“Tina? Pepita, what…what are you playing?”
Tina’s eyes went wide at the sight of Elena and Camden. “Nothing.” She wiped her tear-stained face.
Elena rushed to her and sat down. She pulled Tina into her arms. Camden went to the other side of the bed and climbed in, then wrapped his arm around both of them.
“Pepita. Tell me. What happened that made you play like this?”
“I can’t. I can’t tell!”
“Mermaid. We’re right here. We’re safe. Everyone is safe and sound. You can tell us anything.” Camden kissed the top of Tina’s head.
“No. They’ll kill the horses if I do.” She sobbed, then whispered, “They’ll kill you, Mama.”
Elena felt like someone had just cut her chest open and ripped out her heart. Camden looked like he wanted to do that very thing to whoever had threatened her baby girl.
“Tina, look at me,” Camden said. When she tipped her head up to meet his gaze, he continued. “Do you remember when we met?”
She nodded.
“What did I do the whole time when we were at the safehouse? What did Jake and I do?”
She sniffed. “You kept us safe.”
Camden smiled and it felt like the sun coming out. “That’s right, baby girl. I kept you safe.”
“And Toby.”
“Toby?”
“Toby kept us safe.” The dog thumped his tail at his name.
“That’s right, Toby kept you real safe. Look at this good boy. He’s not going to let anyone or anything bad come near you, or your mama, or me, or anyone.” The dog crawled forward and laid his muzzle on Tina’s lap.
She scratched Toby’s ears. “But what about the horses? Can you keep them safe?”
Elena stroked Tina’s hair. “Baby, tell us what you mean about the horses. What horses?”
Tina sniffled and swiped a hand across her eyes. She took a deep breath. Within the protective circle of her mother’s arms and surrounded by Camden’s loving embrace, she began her story. It started with the burning desire to see a mermaid and a sundial.
* * *
“It’s a little bit lord of the butterflies in here, isn’t it?” Cici said to Mama, and Tina had no idea what the lady meant. But she had that kind of smile that always made Tina feel like she’d better be quiet and small around whoever wore it, because that type of smile could turn to tears at any second for no clear reason.
Mama laughed like she got the joke and put a hand on Tina’s head, brushing her hair down. Tina grabbed her mama’s hand as she watched the other kids. She didn’t know any of them—Mama had said the twins would be here, but the last time Tina saw them, they were standing with their daddy and didn’t look like they were going anywhere soon. As for the other kids, Tina took one look and didn’t want anything to do with them. The ones who were younger were all being crybabies and the middle ones were laughing at them with mean faces, and the oldest ones were off together ignoring the rest and Tina couldn’t blame them. There were several grown-ups in the room—all women—and they mostly sat with the crybabies trying to get them to stop.
Tina gripped Mama’s hand tighter, trying to let her know that she didn’t want to stay. Maybe Mama would get the message and take her out of here and let her play with the twins, who looked kinda bored anyway.
Oh!Tina had a great idea. She could tell the twins about the mermaid sundial and the three of them could go looking for it. That way, the twins wouldn’t be so bored, and Mama and Camden could work all night and not have to worry about showing it to her. Best of all, Tina could avoid all these other weird kids. Exactly what her teacher called a win-win, only it would be a win-win-win-win-win if you counted everybody who won.
Tina smiled at her great idea and looked up at Mama. Mama looked worried until she saw Tina’s smile. She smiled back and Tina was certain that it was a ‘message received loud and clear’ smile and that they were about to blow this pop stand. She started to say the words out loud to make her mom laugh, when Mama did the worst thing ever by letting go of her hand and saying, “Have fun, Pepita. I’ll see you after.” Followed by theveryworst thing ever—she turned to walk away.
That’s when Tina stamped her foot. And Mama looked mad. And one of the crybaby women got up and took Tina by the arm like she was one of the crybabies. And all the other kids either stared or laughed at her or did both.
All Tina wanted to do was make it all stop. So she shouted, “No!”
And made it worse. Before she knew what was happening, another woman was telling Mama it was best if she left right now, that they had everything under control and Tina would be just fine. The crybaby lady still had her by the arm, and as soon as Mama was out of sight, she gave Tina’s arm a really mean squeeze and dragged her to the corner by the windows.
The crybaby lady crouched and looked Tina in the eye. “Sweetheart, you’re too big to be throwing a tantrum. Why don’t you stay here until you’re ready to play nice with the other kids?”
