Content, she stared at the necklaces in awe. They were the most beautiful things she had ever seen. Almost as beautiful as the boat.
As they walked back to the boat, Lagi and the three children ran up behind them to follow. No one talked until they were back on the boat and down the steps in the deck below.
Manny set her on the bunk this time, not in it, and the three children swarmed around her to see what she had.
Taking one that had a purple stone, she gave it to Fini. The one with the blue, she gave to Nati. Then she gave the one with the black stone to Fetu, keeping the one with the red stone for herself. She hung it around her neck as they excitedly compared them all.
As they did, Lagi started taking objects out of his pockets.
Her attention distracted from the necklaces, Evangeline watched curiously as several items caught her eye. One had her reaching out, and Manny hastily grabbed her wrist.
“No, Evangeline.”
“Want it,” she begged, trying to pull her hand free.
“You can’t have it. It’s Gyi’s.”
“But I want it,” she argued.
“We have to share. You only shared your part.”
“Want more.”
Manny and Lagi laughed at her, then their eyes turned fearful.
“He’s back,” Lagi warned, going to the bottom of the steps before coming back to the bunk to shove the objects back into his pockets.
Quickly, Manny lifted her up as Lagi rushed the other children above deck.
Finding herself lowered back into her hiding spot, she started to tell him that she didn’t want to play hide and seek anymore, when Manny pressed a finger pressed to her lips to stop her.
Nodding, she lay back and started playing with her necklace. She didn’t know how long she hid there, only that she was getting sleepy again. When the mattress was finally lifted again, she saw Manny’s face.
“Show Trudy?” she asked, twirling the stone hanging from the chain in her hand to watch it sparkle.
“If you show Trudy, I won’t be able to take you back,” he said, carrying her above to the empty deck.
Her smile dropped. “Wanna go back. Didn’t ride the boat.”
Taking her off the boat, he waited until they were on the footpath back to her home before talking. “If you want to go back, we need to hide your necklace so they won’t know I took you to Sherguevil.”
She pressed her necklace to her chest, unwilling to take it off.
“Your parents won’t let you keep it.”
She shook her head at him. “It’s mine.”
“Yes, it’s yours, and I want you to keep it. That’s why I want you to hide it,” he coaxed.
“Okay.” Taking it off, she held the necklace in her hand. “Where?”
“Let’s find a spot just for you.”
Loving her new game, she searched around the jungle, but came up blank.
“Here. You can put it here.” Manny placed her down, then took the cloth out of his shorts. Untying the knot, he shoved his money back into his pocket. “Put it in here.”
Evangeline laid her treasure onto the cloth, then watched Manny retie it with a knot. Taking her hand, he then headed the short distance to the beach where she lived. Stopping at a small building that her father and his workers had built, Manny looked around, making sure no one was watching them before sneaking her inside. He then took a small pocketknife from his pocket and pried one of the floorboards up and dropped the cloth inside before closing it again. Shoving a box over the board, he grinned at her.
“No one will find it there.”
Ginny shook her head at her overly trusting three-year-old self at how gullible she had been.
“We need to go. Make sure you don’t tell, or they won’t let you go tomorrow,” he urged little Evangeline.
“I won’t.”
And she hadn’t caught on to the game. She hadn’t told anyone about the necklace, or the other necklaces that she had asked for when he took her back to the bordering island. Cringing inside that she hadn’t told her parents how he had taught her to steal—just like the other children had been trained to do. Using her as the singer to divert the tourists’ attentions, they hadn’t noticed the eagle-eyed, tiny bodied pickpockets. Once the children divested them of their cash—or whatever was in their pockets and handbags—they handed it over to Lagi, in case one of the children were caught. It was a well-organized theft ring, and three-year-old Evangeline had no idea she was being used as a decoy. Until it was too late.
So, she didn’t deserve Pastor Dean’s sympathy. She had spent most of her life living a lie pretending to be someone else with everyone trying to protect her. Manny hadn’t been the only one to manipulate her. The memories of her parents were the most painful. Children were born with the innate ability to love their parents, regardless of who they were, their income, or their physical beauty. A child’s love was with their whole heart. It was on that last horrible day at Sherguevil Island when she discovered the truth. Her parents, whom she’d loved with every beat of her childish heart, had been just as fake as the red stone hanging from that tarnished chain. If living with the Wests made it possible for her to reclaim a portion of her life, enabling her to hide in plain sight from those who had to believe she was dead, then she would remain living there with a fake smile plastered on her face—just like Lisa.