When Henry announced it was time to go, Anna and Polina returned inside, and Mrs. Eggers turned to Beacon. I was too far away to hear whatever was said between them. Mrs. Eggers put both hands on Beacon’s face the way Anna had, and Beacon covered them with her good hand and held them there. When Henry announced it was time, Mrs. Eggers went to the vehicle, and Beacon watched her go. Anna and Polina were still wiping their eyes when the doors closed. Beacon’s face was dry. I’d seen her in a collapsing building, on the grass outside it, with thirteen bodies coming out around her, and in a room full of people she’d just asked to walk into a war. She hadn’t cried at any of it. I didn’t read it as cold. I read it as someonewho’d learned to bury what she felt deep enough that it wouldn’t show.
I stayedon the path and waited until the engine sound faded before I went into the main camp.
“You’re busy this morning,” I said to Anna, looking at the dough she was kneading on the counter.
“We started rising with the loons on this lake before you were born, Bishop.” She smiled over her shoulder at Polina, who was seated at a long wooden table on the far side of the kitchen. “There’s coffee on the stove. Cups are in the cabinet to the left of the sink. Most everyone is up and gathered in the great room.”
“Good morning,” I said to Polina as I poured my coffee. “Mind if I hang out with you for a bit?”
She reached over and patted my hand. “Stay as long as you’d like, but know that Katarina is in the other room with Lyra. You may enjoy her company a bit more.”
“Nah. The two of you are the prettiest girls here. The smartest too.”
Both women chuckled.
“Your mother taught you well, young man.”
“What’s this about our mom?” Kingston asked, walking in with two mugs.
“Anna was saying she did a good job raising two well-mannered young men,” Polina told him.
I glanced at the doorway where Beacon stood, resting against the jamb.
“Mornin’,” I said when her eyes met mine.
“Bon matin,”she responded.
I got up and checked the cup she held. “More coffee?” I asked when I saw it was empty.
“I can manage.”
“And what would happen if I let you? Your aunt and grandmother would retract every nice thing they said about me.”
“Maybe not everything.” Anna winked. “Even with poor manners, you’d still be a handsome devil. Isn’t that right, Katarina?”
She smirked in my direction. “No comment.”
“Go see if the loons are here yet,” said Anna, lookingfrom Beacon to me.
“Yes, ma’am.” As I followed Beacon into the main room, I noticed she wasn’t using her crutch. “Leg feeling better?”
“It’s stiff, so I thought it would help if I moved it more.”
There was an enclosed porch off the left of the great room, and I followed her when that’s where she went.
“Have a seat, and I’ll see if I can loosen you up.”
“Me or my leg?”
I rubbed my hands together and blew on them, more for effect since it was warm on the porch. “How about both?” I asked when she sank into an oversized chair and rested her foot on a stool.
“Maybe later. For now, just the leg.”
Before taking a seat on the stool, I put a hand on both chair arms and leaned closer. “Is that a date later?”
Beacon’s eyes met mine, and in them, I saw the same heat I did every time I looked at her.
She shrugged one shoulder. “Maybe.”
