It’s merry chaos. Outside, Silas is hastily constructing a goat pen, not easy in the autumn rain. April has instructions to pick up any books she can find on animal husbandryfrom the library after school, while Carlos rearranges the kitchen, as a generous ration upgrade was dropped at the farm to accommodate the newcomers.
I’m helping to transfer Dom’s rock collection to its new lodgings. James, Young Tom, and Wendell are carting in furniture for a woman and three children.
“We really don’t have to worry about them liking it. This is more space than they’re used to,” I say, boxing up another geode, then attempting to heft the collection into my arms.
“Kayla, for the last time! You’re not supposed to be lifting things!” James rushes to pull the box out of my hands.
“It’s, like, ten pounds!”
“Twenty!”
“If you don’t let me do this, DeLuca, I will whip your ass!” The box teeters against my belly, which has started to make itself prominent. Five months prominent.
I had a few rough days during my first trimester—a mixture of fear that I might lose this baby too, and guilt about having a child with someone other than Curtis. But more often than not, I feel so lucky. I’m due in February.
James throws his hands up in surrender. “Far be it from me to call your judgment into question.”
“Thank you.” I do my best to stride away with purpose, but between the box and my condition, it’s more of a victory waddle.
I step outside, meaning to head straight to Albert’s—but then I spot them coming up the drive. I drop the box and it clunks to the ground. I shouldn’t be trusted with heavy objects at the best of times.
“Beth-Anne!” I sprint towards her, James’s voice chasing me.
“You shouldn’t be doing that, either!”
I don’t pay him any attention. In front of me is a woman my age, her golden hair falling loose from a sensible bun. She walks tentatively onto the acreage, a small girl’s hand in hers. Behind them are a pack of five goats, which an eight-year-old boy drives forward with a thin willow branch. Bringing up the rear is Sid, carrying the baby.
“Kayla Hollins.” She says my name so softly, reverent. “As I live and breathe. It’s really you.”
“Can I hug you?” I want to, desperately. I found out she was alive months ago, after Astolia conceded to Salt Spring’s terms. In order to maintain access to the hospital and other island services, they have to allow regular visits from the League of Gulf Nations, including a medical practitioner, to assess the entire population. I wanted to go and see her myself, but Astolia made it clear that my husband and I aren’t invited.
Last month, Beth-Anne decided to take Salt Spring up on the offer to apply for sanctuary, which was extended to any colony members who were kept from knowing about the so-called alliance for all those years. Most didn’t accept. Either they’ve been there too long to see straight, or it feels too much like home to them. It isn’t for me to judge.
Beth-Anne grins and opens her arms. I reciprocate and find the one thing that feels better than letting go of the past. Holding on. “I got your letters,” she says.
“I’m so glad.”
“Doctor Levy had to sneak them in. But she said you were happy. She said…” She trails off, looking around the freshly harvested fields, and the boys popping up to wave at her. “By Aries, you’ve got a lot of space here.”
“You’re going to love your apartment.” I slide my arm through hers. “There’s a big room for you, and a whole second one for the kids.”
“Rafe, take the goats to that tall man over there. Heseems to want them,” she says to her son, and the boy drives the flock toward Silas. Beth-Anne looks at me, expression wary. “Your husband says they’ll want the kids to go to school? All day?”
“All day,”
“Well, that’s a long time.” Her eyes drift over the acreage again, resting on the house. I wonder if I looked this spooked the first day I arrived. Scratch that, I was worse. “I guess they need it, though, to live in a place like this? It’s sobig.”
It’s tiny, really. A single island in an ocean of unknowns. But it’s enough.
“Who’s ready for the grand tour?” James strides forward. He’s under strict orders not to flirt with her, but even when he’s not trying to sleep with a beautiful woman, James is perpetually friendly. I let him get away with it.
Especially because two seconds later, Dominick pushes him out of the way. “It’smyold place! I get to show it to her!”
“Hope you like overgrown boys,” I whisper, and she laughs.
“I do. I like men best when they’re still boys.”
I nod. Maybe her sanctuary papers say why she came without her husband. Maybe it’s a pleasant reason, like he’s dead. I’ll wait for her to explain when she’s ready. It’s clear that she’s here for a fresh start, and if there’s one thing I’ve learned since coming here, it’s that change takes time.
