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"What is it?" she demanded.

"When I put the book on the table. I

accidentally knocked something off... a container full of pills and some of them spilled out. I was just trying to find them all" I said quickly.

"Container?"

She walked to the table and looked at the packet. She glanced at me and then tightened her lips.

"I see. And have you found them all?" "I don't know. I think I did."

"You shouldn't be in here. Noble, and you certainly shouldn't be touching any of Betsy's things."

"I just... she told me to put the book back in her room."

Mama continued to study the pills. She took the container in hand and then looked at me.

"Has everything been put back the way it was?"

"I think so. Im not sure."

"Very good. Now get out"

I started away.

"Take the baby outside for some air," she added as I reached the door.

"For some air' ?"

"Yes. Noble. Take her for a walk. Go on," she ordered, and turned back to the vanity table. I wasn't sure. but I thought she was smiling.

Because it was a somewhat overcast evening. I didn't take Baby Celeste far from the front of the house. As always, she was curious about everything she saw. She wanted me to pronounce the name of anything she held or pointed at so she could repeat it and commit it to her memory. Recently, her vocabulary had grown impressively. She was putting together sentences and thoughts with the ability of someone years older. More and more when I looked at her now. I saw more thoughtfulness in her eves and in her expressions.

I was proud of her and amused by her, but at times I was in awe of her. Did her quick study and obviously high intelligence mean she was as special as Mama believed, or was she simply a precocious child, just a bright little girl who could leap and bound over the challenges someone her age was supposed to master? I had achieved goals faster than they were normally achieved. Why make any more of it?

And yet. Baby Celeste did have something more in her eyes, something more in the way she studied everything and everyone. She could very well be the blessed child Mama predicted she would be.

"What will become of us. Celeste?" I asked her, half amusingly and half wondering if she could actually tell me. I was sitting on the steps of the porch.

She paused to look at me. She had a blade of grass in her hands and was trying to make a sound with it as I had shown her how to do. It was

something Noble could do well. He played little tunes on blades of grass.

She hurried over to me and pressed herself against my leg as if she knew I wanted her beside me, to comfort me. Then she made the sound and laughed. I kissed her cheek. She had such light and delicate features, eyebrows that were barely visible, but long, beautiful eyelashes. If ever there was such a thing as someone with a delicious face, it was our Celeste,

She blew on the grass again, louder this time.

"You're getting as good at that as your uncle was," I whispered. I always felt I could tell her the truth, bring her close to that pool of revelation without endangering either of us much. She wouldn't understand and she never repeated anything I whispered. It was as if she knew what a secret was, knew it almost the moment she could hear one or see one.

Suddenly, she turned and threw her arms around my neck. I lifted her and kissed her cheek and she laid her head on my shoulder. The two of us sat there staring out at the darkness. I heard the distinct sound of branches cracking in the woods. My body tightened as I strained to see through the shadows.

"Deer," Baby Celeste said, and a moment later a small doe appeared.

It stood so still as it looked our way that it could have been a statue dropped in the night.

Baby Celeste slipped out of my arms and walked slowly toward the doe. It still didn't move. She lifted her hand and the doe lifted its head. Still, it did not flee. She took another step and another. I rose.

"Don't go too far," I warned.