Runaways (Orphans 5)

"Wasn't there anything that could be done about Annie?" I asked Tommy.

"We tried, took her to the biggest hospital and they operated, but her heart was too small. Anita has been afraid of having another child. She thinks it will be born with the same or some similar defect. She's more superstitious than I am," he added sadly.

"There are ways to test the fetus as it develops," Crystal told him, "to see if there are any defects." He smiled at her.

"There is a different drumbeat in Anita's heart now. Maybe someday soon it will change."

We worked on our horses and then we all went into the house to wash up. Anita had fixed the two guest bedrooms for us. On one of the beds was a beautiful deerskin dress decorated with turquoise beads. She told Raven to try it on and she did. I had to admit that she looked fantastic. Everyone thought so.

"Maybe you have Navajo blood, too," Tommy laughed.

Raven asked if she could wear it to dinner and Anita told her she could. Before dinner Butterfly asked Anita about the drums she and Tommy had in the living room--den area. To Tommy's surprise and our delight, Anita played and sang a Navajo corngrinding song. Her voice was deep and rich and I could feel her heritage, proud and alive, still thumping in her injured heart. Tommy showed Butterfly some ceremonial dance steps and in seconds, she was doing it as well, if not better than he. Anita actually laughed, the sound of it cracking the layers of icy sadness that had fallen over the walls of this home.

For our dinner Anita, with Butterfly at her side in the kitchen, had prepared chicken fajitas with rice and beans. It was a Mexican feast and something none of us had experienced before.

"My stomach is grateful you girls got lost on the reservation," Tommy declared.

"Tommy Edwards, if you let these girls believe I don't cook for you otherwise, I'll scalp you," Anita snapped. He laughed and held up his hands.

"I'm just fooling, girls. She would do it."

The difference between the atmosphere at breakfast and now at dinner was remarkable. We were all more relaxed. It had been a wonderful day, a surprise of joy. The phone rang again before we had completed our clean-up and Tommy returned to tell us the FBI had located Gordon Tooey.

"He made it back to New York," he said, his eyes shifting to Anita.

"What's the rest?" she demanded.

"He got someone awfully mad at him You don't have to worry about him coming after you anymore, girls," he added.

Despite our fear and dislike

of Gordon, the news was shocking. We all looked at each other and felt our hearts skip beats.

"Louise will probably lose the foster home," Crystal remarked.

"Most likely," Tommy said. "They'll revoke her license. There is a big need for foster homes all over this country and it's growing," hp added.

"Where will they send us now?" Raven wondered.

The light, happy mood we had created dissipated like smoke and was soon replaced with a heavy air, erasing smiles, weighing down our moves, turning us into something mechanical. Raven decided to take off the Indian dress. Afterward, she joined Crystal and me outside on the porch. Butterfly was still helping Anita put things away.

"Wherever we go," Crystal said, "it won't be long for us. As soon as we turn eighteen, we'll be on our own. I'll go full-time to college," she added. "Maybe you'll go back to live with Todd, Brooke."

"I don't know. I haven't spoken to him. He probably forgot me already," I said.

"Not if he really felt something for you," Raven told me. "I'm still going to try to be someone in show business. I don't care what I have to do. I'll work as a waitress, clean houses, anything, until I get my big break. And if that never happens, I'll come live with you and Todd.-

"Stop rushing my life, you two. I have some things to do first, also," I said. "I still intend to go to California."

"How will you find her?" Crystal asked. I spun around.

"How do you know what I want to do?"

"You've let enough hints slip, Brooke. Actually, it's easier today to find someone than it used to be. Maybe you will," she said.

She reached out and I took her hand. I reached for Raven and the three of us sat there in the darkness with the stars twinkling in a clear desert sky above us. Somewhere in the distance there was a strange howl. Crystal said that was a coyote.

"She's right," Tommy said, coming out of the shadows. We didn't know how long he had been there. "How do you know the sound, Crystal?"