“Sure,” Shelly said.
“Down by the water, okay? I want to get my feet wet.”
Once they began walking. Grace was no longer quiet. She bombarded Shelly with questions. What was her job like? What did she like best about it? What did she like least? What was growing up like for her?
Did she have friends? Shelly answered every question with the sort of childlike honesty Rory was coming to expect from her.
“Rory told me about… how you were found on the beach,” Grace said.
“Did you always know about that? Did you always know that you were adopted?”
“Oh, yes,” Shelly said. She giggled.
“It was pretty obvious, anyway. I mean, everybody else in my family has really dark hair, and they’re not very tall. And there I was, , this skinny, blond string bean.” I “But it sounds like your adopted family took great care of you, right?
Maybe it was for the best that your mother. deserted you, and you ended up with a good family. “
“Absolutely,” Shelly said.
“I got a really good family.” “Were you always very tall?” Grace asked. “I mean,;
were you the tallest girl in your class when you were growing up?
You’re nearly as tall as me. ” | ” Yup,” Shelly said.
“And I think, actually, I’m taller i, than you.”
She looked at the top of Grace’s head, measuring.
“The beach is slanted, and it’s hard to tell.” ?
“Kids always teased me when I was young,” Grace’s said. “They said I looked like Olive Oyl. Did you get i teased a lot?” “No, hardly at all. Daria wouldn’t let anybody tease me.”
“Daria is her sister,” Rory explained, m case she’d forgotten.
Grace nodded.
“Yes. The one who found her… found Shelly.”
“She’s Supergirl,” Shelly said.
“You mean… because she saved you?” Grace asked.
“Me and a lot of other people. She’s an EMT. Well, she was, anyhow.”
“She sounds like an amazing person,” Grace said.
“I’m so glad she’s taken such good care of you.”
Rory was beginning to feel superfluous to the conversation, but he didn’t mind. He was taking mental notes, trying to ascertain from Grace’s questions what aspects of Shelly’s life would be of interest to his viewers.
“Rory said you make necklaces out of shells,” Grace said.
“Not just necklaces,” Shelly said.
“All kinds of jewelry.”
“I’d like to see your jewelry sometime,” Grace said.
This was Grace’s natural style, Rory thought: passionate interest in others. He liked that about her very much. He wondered if she would be able to draw Zack out with her questions, the way she was doing with Shelly.
“You know,” Grace began slowly, “sometimes when babies have a rough start in life, as you did, they develop health problems. Do you have any special health problems?”
The question struck Rory as odd. Intrusive and leading. Was she trying to get Shelly to admit to the brain damage? What on earth was Grace’s purpose in that?
But Shelly did not seem the least bit put off by the question. In fact, she embraced it.
“Yeah, actually, I do,” she said, a look of surprise on her face.
“How did you know that?” She looked at Rory.
“She’s really smart,” she said, nodding toward Grace, who wore a tight smile.
“I guess she is,” Rory said.
“I get seizures,” Shelly said.
“Do you think it’s because I was left on the beach?”
Grace touched her arm in comfort, and Rory was moved by the gesture.
It seemed as if it had been the right question to ask, after all, and he thought that Grace was an amazing woman. Intuitive, curious and kind. Why on earth would her husband have left her? Of course, he didn’t know if that was the way it had happened. And anyway, Glorianne had left him.
“Perhaps, but not necessarily,” Grace answered Shelly’s question.
“Some people are born with that problem. You probably would have the seizures whether your mother left you on the beach or not. How often do you have them?”
