When Kitty awoke, gasping for breath, she found herself still
sitting in the bathtub. She quickly
looked down at her arms, greatly relieved to find no spiders, and sat motionless
for a few moments, gathering her wits about her. The hot water had completely sapped every last
bit of her energy, and she even felt a bit dizzy, from getting too hot in the
steamy water, she supposed. Grateful
that it had only been a dream, Kitty rose up tiredly, holding to the sides of
the tub to steady herself, and carefully stepped out onto a towel placed on the
wooden plank floor.
Hastily drying off, she moved in front of the mirror to
dress. Kitty grimaced when she noticed an
ugly, purple bruise on her chest where the Indian man had hit her. She gingerly rested her fingers in the center
of it. The mark was tender and throbbed
a bit when she touched it. Sighing, she
wondered how long it would take to fade away, then quickly threw on her
dressing gown over her underclothes and rolled up the sleeves. She had to get busy on Lillie Mae. That poor child was going to take a while to
whip into shape.
Lillie Mae sang made up songs throughout her entire bath, splashing
happily in the water while Kitty gently scrubbed away layers of grime acquired throughout
the past month since Celia had died, paying special attention to tender, filthy
areas behind delicate shell-shaped ears, under impossibly small fingernails and
between tiny toes. She poured pitchers
of warm water over her long, snarled hair and attempted to gradually work the
tangles out in the water with an herbal concoction Isom had given her. He claimed Miz Celia had sworn by it. And
Lillie Mae hadn’t hollered in protest at Kitty’s meticulous ministrations, not
once.
Occasionally, a soft, warm, fuzzy ball of fire would attack
Kitty’s bare foot as she worked, making her jump in surprise every single time,
to Lillie Mae’s complete delight. The
little girl would chortle gleefully at the antics of her small, gamboling
kitten, and Kitty wondered how on earth the child could be so happy and
carefree after all that she’d been through.
Using her fingertips to work on a particularly tangled hank of
baby fine, strawberry blonde hair, Kitty asked tentatively, “Do you like living
here, Lillie Mae?”
The child nodded solemnly.
“Ohhhh, yes. I have a daddy now. I never had a daddy before.” She paused, and Kitty could see the small
mind working behind her wide green eyes.
“And I have food to eat. Isom
cooks good food for me! I eat it all up. He cooks very good pie! Dee-licious!”
She soundly smacked her lips and patted her belly and sang, “Pie! Pie!
Pie! I like pie!”
Kitty smiled through the mutinous tears in her eyes as she
marveled at the resilience of this little child from whom so much had been
taken, and then miraculously given back.
Lillie Mae grinned back and then scratched her chin, adding
thoughtfully, “And a bed. I ain’t never
had a bed before neither.”
“Oh…” Kitty was taken
aback at her answer, and she had to swallow hard. “It’s…it’s good to have a bed and a daddy to
take care of you. And Isom, too.”
“Yeah, they take real fine care of me...” Lillie Mae intently examined a drop of water as
it gathered on her fingertip and dripped slowly into the bathtub. “…not like my real mother.” Suddenly she frowned and looked at
Kitty. “My real mother, she didn’t take
such good care of us at all. We had to
leave, me and my sister did.”
Kitty’s voice caught in her throat, and she was unable to
get any words out at all. She just
continued gently working on the child’s hair.
And listening very quietly.
“My real mother was gonna have a baby so she said me and
Geneva, we had to leave!” She looked
incredulously at Kitty. “I didn’t have no
place to sleep. And it was very, really cold.” She wrapped her thin arms around herself,
remembering the bitter winds that would whip down the city streets. She added softly, “I was scared.” The child looked down at her wet hands and
examined her pruny fingers. “I didn’t
have anything much to eat neither… No
pie. I miss my sister.”
Kitty finally found her voice. “I bet you do, sweetheart.”
“Yes, I miss her lots.
We couldn’t find her at all to go on the train with me.” Her little expression was forlorn. “We looked and looked and couldn’t find her
anywheres… I miss my sister very much.”
The child looked up at her appealingly, and entreating green
eyes locked with hers. “How long can you
stay, Miss Kitty? How long will you stay
with us? For a long time?”
“Well, I…”
“I like you an awful bunch, Miss Kitty. You’re nice.
You take really, very good care of me.
My mother, she never took good care of me at all...”
“Lillie Mae, I’ll be visiting for a little while at least.”
“A long time, please?
Can you stay a big, long time?”
Lillie Mae stood up and put her wet little hands on Kitty’s cheeks,
imploring. “My daddy likes you,
too. He would like it very much if you
stayed, too.”
Kitty’s cheeks flushed.
“Oh, you little rascal. Don’t go
talking about your daddy like that,” Kitty teased as she wrapped a towel around
her small charge and lifted her out of the tub squealing. The wet little thing wrapped her arms and
legs around Kitty’s body and squeezed tight, Kitty’s heart melting inside of
her. She hugged the tiny child back, inhaling
the sweet scent of clean, baby soft skin that surprisingly made her chest ache
with longing. Kitty dried her off until she
was pink and glowing and dressed her in a fresh, sun-washed cotton
pinafore. She brushed the child’s hair
until it shone and began curling in soft waves, tying it back with a big bow. Then Lillie Mae crawled in Kitty’s lap and
laid her head on her chest, repeating, “Stay here with me and Daddy, Miss
Kitty. Please stay…”
Kitty took a deep breath, and started to explain why she
couldn’t stay when she suddenly felt a small hand ever so gently touch her
chest where her dressing gown had fallen open.
“You’re hurt, Miss Kitty! Did you fall down?”
“Oh, I’m alright, Lillie Mae. It’s just a bruise.” But the child’s fingers felt cold on her
skin. She looked down, and the
discoloration was even larger now, as big as a man’s hand. Kotori’s hand. It felt hot to the touch.
Lillie Mae frowned.
“Does it hurt a whole bunch?”
Kitty lied, “Not very much.”
It was beginning to throb a bit worse, but Kotori had knocked the wind
out of her when he’d violently shoved her down with the flat of his hand. No wonder she was sore. “I’ll be fine, Lillie Mae.” She changed the subject. “Do you want to go show your daddy how nice
you look now, while I get dressed?”
“Yes! Yes! You want to come with me?” Lillie Mae tugged on her hand.
Kitty shook her head.
“No, you go on. I’ll be out in a
little while once I get changed, alright?”
Lillie Mae grinned.
She was a different child, a beautiful child. She had just needed a little tender, loving
care. Kitty’s heart ached again just
looking at Lillie Mae. Lillie Mae was a
lucky girl, to have been rescued from the brutal streets the way she was. But, Kitty thought, Virgil was a lucky man to
have such a precious little girl to call his own now.
Sighing, she watched the child scamper out the door and went
to the wardrobe to find something to wear, wondering all the while if Matt was
in Hays City yet, and whether he was still upset with her for getting so awful
mad at him. Kitty lightly touched the
fevered bruise on her chest, wishing he was with her right now instead.
tbc
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