Annie Oakley's Arc

Chapter 12 of 13

The rain had thinned to a drip off the eaves when Annie heard the wagon. Fawn lifted her head from the moose. Yeti's tail thumped once against the porch boards. Annie stood and brushed the wet from her skirt. Four figures climbed down at the next cottage. A young woman came first, no older than a big sister ought to be, with three girls close behind her. Two moved straight for the porch. One hung back at the woman's skirt, dark hair, a prairie dress the color of old wheat. "Fawn," the woman said, and was up the steps before Annie could speak. She knelt and put both hands on Fawn's face. "You're not alone." "She stayed," Fawn said. She pointed at Annie. "Her name is Annie. That's her moose. That's her dog." The woman looked up. Her eyes were tired and clear. "I'm Lucy Gray. I'm their mama." She glanced at the girls behind her. "Faye. Fallon. And Finnley, back there." Annie caught the dark-haired one peeking around Lucy Gray's arm, then vanishing again. Annie stepped down off the porch and went slow across the wet boards. She crouched so her eyes were lower than Finnley's. "Hi, Finnley," Annie said. "I'm Annie. I sat with your sister till the thunder went off." Finnley did not answer. She pressed her cheek against her mother's sleeve. "It's okay," Annie said. "You don't have to say anything. I brought a moose and a dog. That's the loudest thing about me." Finnley's mouth moved a little. She looked at Yeti, who had wandered up and sat down at Annie's boot. Then she looked at Annie. "You stayed the whole storm?" Finnley asked. "The whole storm." Finnley stepped out from behind her mother. She reached and touched the top of Yeti's head, careful, like she was checking that he was real. "He likes that," Annie said. Lucy Gray stood with Fawn tucked against her hip. "I owe you a thank you I can't pay. They were sickly babies, all four. Doctors said things I won't repeat. God got them through it. I knew He would." Annie's chest went warm and quick. "You mean that plain?" "I mean it plain." "Then we're neighbors twice," Annie said. Her voice caught, and she let it. She had ridden a long way hoping to find one house like this. It had been across the path the whole time. Finnley was still working her fingers through Yeti's fur. "Can I hold the moose next time?" she asked. "Next storm," Annie said. "He's yours for it." Lucy Gray gathered her girls toward their door and told Annie to come for supper when the road dried. Annie watched them go inside. Finnley looked back once before the door shut. Annie crossed the path to her own porch. She had four new neighbors, and one of them, she felt sure, was going to need her.