“Hi” was all she said. She had a serious expression, and the nightgown had bows and teddy bears all over it. She looked like a little doll. “I know who you are,” she said solemnly.

“Hello,” Savannah said softly, still startled by her, but not wanting to frighten her away. “We’re sisters.” It felt odd to say it.

“I didn’t know about you till today. My mom told me. She said my dad was married to your mom a long time ago, for a few months, or something like that, when you were born.”

“More like seven years,” Savannah said, defending her history and her turf, and feeling more like ten than seventeen herself.

“My mom tells lies,” Daisy said simply. It was a tough thing for a ten-year-old to say about her own mother, but it was true. “She does it a lot. She never told me about you. She said Daddy was embarrassed to tell me about you, so he never did. And you’re here now because your mother is in trouble with the law.” It was exactly what Luisa had said, and Savannah laughed out loud. It was an outrageous thing to say, and gave her a preview of who her stepmother was. “Is she in jail?”

“No.” Savannah was still laughing as she walked over to the four-poster and sat down, and patted a space next to her for Daisy to hop up beside her, which she did. “My mom’s a prosecutor, and she’s trying to put someone in jail, a very bad person.”

“Is prosecutor a bad word?” Daisy looked worried, and Savannah laughed again. She knew what Daisy thought it was, and it wouldn’t have surprised Savannah now if Luisa said she was that too.

“No, it means lawyer. She’s an assistant district attorney. She puts criminals in jail. She’s going to be the lawyer in a trial, and put a very bad man in prison, who did a lot of nasty stuff.” She knew enough not to frighten Daisy by telling her he had probably killed seventeen women and maybe more. “Probably one of his friends wrote me some creepy letters, so my mom wanted me to go away until after the trial so he wouldn’t write to me anymore, so here I am.”

“Does he know you’re here?” Daisy looked worried, and Savannah shook her head.

“No, and he won’t find out. That’s why our dad brought me here, so no one knows where I am.”

“Does your mom know you’re here?” Daisy was interested in everything she said and took it all in. She believed her. She knew better than to believe her mother, as sad as that was. She had lied to her before, about people she didn’t like, or to make herself look good. She had fired a nanny Daisy loved because she thought Daisy liked her too much and was too attached to her. So she told Daisy that she had quit and run away and didn’t care about her. But the cook told her the truth. Daisy had never heard from the nanny again.

“My mom and our dad agreed that I should come here.”

“I don’t think my mom is too happy about it,” Daisy warned her with huge eyes, and Savannah nodded.

“I think you’re right.”

“I heard her yell at my dad. She does that a lot. They fight,” she announced, as though it was a sport they played, like golf. She was giving her new sister a rundown on the situation in the first five minutes. But none of it surprised Savannah. She pretty much knew what to expect. And so far it was right on track, with no welcome from Luisa. “She can be pretty mean when she gets mad, so watch out. I like your bears,” she said as she turned to look at them. “I have one too. I sleep with him.” She smiled shyly at Savannah.

“Do you want to listen to my music while I unpack?” Savannah offered, and Daisy responded with a grin. Savannah went to get it and put her iPod on her, turned it on, and Daisy smiled broadly and started to sing, and then sang more softly so no one would hear them. She didn’t want her mother to hear her in Savannah’s room. She liked it here, and she liked her. She was still listening to the iPod when Savannah finished putting her things away. There was tons of room, more than she needed. There was a gigantic walk-in closet and built-in racks for her shoes.

Daisy was still sitting on the bed and took the iPod off so she could talk to Savannah again. “I like your music. It’s cool.” She had the same soft southern drawl their father did, and it sounded cute on her. It was eleven o’clock by then. “Do you like your mom being a lawyer? Mine doesn’t do anything. She plays bridge and goes to lunch, and shops a lot.”

“I like shopping too,” Savannah admitted. “So does my mom, but she works hard. Her work is really interesting, except when something stupid happens, like the letters I got. That never happened before. My grandma was a lawyer too,” she added. “Now she’s a judge.”

“I thought judges were men.” Daisy looked puzzled.

“Nope,” Savannah informed her. “They can be women too. She runs the family court, they do divorces and stuff, custody cases, a lot of stuff about kids.”

“She must be smart.” Daisy looked impressed.

“She is, and nice. I love her a lot.”

“My grandma is the president general of the United Daughters of the Confederacy.” It was a mouthful for a ten-year-old, but she whipped through it, never realizing that she was Savannah’s grandmother too. “And I have two brothers, Henry and Travis.” Savannah laughed at that.

“Me too.”

“That’s odd.” Daisy looked surprised.

“Same brothers, because we have the same dad,” Savannah explained.

“That is soooo weird,” she said, smiling. “I always wanted a sister.”

“Me too.”

“Did you know about me?” Daisy asked, as she lay back against the pillows and looked at Savannah.

“Yes, I did,” Savannah said gently. “My mom told me a long time ago.” And then she had an idea. “Do you want to sleep in here with me tonight?” There was room for ten of them in the huge bed, and Savannah thought it might form a bond between them that was already off to a good start. Daisy considered the offer, and then nodded. “Do you want to go get your bear?” Savannah asked, since Daisy had said she slept with him.

“I better not. Mama might hear me and not let me come back.” She was smart, and right. “I can sleep with yours.”

Savannah pulled the covers down for her, and Daisy slipped between the sheets with a grin. Savannah went to put her own nightgown on then, and was back in a few minutes while Daisy waited for her wide awake. And Savannah turned off the lights and got into bed too.

“Are you scared to be here?” Daisy asked her in a whisper after a few minutes. They were both lying on their backs in the dark, looking up at the blue silk canopy on the bed. The question made Savannah think of her mother and how much she missed her, and how strange it was to be here.

“A little,” she answered in a whisper. “That’s why I asked you to sleep with me tonight.” In answer, Daisy slipped her small hand into Savannah’s and held tight.

“You’ll be okay,” she reassured her. “Daddy won’t let anything happen to you, and the bad man won’t write to you anymore, and then your mama will put him in jail. And we have each other now,” she said with the sweetness and innocence of childhood. What she said, and the little hand in hers, brought tears to Savannah’s eyes.

“Thank you,” she said softly, and leaned over to kiss Daisy on the cheek. It was soft and felt like a baby’s skin to her. Daisy smiled and closed her eyes, and kept her hand in Savannah’s. Her grip relaxed eventually, and they both fell asleep side by side.

It was after midnight when their father knocked gently on the door. When there was no answer, he opened it a crack to peek in. He saw that Savannah was in bed, and tiptoed into the room in the darkness, and then noticed two shapes side by side in the moonlight. He saw both his daughters there, sound asleep and holding hands. He stood looking at them for a minute with a tender smile, as tears ran down his cheeks. And then he left the room as silently as he had come in and closed the door.