“How did he take the news?” Ellis asked as they walked to the house.
“He’s not upset. He said he loves me.”
Ellis took her hand and squeezed it. “I’m happy for you. Did you ask him if he wants to visit?”
“He’s coming. As soon as we get tickets.”
A strong gust made branches snap overhead. They ran back to the house, laughing at how drenched they were as they arrived on the porch.
“Talking to Jack has done you good,” Ellis said. “I’m glad I’ll get to meet him soon.”
“You’ll love him. He’s the sweetest person.”
“Raven . . .” She put her hand softly on her cheek. “I see how much you love him. And out of that love came this baby. You and he and your love made this child. Nothing and no one else. Do you understand?”
“I’ll try to.”
She kissed Raven’s cheek.
“Do you mind if I start calling you Mom?”
“I would love that,” her mother said.
They were both going to cry. They looked out at the Wild Wood. The wind had stopped, and sunlight suddenly slanted through the oak canopies. Rain dripping out of sparkled leaves and drapes of moss looked like glitter in the steamy, straight-edged shafts of light. It was the most magical the earth had ever appeared to Raven.
“Wow, look at that,” her mother said.
“Is the storm already over?” she asked.
“No, we have hours to go,” she said. “The hurricane’s swirling center sends out bands of squalls that make the weather change rapidly.”
Even as she spoke, racing gray clouds scuttled the sunlight, plunging the Wild Wood into mysterious darkness. With a precipitousness that captured Raven’s breath, the wind returned with unrestrained fury, whipping branches, moss, and leaves into reckless flight.
“You see?” her mother said. “The tempest has returned.”
“I think it’s beautiful,” Raven said.
Her mother laughed and hugged her arm around her. “You’ve got a lot of me in you, girl.”
She did. She had often felt something, a strength of heart and soul that kept her going when Audrey was too sick to take care of her. When she’d wandered as a lonely half-spirit child in the woods. When she’d vowed she would never let go of Jackie, Huck, and Reece once she’d found them. She used to think that power had come from the raven spirit. Now she knew much of her strength had passed to her from Ellis. From this woman watching the storm with her. This mother who could hold her in her arms. Who could cry with her, talk to her, and understand her.
She was half-Ellis. Not half-spirit. And she’d never felt stronger.
10
ELLIS
The baby moved beneath her hands. Something hard jutted against her palm. An elbow. Maybe a knee.
“She likes it,” Raven said.
Raven always referred to the baby as a girl, though she was only guessing.
“She can see the sunlight through your skin,” Ellis said. “Maybe that’s why she’s so active.”
“That must be beautiful.”
Ellis poured more massage oil onto her belly and gently rubbed her hands over Raven’s taut, sun-warmed skin. Raven relaxed against the pillows.
Ellis looked out at the muted colors of the field, thought of the new life soon to emerge from the roots of the hibernating grasses and flowers. She wondered where the baby would be when the first flowers bloomed. Raven and Jackie still hadn’t decided whether to keep the baby or give it up for adoption. Or maybe they had decided and hadn’t told anyone. Ellis stayed out of their decision. Raven and Jackie were remarkably mature teenagers. They didn’t need advice, and Ellis wanted them to feel confident about whatever they decided.
Ellis pulled Keith’s soft flannel shirt down over Raven’s belly. He had offered his shirts when Raven refused to buy maternity clothes. But in recent weeks, she’d grown out of most of Keith’s clothing.
Ellis took off Raven’s socks and massaged her feet with the oil.
“That feels great,” Raven said.
“Your dad used to massage my feet when I was pregnant with the boys.”
“Not with me?”
“No. Things weren’t going well with us by that time.”
“Mom . . . ?”
Ellis looked up at her. She had tears in her eyes.
“What’s wrong, sweetheart?” Ellis asked.
“I’m really sorry about that day I said I wasn’t meant to be yours and Dad’s. That was the meanest thing ever to say to a mother. Especially one whose baby was stolen.”
“You don’t have to apologize. You were indoctrinated into another way of thinking by Audrey from the time you were a baby.”
“It was still mean. I should have known that.”
“You only think that because your healing has been so rapid. How far you’ve come since that day is a testament to your incredible strength of spirit.”
“Sometimes I don’t think I’ve come far. Have you noticed I never ask to go back to Washington anymore?”
Ellis had noticed but didn’t want to ask about it.
“Do you know why? I’m afraid Audrey’s spirit lives on that land. I’m scared of how angry she is with me for everything I’ve done. I’m even afraid there are earth spirits there that side with her.” Tears ran down her cheeks. “I love my house and those woods and fields, but I’m too frightened to go there. I don’t think I ever will again.”
Ellis wrapped Raven in her arms. “I’m not surprised you feel that way after everything that’s happened. Give yourself more time to recover.”
“I let Sondra and the police do everything she didn’t want. They dug up her body. They did an autopsy on her. I don’t even know where she is right now.”
Ellis wiped her tears. “That was all out of your control. And I’ll tell you where she is. Her spirit lives in your memories. And those are controlled only by you. Try to let go of the bad and keep the good of her within you.”
Raven looked astonished. “Do you think she had good in her?”
“You’re a beautiful person. She must have had good qualities.”
“I can’t believe you would say that.”
“It’s not easy. But I understand that she was sick. And I saw
