It’s not every day one meets a
person who can hear one’s thoughts.”

He chuckled and she looked surprised. “You
answered a question I thought but didn’t ask. What do you call
it?”

His hand still rested on her shoulder, but
she was no longer afraid. He felt her body relax and her breath
leave in a sigh of relief.

“It’s not like that,” she said. “I don’t hear
words in my head; I simply know what someone wants.” And knowing
what someone wants ahead of their asking had saved her from many
slaps for being slow. It had also, on occasion, earned her a
punishment for her wicked ways.

“I don’t mean to do it. I should think before
I speak.”

“Does Grace know?”

“I have enough obvious faults without
advertising my secret ones.”

“Why do you do that to yourself? You have no
more faults than anyone else and you have many fine qualities that
others lack. You’re bright and intelligent and resourceful.” And
lovely in your sweetness and modesty.

“How can you say that? I’m none of those
things,” she said and unlike other woman he had known, she wasn’t
fishing for more compliments. She believed what she said.

“You sought knowledge in spite of the
limitations of your community. You bravely left everything that was
familiar and came to this city knowing nothing of the world and you
survived where others would have succumbed.”

“Not alone. I had Lenny. He kept me
safe.”

Nico wondered if Lenny had abused her as
well. Did she sleep with him as payment for his protection?

“No!” she cried. “Good heavens! Lenny was old
enough to be my grandfather.” What kind of woman did Nico think she
was? His reaction was no different from what her father’s would be
and yet it crushed her.

“You’re doing it again.”

Her hand flew to her mouth. “You didn’t ask
it out loud.”

“I had no right to think it, never mind ask
it.” Yet he was inordinately pleased with her answer. He took the
hand that she held to her mouth and kissed it, bowing low. “I
apologize for my unwarranted thoughts.”

She stared at him, unable to speak. He’d
kissed her hand. He was the one who said I’m sorry. Her life was
skipping back and forth between sweet dreams and nightmares. She
shook her head to collect her wits.

“The first time I saw Lenny, he was standing
between a man and a boy with a bloody lip. Lenny was daring the man
to pick on somebody his own size even though the man was a head
taller and much younger.” She shook her head and smiled at the
memory. “He popped Lenny a good one and poor Lenny went flying. The
boy ran off and the man stomped away. I ran to help Lenny. When
he’d been hit, his bag went flying. It was filled with money and I
scrambled everywhere on my hands and knees gathering it up. Lenny
just sat there shaking his head and rubbing his jaw. It took a
while before he could stand, so I waited with him.

“The first thing he said was ‘What kind of
blankity-blank would hit a kid’ and I knew right then and there
that he was a good man in spite of his language.” Hope blushed. “He
insisted on buying me dinner as a thank you for saving his money.
The poor man said he’d never known anyone who would do that. Once
he realized I had no money of my own and nowhere to sleep, he took
me home. I knew it was wrong. I knew what people would think, but I
was desperate and Lenny was kind. He never asked anything of me. I
swear.” Nico had to believe her. She didn’t know why, only that it
was important he think well of her.

“As I said before, I had no right to think
otherwise,” and when he saw that it wasn’t enough. “You have no
need to swear it. Your word is good enough.” He looked at her with
her big green eyes and he felt a kinship with the deceased Lenny.
He wanted nothing more than to protect this woman/child.

“You trusted your instincts when you trusted
Lenny. You knew he could be trusted. Manon and Grace share this
instinct. They’ll know more about it than I. I only know it is a
gift to be cherished.” As was the recipient of the gift. Once again
he held out his hand. “Come,” he said and laughed. “Grace will have
done her worst by now and probably has Canaan locked away,
pleasurably paying for his sins. His bark is worse than his bite,
you know.” Nico fingered his bruised eye. “Most of the time. I’ll
show you to your room.”

Buffy, the little yellow cat sat on the sill
of Manon’s kitchen window and purred contentedly.

“I know,” Manon agreed. She scratched the cat
between its ears. “They will be good for each other.”