“Come on,” Andrew says. “They’re doing some kind of Christmas toast or something.” I follow him inside, and I can already hear Hannah speaking. Then cheers.
“Guess we missed it,” I say.
We walk in and the kids are all celebrating, dancing, running around. The orphans, the Nomad kids,andFaraway’s kids. Kelly wipes a tear from her eye, hugging a woman from Faraway. Cal locks eyes with me from across the room as we approach Cara.
“What did we miss?” Andrew asks.
She lowers her voice. “They just offered a place to stay for anyone who wants it. To live and work here with them.”
Andrew’s eyes are wide, and he looks at me as if shocked by this Christmas miracle. He slips his hand into mine and squeezes it gently, and I know exactly what he’s going to do.
“We’re not going to stay,” he says. “We’re going to take Amy and Henri-Two to her mom’s and then go to Jamie’s cabin. But we don’t want to tell too many people.”
“Because of Fort Caroline,” she says. Andrew nods as Cara’s eyes flit over to Grover Denton and Nadine Price. “So why are you telling me?”
“Because we’re a family. You can choose to stay here if you want, or at Henri’s in Bethesda. Or you can come with us. Right?” He looks to me for reassurance, to make sure I’m okay with him inviting Cara to live with us. Of course I am, but that means another person we have to protect.
“Yes,” I say. “You’re always welcome.”
She nods slowly. “I’ll think about it. I’m going to Henri’s with you, so there’s plenty of time.”
Her eyes drift over my shoulder and I follow them to see Denton and Nadine walking over to us. I’ve avoided them as much as I could since yesterday. Every time I see him, rage flows through my body. It makes my throat tight and my jaw clench. I can only think about him tying our hands behind our backs, ruining the first kiss I ever had with Andrew—the one I thought would also be our last. I don’t care if he says it wasn’t him who shot me. It wasthem. And he was part of them.
“Can we talk to both of you?” Denton asks.
Andrew shakes his head. “Sorry we pulled a gun on you, but you did shoot my boyfriend, so I’m not that sorry. But whatever you have to say to us, it doesn’t matter.”
Nadine lowers her voice. “The invitation for the others to stay iscontingent on both of you not staying.”
Of course it is. It makes sense. Even if we hadn’t already been planning to leave, I wouldn’t be offended.
Denton closes his eyes. “Nadine.”
“They need to know.”
“Yes, and I was going to talk about it outside so as not to cause a scene.”
Andrew scoffs. “Listen, I’m going to give you all a wonderful Christmas present. We aren’t staying anyway. We’ll leave tomorrow, so long as everyone else can stay.” He grows serious. “Especially the kids and Kelly. They need a place they can call home, and if they stay, you need to make sure Fort Caroline doesn’t go near them.”
But I’m not sure that’s possible. If they find out Denton is here and come after him, Faraway might trade information about us to save him. And Fort Caroline has shown they can’t be trusted. They might say they’ll leave Denton and the others here, but if they show up and are better armed than Faraway, they could kill the adults and take the kids.
“Understand?” Andrew asks.
Denton nods and turns to Cara. “You’re allowed to stay, if you want.”
Cara shakes her head. “I left Fort Caroline with them. I’ll leave here with them as well.”
Denton seems disappointed, but the look on his face says he understands.
“And look at that!” Andrew smiles wide and holds out his good hand like a magician doing a trick. “Without causing a scene. Beproud! Merry Christmas to all.”
Cara glares at Andrew, but Nadine just takes his joke as her cue to leave. Denton stands there for a moment before looking at both Andrew and me.
“I also wanted to say that I’m sorry,” he says. “I know now that I wasn’t being brave. I was letting things happen instead of rocking the boat, and it still turned out bad. And I’m sorry you two got caught in the crosshairs.”
Andrew sighs as though he’s annoyed that Denton is apologizing. “Well, you weren’t the only one there letting things go on, so try not to take all the blame.” He stops short of saying anything about forgiveness, which I understand.
Denton nods, wishes us a merry Christmas, and goes back to the other side of the room. But his words still stick with me. How he regrets not doing more when he could have, and how others should have, as well. Maybe there are more people like that in Fort Caroline, just waiting for someone to say something.
