The Tree Shepherd's Daughter (18 page)

"I guess coming to a mall is too much like home and
reminds you of your mom."

Keelie looked up at him, amazed that he knew what
she was thinking. "Why did you let Mom leave?"

He seemed to be trying to keep his face blank, to hold
some deep emotion back. Keelie could give him a lesson
or two on that.

"Mom said she didn't want to live in a fairy tale world
where she could never belong. Is that the truth?"

Dad lowered his plastic fork. "Your mother needed to
be in her world, and I had to be in my world. She was
young, as I was, when we met and fell in love."

Keelie placed her hands underneath her knees. "Why
did you guys get married?"

"I couldn't imagine living without her. She felt the same way about me. Or at least she did at first." He slumped, as
if he was very tired.

"And because you had me."

"No, I married your mother because I loved her." He
smiled, but it wasn't happy. "You came along after we had
been married for a couple of years. You were a blessing to
us both, Keelie."

When had his eyes gotten bloodshot? Was he going to
cry in the food court? Keelie looked around nervously. No
one was paying attention. She wanted answers, and this
was neutral territory for everyone.

"Then why didn't you guys stay together?" Her voice
sounded strained. She was trying to keep it down.

"Even when two people love each other as much as your
mom and I did, sometimes it's too hard to blend their two
worlds into one, especially after they have children. If there
can't be a compromise, then one of them must choose. We
tried. Your mother wanted you in her world, but I couldn't
join you there. I loved you both, and I thought it would be
better for you." He looked sick as he said it.

"I wanted you both, too. Why couldn't you come to
California? It's nice there. People love high-end furniture,
too. Your stuff is great; you would've made a killing."

"It's pointless to discuss it now. You're here with me."

"Hey, everyone ready to go? I saw the Weather Channel on the news monitor by the restrooms. Tornado warnings all around the range." Raven looked worried. "I don't
want to leave Mom alone."

A sharp pain shot through Keelie's chest. If Mom was
alive, Keelie would do exactly the same thing that Raven was doing: get back to her mom because she was worried
about her. It hurt that she wouldn't have that opportunity
again.

Zeke stood up and swayed.

"Whoa, Zeke. Are you all right? You look awful."
Raven grabbed his elbow.

"He's looked bad since we got here," Keelie said.

Raven looked at Zeke, who hadn't answered. She bit
her lip. "Okay. I drive up the mountain."

"I can do it. Maybe it was the food." He looked down
at the Styrofoam tray and plastic fork.

Keelie thought she heard him mutter, "Wood." He
managed to walk all the way back to the truck, then collapsed on the bed in the back.

"Looks like I'm driving after all." Raven took the keys
from his hand. Keelie lifted the seat of a built-in bench
and took out a folded blanket. She unfurled the thick
folds and tucked them around her father. He murmured
"wood" again, but didn't open his eyes.

She took his hand and moved it until it touched the
wall. Her own fingers brushed it. Cedar.

"Cedar," he murmured.

Keelie backed away from the bunk. What was this? Dad
had called it a gift. Her mother had called it a wood allergy.
It was more. Mom had lied. Keelie called it a curse. Keelie
thought of her dancing attacker and the moving stick men
and the voice from under the bridge. This little human
half-breed needed to hear the truth from her father.

The door behind her was flung open by a gust of wind.

Raven appeared in it. "Come on, Keelie. You have to ride up front. Too dangerous back here. I need you to navigate and keep an eye on the sky."

"If it's too dangerous, we can't leave Dad back here."

"Zeke will be okay, and we can't pick him up and put
him up front. Come on, Keelie. The sooner we get moving, the sooner we get back to the Faire."

She shoved Knot's reindeer bed under Dad's head for a
pillow. She looked at her father one last time, then jumped
down from the camper and locked the door. She climbed
into the truck cab and fastened her seat belt. Above them,
the ominous skies were filled with gray and white clouds
that spun in lazy circles. The light from the west was a
sickly yellow, like a dim bulb burning in a dark room. The
wind had died, and in the eerie silence Raven started the
truck and backed out of the mall parking lot.

"Keep an eye on those clouds," Raven said. She sounded
calm, but her knuckles were white on the steering wheel.

"What am I looking for?" Keelie looked up. Clouds
and more clouds. Beautiful, dark, and constantly moving.

"When one of them starts to come down, yell."

"Come down? They're pretty low already."

"Down like a tornado, dumb butt."

Keelie had seen Storm Stories. She didn't ask any more
questions, just kept her cheek pressed to the glass, her eyes
on the treacherous sky.

The trip was faster since they knew where they were
going. She didn't spot any tornados. They parked in visitor
parking, and Keelie stayed with Zeke while Raven ran for
help to get him to Heartwood.

Tarl came alone, but he picked Zeke up as if he was a baby and carried him most of the way. Before they reached
Janice's shop, Zeke was awake again.

"I feel better."

"You look better. Better than dead." Tarl laughed.

Keelie struggled behind them with her heavy shopping
bags. She'd stopped to put her old shoes back on. The disgusting mushrooms were everywhere. This place needed
to be treated with a bleach bottle.

"I can walk, Tarl."

"I say you can't." Tarl held him closer, and Raven ran
ahead to open the apartment door for them. Tarl and Zeke
disappeared into his curtained alcove.

Keelie dropped her new treasures in her wardrobe and
closed it firmly. Knot blinked at her. "Out. Touch not. I
wish I could say it in ten languages."

The cat stretched, butt in the air, and sauntered out.

Tarl joined them for the chicken and rice that Janice
and Raven brought up. Janice served Zeke dinner in bed
while Keelie put the tea kettle on.

Outside it was dark, and the clouds had been blown
ragged. Stars twinkled here and there, only to be quickly
obscured again.

Like the clouds, a multitude of questions swirled
around her mind about what happened when her parents
separated, what she was, and how much her mother had
known about it.

Dad had repeated that Mom couldn't live in his world.
True, Keelie found it difficult to live in his world, too. She
just couldn't figure how Mom and Dad came together in
the first place.

Dad. She'd been thinking of him as Dad again. That
disturbed her. It was like she was beginning to take his
side in things while her Mom wasn't here to defend herself. It was all so confusing.

She remembered the sign she'd seen back on the road,
glowing on a hill opposite the highway. Keelie had gazed
in the rearview mirror and read the backwards writing:
"Uncle Harry Mac's Tattoo and Body Piercing. Open
Twenty-Four Hours!"

Just what she'd been looking for. If Zeke was freaked
out by the Vampire Girl shirt and the extra-low-riding jeans, he'd totally pass out at a belly ring. Of course,
he was passed out now, although Janice said he was just
asleep. Whatever bug he had, it had hit him suddenly.

What was she doing here? This wasn't home. Raven
and Janice were nice, but Raven was going back to school
at the end of the summer, and then the whole Faire would
be gone, disbanded for the year. And she'd be stuck with
Zeke, and who knew what the next Faire was like. Or
worse, the Dread Forest.

Was that her new life? Heck no. She didn't want a new
life. She wanted a home, and for her, that meant L.A., and
her friends, and the places she'd grown up knowing. No
weirdness. No Earth magic, or apparitions, or furniture
that talked to her. Los Angeles was normal. But was she?

For the first time in ages, Keelie liked the look of the girl
gazing back at her from the mirror. Her new top and blue
jeans made her feel like her old self, the happy old self
who still had Mom. She pulled her top up to look at her
unpierced belly button, imagining the ring she'd put there.
Left side, or right?

She placed her fingertips on the mirror and pretended
Mom was there, behind her. That Mom was here with
Dad, that they were together as a family; but no matter
how hard Keelie tried to picture her, Mom didn't appear
in the mirror.

She suddenly wondered if her mental image of her
mother was right. Was she forgetting something? The way
she wore her hair, the little smile that meant she wasn't really mad, those were there, safe in Keelie's brain. But what
had slipped away? She felt sick.

Would it ever stop? This throbbing and burning pain
in her chest whenever she thought of Mom? Would she
outgrow the longing and wishing that life would go back
to the way it was before the plane crash? Would it ever go
away? Hoping that Mom would walk in the door and that
her death was all a bad dream?

The fear that gnawed at Keelie, the one thing that she
couldn't cope with, was that she would lose Mom all the
way, even lose Mom in her heart-if she allowed herself
to love anyone as much. She feared that love might be
like a computer file, the old overwritten by the new. She
would never let that happen. Then a chill skipped down
her spine when she remembered Elianard's words: Heartwood's human half-breed.

The telephone rang. She pushed aside the bedroom
curtains and rushed out, but Dad had answered it. No.
Even though she'd grown closer to him yesterday at the
mall, she still couldn't call him Dad. Mom left his world
and he'd let her. He was Zeke.

"Hello?" Zeke glanced at Keelie, receiver to his ear. He
looked like his old self again. "Yes, it is," he told the caller.
"Oh, really? That's interesting. The entire matching set has
been scanned and recorded." He gave her a thumbs-up sign.

Butterflies fluttered in her stomach. Her luggage must
be on its way back to her from Istanbul.

"Thank you. Just fly them out from there, and hopefully, we'll get them in a few days."

He hung up the phone.

She couldn't conceal the elation in her voice. "Well,
what did they say? When will my luggage be here?"

Zeke laughed. "The good news is that all ten pieces
of your luggage have been tagged-in Amsterdam. And
they'll fly out from there in the next day or two."

"Amsterdam. As in Holland. As in the Netherlands."
The image that came to mind was of her suitcases, alone
and looking forlorn on a cobbled street, surrounded by tulips, windmills, and smiling people on bicycles.

"I think your luggage has traveled farther than anyone
I know," he said, admiringly.

"Unreal," she agreed.

"I like your outfit," her father said. He sat on his sofa
and drank some herbal tea from his mug. He still looked
pale. "You look wonderful in your new clothes."

She couldn't stop the smile. Okay, she'd give him just
this one. "Thanks. I like them, too. Where's Knot?" She
searched for the room for any telltale sign of her fuzzy orange nemesis.

"He's running some errands."

"Errands?"

There was a knock on the door. "Come in," Zeke
shouted.

"Hey, Zeke," Scott said, poking his head in the door. His
shoulders were so wide that they filled the door. He wore a
mud-stained 2002 Sterling Renaissance Festival T-shirt. His
gaze wandered over to Keelie. "You clean up well."

"Thanks, I think," she said. She didn't really want him
looking at her like that. She didn't offer any comment on
what she thought about his appearance. Not out loud.

Scott turned to Keelie with a smile. "Hey Keelie, maybe
this weekend during the Faire you might like to go have
some tea or something."

Shocked, Keelie's tongue froze. Was Scott asking her
for a date?

"You'll be too busy working the booth this weekend,
Scott," Zeke said in a firm tone.

Thank goodness Zeke interceded.

"Okay, I get it. Don't ask the boss's daughter out for a
cup of tea. I'm putting that on my `no-no' list," said Scott,
rolling his eyes.

Scott looked at Keelie and winked at her. "You look
great in your new clothes. You'd better watch out for pirates, errant knights, and other such Faire folk."

Her cheeks burned when he said pirates. Did Scott
know?

"By the way, I'm having a big problem with the wood
that came in yesterday from Oregon," Scott said. "I was
wondering if you could give it the old Zeke touch and tell
me what to do."

"Is it the oak?"

Scott nodded.

Envy fired up in Keelie. She hated seeing the easy rapport that flowed between Zeke and Scott. If she'd been
around Zeke for the past thirteen years, she could help
him with the oak.