“Lacey.” Aunt Linda’s voice made me jump. I looked into her face, dark in the night. “You feeling any better, honey? You ready to go in?”
I looked into my aunt’s face. Her eyes red, her nose pink, from crying? She was crying, too? For Momma? Or for me? For all three of us?
“I don’t want to go inside,” I said. My voice sounded like I had a cold, like I had been coughing too long.
Aunt Linda didn’t say anything. I stared back across the road, past the orange of the streetlamp, the same direction the ambulance had gone. The same way Momma had gone.
“I’m all alone now,” I said, my voice coming out a sad whisper. “All alone.” Saying the words made my heart feel empty.
Aunt Linda rocked me into her.
“No, baby,” she said. “No you aren’t. I’m here, too.”
I’m here, too.
The words were like sweet medicine. Soothing.
“Maybe,” I said, whispering, “maybe I am just like her.”
Aunt Linda let out a little gasp. “Oh my goodness, Lacey, you are not. No you aren’t. You, my sweet girl, you are right as the summer. And strong as an old work horse. No one could have done what you’ve done.”
That was what Aaron had said.
Maybe the two of them were right.
Maybe I was strong.
I would get better, no matter what. Because I did not want to be my mother. Not at all.
“Ready?” Aunt Linda said after a while.
I nodded.
Then I went in the house. Determined.
* * *
IN MY DREAM, the room is full of books and Mr. Dewey flies straight to me. He perches on my finger and whistles a Disney song.
“I’m back,” Aunt Linda says. “I’m back.”
“And so’s Mr. Dewey,” I say.
There is a framed picture of Momma. She’s thin and her face is scarred, but she smiles at me when I look at her through the glass.
“You gotta get better, now,” Momma says. Her voice sounds just like mine. “You gotta get better, Lacey.”
Aunt Linda says, “I’ll take care of her, Angela.”
“She will,” I say. “And I’ll take care of me, too.”
Even dreaming, this is my choice.
Also by Carol Lynch Williams
The Chosen One
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
MILES FROM ORDINARY. Copyright © 2011 by Carol Lynch Williams. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.
www.stmartins.com
ISBN 978-0-312-55512-2
First Edition: March 2011
eISBN 978-1-4299-6658-0
First St. Martin’s Griffin eBook Edition: March 2011
