He responded by turning into me, mouth open and strained as he cried.

“Please don’t leave me.” He said it hitching through his sobs. And with those words, my heart broke for him.

And he wasn’t done.

“I don’t want you to go . . .” he cried, slowly pressing his head into my shoulder.

I put my arm around his shoulders and held him close. “Sh, sh . . . it’s okay, Bobby.”

But it wasn’t going to be okay, was it? There was a deep fear in Bobby’s cry that chilled me to the bone. He was hiding something behind his simple mind that reduced him to tears.

“It’s going to be okay,” I said, putting both arms around him. I knew that he wanted to hear me say that I wasn’t going and it seemed to me that, at least for now, that was the truth, even if not by my own choosing. But still the truth.

“It’s okay, Bobby. I’m not going. I promise, I’m not going anywhere.”

Immediately his crying eased. Then stopped after a few sniffs. His face went blank and his eyes were closed, and I wondered what was going on in his mind.

And then, almost as suddenly as it had begun, his dark mood left him. He opened his eyes and straightened, staring up at me like a puppy.

“Can I teach you how to fish?” he asked. And then quickly, “Do you like moonshine? It makes you pure.”

“I think I might like fishing,” I said.

His face lit up. “I caught a big catfish! Bigger than my arm.”

“You did?”

“Do you like to eat fish?”

“I think so.”

“I like fish. Do you like eggs?”

I smiled at him. “Yes, I like eggs.”

He laughed, delighted, snorting. It was the cutest little laugh I had ever heard and I nearly laughed aloud with him. But I was too overwhelmed with my own predicament to go that far.

“Mommy has a surprise for you tomorrow.”

My mind was pulled back to the fact that Kathryn actually was my mother. Mommy. It sounded strange. And Brother. Bobby really was my brother. My own flesh and blood.

“What kind of surprise?”

He shrugged. “She said you’re going to make everything perfect again.”

I had no idea what that could mean.

“Bobby, can I ask you a question?”

“Sure.”

“Does Mommy ever hurt you?”

He looked at me with a blank stare. “Hurt me?”

“Why are you so afraid of me going away?”

“I . . . Because you’re my sister.”

“That’s right.” I smiled at him. “And you’re my brother.”

He beamed like a full moon. “You’re my friend.”

And maybe his only friend, I thought.

“But Mommy doesn’t ever hurt you? Maybe when you’re naughty?”

He looked out at the lake. “No.”

“Never?”

“Mommy said that if you go, there will be no one left to save me.”

“Save you? From what?”

He shrugged. “From sin. I’m not perfect like you are. I was born bad.”

I knew then that I couldn’t leave Bobby alone, at least not until I knew that he was going to be okay without me. Or unless I could take him with me.

“No. No, that’s not true, Bobby. You’re perfect, just the way you are.”

“I am?”

“Yes. And you’re my brother too. And my best friend.”

“I am?”

“You are. And I’m going to stay for a while so that I can be your friend because I think you’re perfect just the way you are.”

He grinned his wide, crooked-tooth smile, too overwhelmed with joy to speak, I think.

“And that will be our secret, okay?”

He nodded. “Okay.”

Maybe if I had an easy way out, I would have still tried to escape that night, but I don’t think so. I think I found my brother that night by the lake and suddenly I was more than just a lost girl who needed to be adopted by strangers to find a home.

In my own way, I already had a home. It was with Bobby, my brother, at least until I knew he would be okay.

We talked another half hour, mostly about things he was familiar with. Alligators and broken-down trucks and moonshine and trees and fish and eggs and bacon and the G.I. Joe that Wyatt had bought for him. He loved Wyatt.

“We should go back to the house,” I finally said.

“Okay.” He started up the path without waiting for me, eager to be of good use.

Kathryn was sitting on the porch when we returned, and for a moment I was sure that we were both in terrible trouble. But Bobby didn’t seem worried. He walked right up to the porch and reported the good news without delay.

“I’m going to show Eden how to fish,” he announced. “She’s going to stay with me.”

Kathryn stood from her rocking chair, smiling. “Why, that’s wonderful, Bobby. I’m glad to hear that.” She looked at me. “It’s so good to have you back with us. Come here, darling.”

I walked up the steps and she took me into her arms.

“I want you to know that it’s okay, Eden,” she whispered, kissing my cheek. “You’ll find your way here. It’s what God has planned for us all. I love you, sweetheart. You are so precious to me.” Another soft kiss.

She stepped back and brushed a strand of hair off my forehead. “Now you two get some sleep. We have a big day ahead of us tomorrow.”

10

I was awakened the next morning by the creaking of my door, my thoughts still caught in a dream that had haunted me throughout the night. In the dream I was Alice, and I was in a special hospital made for people who had psychological problems. There I’d met a girl named Christy who thought she was trapped. I told her she could just walk out, but she didn’t believe me.

What a silly girl, I kept thinking. Just walk out, silly.

And that’s when I woke up to the creaking, half expecting to look over and see Christy at the door. Instead, I saw a woman standing in the doorway, smiling at me.

It took me a moment to remember that she was Kathryn, my birth mother. I was in her house.

It crashed into my mind all at once, like a data download. That and the events from last night by the dark lake.

Kathryn walked in wearing a black dress that looked new, then closed the door behind her. “Good morning, Eden. Did you sleep well?” She crossed to the window and pulled back the curtain. “Hmm?”

“Yes.”

“Good.” She turned back to me. “Because today’s a very special day.” She sat down on the bed next to me. “This is the beginning of a new life for all of us. The old will pass away, behold, all things will become new.”

She said it with such assurance and beauty that I thought she might be right. Maybe there was some greater good that would come out of my being brought back to her.

Or maybe I was just too naïve to see the impossibility of that. I was still too confused to know which. But I did feel better than I had the night before.

“It’s time to get up,” she said. “I’ll help you make the bed and then I have something I want to share with you. Something very close to my heart. Okay?”

“Okay,” I said.

Together we made the bed per her instructions, folding the corners just so, smoothing the bedspread with the palms of our hands, and setting the pillow squarely at the top of the bed.

She inspected the room with a satisfied smile, then asked me to kneel down on one side as she crossed to the other side.

“Kneel down here?” I asked, standing across from her.

She removed her shoes and settled down to her knees, with her elbows on the bed. “Yes, right there, Eden. Just like me.”

I knelt down and rested my elbows on the bed.

“Fold your hands.”

I folded them, thinking she was going to lead me in a prayer.

“That’s my precious girl. Now I’m going to tell you about the old to help you understand why we need the new. Behold, the old wineskins will be made new. That’s what we’re going to do today, sweetheart. And you need to know why. Do you understand?”

“I think so.”

“Good.”

She shifted her gaze and stared at the wall behind me.