Read Online Baby by Patricia MacLachlan - Free Book Online

her and wiped her tears and sung to her. Lalo taught her how to blow a kiss, and sometimes she slept with Larkin. She painted with Lily and she dancedwith John.” Byrd paused. “Everyone here has been her family.”
    There was silence.
    Julia looked at Byrd, and then at Lalo and me, studying us for a moment. She turned back to Byrd.
    “That is why I chose you,” she said softly.
    And then, for the first time, she smiled. Lalo turned his head to look at me. I couldn’t look at him, but I knew what his look meant. Julia’s smile was Sophie’s smile.
    Papa sat down next to Mama. He reached over and took her hand. They looked at Julia.
    Julia began to speak.
    “I watched you last summer, all of you,” she said.
    Sophie got up from the floor and moved closer to the fire.
    “Hot,” Julia said almost without thinking.
    Sophie looked up.
    “Fire is hot,” she said.
    Julia stared at her.
    “Sophie talks,” she whispered.
    “Sophie talks,” whispered Sophie back to her.
    Julia swallowed. Tears sat in the corners of her eyes.
    “Sophie’s father was sick,” she whispered “We knew he would need an operation, and we knew that he would need care all the time. All
my
time. If he didn’t die. There was no one else. That was when I saw you.”
    She stopped then, and looked at Byrd.
    “And my parents were not good parents,” she said in a flat voice. “I never would have let them have Sophie. Never. I didn’t want Sophie to be with strangers. And you didn’t feel like strangers.”
    “You wrote—” began Mama, but her voice broke. “You wrote that things are better.”
    “Sophie’s father will get well,” said Julia.
    Papa moved on the sofa.
    “You took a great risk,” he said.
    It was the first time he had spoken.
    Julia looked at him, then at the rest of us.
    “But that is what a mother does,” she said.
    No one spoke.
    I wanted to hate her. I wanted her to go away and leave Sophie with us. I didn’t ever want to see her again. Ever. But I couldn’t hate her, because in the silence of the room Sophie walked over to hermother. She didn’t speak. They stared at each other for a moment. Then Sophie put her hand out and Sophie’s mother took it, and Sophie began to move her hand up and down. Something familiar from long ago.
    Tears came down Papa’s cheeks.
    Circles.

    The ferry stood at the dock. It looked old and worn in the light of morning, all of its rust and sea-streaked paint showing. The wind blew in gusts, some so harsh that Byrd held on to Lalo’s arm. Three cars and an empty flatbed truck went on the ferry, making a lonely clatter on the metal gangplank. A handful of people walked on, turning to wave to the handful on the wharf. Papa held Sophie tightly, and walked away from us, farther down the wharf. Sophie pointed up to the sky. Papa spoke to her, and she smiled.
    I saw Griffey, Rollie, and Arthur back by the gas pump looking strange without their instruments. Old man Brick sat in his truck, looking through the windshield. He didn’t get out. Lalo’s mother and father walked down the sidewalk, andDr. Fortunato’s car drove in and stopped where the wooden wharf began. He opened the door and stood next to it, watching us. Rebel sat on his motorcycle, and Ms. Minifred got off the back. A gust of wind came up, and her hair blew across her face. Without looking at her Rebel handed her his scarf.
    Julia turned to Mama.
    “Thank you is all there’s left to say,” she said.
    Mama took her hand, then they both looked at Papa.
    “John.”
    Mama said his name softly, but even in the wind he heard.
    He stood still for a moment. Then he kissed Sophie. He walked back to us. He handed Sophie to her mother. Byrd reached over and put the necklace with the ruby around Sophie’s neck.
    Julia turned and walked onto the ferry. Sophie stared at us over her back. Her eyes were solemn. I looked quickly at Papa, and he stared at Sophie as if he were trying to memorize her. Sophie didn’t smile. But just