Mary reached for Maizie’s hand to hold it, but the girl withdrew. “Go on.”
“I screamed and Mama picked me up and ran out of the house on bare feet. She ran down a path towards a muddy river and placed my feet on the ground. She spread her arms and told me to do the same. Reaching for my hand we were lifted on a warm draft of air high above the land and over the river. We flew along the river and were carried away from the danger. But Mary, my mama let go of me and I began to drift and fall away. My mama had this strange smile on her face. I tried to right my flight, but I couldn’t. I cried for her to help me, but I was being blown farther and farther away.”
Mary remained silent for a moment. “That’s a scary dream.”
“She let go of me. I was falling from the sky, because my mama let go!” Maizie cried.
“It was only a bad dream.”
“No Mary, I lived these things. The details are so clear to me.”
“What details?”
“In my nightmares, I’m in a little house with my mama. The house is near a river. And then a man comes in. Something bad happens, when he comes in. Always.”
“You don’t think you fell from the sky, do you?”
“No, but it felt real. The house, the man, the river. They must be real things. Mama and I were trying to run away and she let go of me.”
“Do you remember the house?”
“I remember the little house in the dream. And I have many memories of walking along a river.”
Mary reached for Maizie’s hand again, and this time the girl didn’t recoil.
“I don’t want these nightmares. I want them to go away.”
“I know. Do you think that there may be a clue among your mama’s things? Maybe there is something that could explain your memories.”
“There was one thing interesting, a map of Mississippi. It has marks on it. I don’t remember my mama ever using a map, but I don’t remember much from Mississippi.”
“May I see the map?”
“There’s more than a map. A pillowcase with initials on it. That was the only clean thing in the bag. My mama’s things were old and dirty.” Maizie looked up at Mary. “They didn’t look dirty to me before. Living here has changed how I see things. It has changed me.”
Maizie’s eyes portrayed her pain and sorrow and Mary’s heart melted.
“I don’t want you to see me how I was then,” Maizie continued. She withdrew her hand from Mary’s, sat up, and hugged her knees to her chest.
“Maizie, the first time I saw you, I saw you. I knew you needed a family. That is what we are, all of us, a family. You were meant to come here to be with us. I believe it was your destiny.”
“Destiny?”
“Yes, your fate.”
“Sometimes I’m so happy here I could burst. Sometimes I feel guilty ’cause my mama had nothing and I have so much. I can’t figure out our life together, my mama and me. And now that I am here I am so confused. Why would she choose to travel all the time? I never had a home. Not until now. I thought I was like my mama, not afraid, but my nightmares are telling me I was a frightened little girl.”
Mary stood up and walked to the window in Maizie’s room. “Maizie, let’s look at that map and your mother’s things. Glidewell may be your future, but that bag is your past.” Mary was quiet for a moment to allow Maizie to take it all in.
Then she added, “Let’s face your past together.”
Chapter 54
Maizie’s Diary
October, 1931
Mary looked at the things in my mama’s bag. On the death certificate she noticed my mother’s name was written down as Caroline Freedman. She asked me if my parents married. I don’t think so. Don’t know why Mama used Freedman as her last name, she must have had one of her own.
I try to forget about Mama’s sickness. She was in so much pain and no one could help her. I held her like she always did me. She died in my arms, in a women’s shelter on a dirty bed. I’ve never been so scared and alone in my life.
I am not alone now. I know that and I don’t want to be sad. My mama always said, “Little girl, don’t you waste a day being sad, ’cause no one care if you are, except me. You just losin’ a day you could be livin’.” I got to believe my mama knew what she was talkin’ about. I don’t want to waste too many more days.
Tommy O’Rourke took me for a riding lesson around the track a few days back. We raced. Breezy ran as fast as she could. I loved the wind in my hair and the feeling of moving fast down the track. Of course, Tommy won. He was on a young colt named Shoo Fly. Tommy says I look really good in the saddle. He says that Capp asked him to give me horseback-riding lessons. I like thinking that Capp had me on his mind before he left. I still think about him a lot. I miss him, especially his smile.
I’m not going to worry about that girl, Matilda. Mary thinks Capp is a real ladies’ man. I don’t want to think about that either.
Bonne nuit, mon ami,
Maizie Sunday Freedman
Chapter 55
The Portrait
Rye Fulton, photographer, was hard at work in his studio. He had spent many hours developing the pictures from the match-race weekend at the Glidewell Ranch. His editor had wanted the pictures soon to see the scope of possibilities for publication. The editor had never been to the ranch himself, but he’d heard enough to
