Read Online A Gift of Time (Tassamara) by Sarah Wynde - Free Book Online

was palpable.
    There is more troubling this child than a day or two lost in the woods, Natalya realized with a jolt. “Can you tell me why you’re afraid?” she asked.
    The girl didn’t answer. Her stare was so blank she might not even have understood the question.
    Natalya sat down where she stood, crossing her legs and propping her elbow on her thigh, her face on her fist, as if she planned to stay there awhile.
    She wasn’t a trained therapist. The child needed to talk to a forensic psychologist, someone with experience in asking the right questions, providing the right reassurances. But Natalya couldn’t leave her hiding in a corner.
    She thought back to the foster parent training she’d taken, but she’d had no intention of becoming a foster parent and much of it had to do with the rules and regulations and procedures. Still, help the child feel safe—that was pretty basic.
    “Grace was trying to guess your name, and you weren’t answering,” she said slowly. “But I need something to call you. Is it okay if I give you a name? Just for now?”
    No response. Natalya hadn’t really expected one.
    “Kenzi,” Natalya said. Now where the hell had that come from? Oh, right. Television. “Can I call you Kenzi?”
    The girl's eyes opened wide and then she blinked twice in rapid succession.
    Natalya decided to take that as a yes. Carefully, picking her words with caution, she continued, “Okay, Kenzi, here’s the deal. I’m a doctor. That means sometimes I have to hurt people, like when I cleaned up your feet last night and it stung a little.”
    She waited but got no response, so she went on. “But doctors swear an oath.” She paused, suddenly doubtful, as she asked, “Do you know what that is?”
    Kenzi didn’t move but something about her air of tension looked uncertain to Natalya, so she explained. “It’s a promise. A really serious, really important promise. The most important promise a doctor makes is to do no harm. Do you understand what that means?”
    Natalya hoped for a nod, at least one of the tiny inclinations the girl had managed the previous evening, but Kenzi just looked at her, unblinking.
    Natalya sat up straighter, resting her hands on her knees, and wished she knew what she was doing. “It means I will do my best never to hurt you on purpose. If you do something wrong, I won’t hurt you. If you do something bad, I won’t hurt you. If you make me really, really mad—which is pretty hard to do, I don’t get angry easily—but if you do, I might yell a little, but I won’t hurt you. You’re safe here. I don’t know why you’re scared or what you’re scared of, but I promise, you you’re safe with me and safe here in my house.”
    She waited. Two seconds, five seconds, ten seconds, and then Kenzi took a deep breath and let it out on a shaky exhale, the kind that said tears might be close to the surface.
    Good enough. Natalya didn’t know whether she should follow up and try to get the girl to talk or leave her in peace. Best bet, though, would be to leave the talking to the professionals.
    Gently, Natalya said, “You can stay where you are if you want or you can come back and finish your granola.” She pushed herself up, off the floor, tugging her robe back around her. “Or maybe have something else to eat, some fruit? Or eggs if you like eggs?”
    Kenzi stayed motionless in the corner, so Natalya added, “All right, I’m going to get my breakfast. You come whenever you’re ready.”
    As she headed back to the kitchen, she frowned with worry. She didn’t feel qualified to analyze a troubled child. But why was Kenzi so frightened? Grace hadn’t scared her. She’d been eating breakfast quite peacefully. Could it have been the crash of the glass? But why had she come back and then run away again?
    Grace was almost finished cleaning the floor, wiping a damp paper towel across it in wide swathes. “Everything okay?”
    Natalya grabbed her mug of coffee and took a cautious