Tess eased a straggly lock of hair from Savannah's face.
"You've tried to keep this family together, haven't you?"
"Family? Ha." Savannah said the words harshly, then
realized what she'd said. She paled. "Oh, I didn't mean?"
"Shh, it's okay," Tess murmured. "It's not much of a
family, from what I can see."
Savannah's shoulders sagged, her head bowed. Tears sparkled in her eyes but didn't slip past her lashes.
The girl's silent misery twisted Tess's heart. No one knew better than she what it felt like to grow up alone, without a mother to lean on or turn to. From the day of her mother's death until now, this very second, Tess had carried inside her soul a tiny, nagging ache. A void.
It was, she knew, the same void that pulled the color
from Savannah's cheeks and stole the smile from her lips.
You've always been a healer, Tess. The words came
back to Tess, and she realized the truth in them. She had
to help this poor, frightened girl.
She tried to find something to say, anything, that would be a start. "I?I know I'm your mother on the outside, and you don't trust me, but on the inside I've ... changed." Savannah didn't bother to look at her. "What do you mean?"
"I'm ashamed of the way I've treated you and Katie and Daddy."
Savannah went so still, she seemed to stop breathing. She turned slightly, staring at Tess through huge blue eyes. "Really?"
The single, softly spoken word revealed a spark of hope, buried deep inside a mountain of mistrust. Tess could see
62
how desperately Savannah wanted to believe. Wanted to but couldn't?not yet.
"I'll tell you what," Tess said. "I'll make you a deal."
"What?"
"You teach me to be a mother?you know, cooking, cleaning, stuff like that?and I'll teach you and Katie to have fun."
Savannah regarded her warily. "We already know how to have fun."
"I don't think so."
"Besides, you're already a mother."
"Not much of one, from what I can tell. But I'd like to change that. Will you help me?"
Savannah studied her for a long, silent moment. Then, slowly, she nodded. "Sure, Mama."
Tess grinned. "Th
anks, honey. I won't let you down."
Tess carried the heavy bucket full of steaming milk toward the house. Dawn was just breaking across the rolling, rocky pasture and filling the gray sky with streaks of pink and purple. Sheep were scattered through the fields like puffy clumps of dark cotton.