“Oh, hi, Abby! Missed you at dinner. Brigid sat with me and the kids. I got to hold Jeremiah! He’s so little. She said I can’t give him regular food yet. Only drinks milk.”
She glanced over her shoulder and picked up her pace.
“Wow! That’s great, Sammy. But listen, we need to go.”
“Where? Where we going?”
“We’re leaving. There’s someone who can help us. His name’s Luc, and he lives right over the rise, past the fence. We’ll—”
“You mean Grape Man?” She’d forgotten she’d shared that name with Sammy. Well, good—that would make it easier to convince him to come along.
“Yes. Yes, we’re going to Grape Man, and he’ll know where we can go to get you help. Okay? Come on, let’s—”
“Don’t wanna go, Abby. Got too many friends here.”
“We’re coming back,” she lied. “But right now, we’ve got to get to Grape Man. You have to listen, okay? You know where he lives, right? If anything goes wrong?”
“Yeah, but what about your mama? Don’t you wanna tell her where we’re going? I didn’t see her at dinner, but she’ll be sure to—”
“No, Sammy. No, we have to leave now. There’s a hole in the fence that we need to get through. We’ll worry about—”
“Oh, no, Abby. Almighty’ll be angry if we do something ’Saiah don’t like. ’Saiah always said not to tread on the other side of the fence. It’s all monsters out there.”
Abby stopped and turned to Sammy, hands tight on his shoulders, hating how firm she had to be. “Sammy. This is our only chance. Do you understand? Remember how you hit your head and it hurt? This isn’t about Isaiah or God or my mama. This is about getting you all better.” She paused, eyeing him closely. “How’re you feeling?”
“Head hurts.”
“Yeah? Like when you get one of your…fits?”
“Yeah. Before getting one.”
“What if I told you we could stop the fits?”
“Oh, I’d be happy. I sure would.”
Softening her hands into something close to a hug, she leaned in and grasped him gently by the forearm, urging him along. “Then let me make that happen, okay, pumpkin? Will you do that? Will you let me take you to Grape Man?” Another tug at his arm had him walking, if not quite agreeing to leave yet. But it was a start. Slowly, they made their way past the cabins, toward the uphill path. After a few minutes, Sammy stumbled to a halt.
“Don’t want to leave, Abby.”
Abby paused, one comforting hand moving to clasp his.
“Remember that ice cream they sell at the market?”
“Bubble gum!”
“Yes, that’s right. Bubble gum. Well, you can—”
“Pink bubble gum.”
She smiled, wanting to hug him but pressed by the need to move. “I’ll get you some. I’ll get you lots.”
There wasn’t time for the shame that washed over her at his acquiescence.
“’Kay, Abby.”
“You know that section of fence, up there, by the rocks? The place above Grape Man’s fields?”
“Yeah. Where we watched him in the summer.” She flushed hot at the memory of dragging Sammy with her to watch Luc. “We’re going there. To a hole I made.”
