Page 100 of The Lost and Found Girl

“I should...probably talk to Dahlia about it?”

“She doesn’t pay rent on it,” her dad said. “My money renovated it.”

It was a pragmatic take, for certain, but Ruby would be the one who had to live with a sister filled with resentment if she didn’t want her there, not her dad.

“I’ll talk to Dee,” she said.

“You can stay in the house, for now, though, right?” her mom asked hopefully.

“Yes, of course,” Ruby said.

In fact, she really wanted to do that. Because honestly, she was too exhausted to do any sort of taking care of herself. And that was the greatest and best thing about being back home. Her mother’s cooking. And hopefully soon some of her mother’s coffee.

She had coffee with both of her parents before her father went out to start work, and then her mother ushered her upstairs to her bedroom. Initially, she’d shared a room with Dahlia, but once Marianne and Lydia had moved out, she and Dahlia’d had their own rooms, and they were still much the same as they’d been when she and her sister had moved out.

Ruby’s room was sweet and girly with a floral, yellow bedspread and a gold daybed. She had a tatted rug that covered the newly refinished wood floor. Her father, of course, refinished the floors every time they started to look worn.

Her mother took her suitcase out of her hand and swept it over to the bed, popping it open.

Ruby blinked, giving belated thanks that she had not packed too many intimate things in that suitcase. She had been traveling with a carry-on, and she hadn’t wanted airport security going through her personal items right in front of her.

The condoms she’d bought in Europe had stayed in Europe. And good thing too, since her mother was now pulling things out of the suitcase and beginning to put them away.

“Mom,” Ruby said, “you don’t have to do that.”

“I want to.” She frowned. “I don’t know how you’ve been living with so few things for so long.”

“I have perfected the art of not having much. And there wasn’t a whole lot I couldn’t leave behind, anyway. Moving between programs as often as I did, it’s better to travel light. Though, I did send a few things home. So, don’t be deceived. There is follow-up.”

“Good,” her mom said. “I would be a bit concerned if you came away from all of that with no souvenirs.”

“The souvenir was the education,” Ruby said. “Honestly. The museums. The historical sites. It wasn’t like anything... I can’t believe it’s over.”

“I’m a little surprised you didn’t end up settling there. In Italy or England. They were your favorites, weren’t they?”

“Yes,” she said slowly. “And I thought about it. But... I don’t know, there’s this opportunity here, and I got to know this town doing the work I did with the historical society. Doing the living history I did with the historical society...”

“Yes, I remember it well, since I sewed your dresses.”

“It just seemed like maybe it would be a waste to not try this. Plus, I miss you guys. I can’t imagine being away permanently.” She almost mentioned Mac. Almost mentioned Lydia’s loss. But the air of determinedall rightnessin the air was too firm and she didn’t want to disturb it.

“I can’t imagine it either,” her mom said, wrapping her arm around her and giving her a kiss on the head. “But I always knew that you were destined for big things, Ruby McKee.”

She didn’t say why, but Ruby knew it all the same. She’d been spared for some reason, after all. Everyone thought that. And so, she must be destined for some sort of greatness.

Ruby had never really felt all that great. Because as much as she valued the miracle that was her life, it was the other side of it that lingered. She’d been saved, it was true.

But first she’d been left to die.

She stood and went to the window, looked out over the familiar landscape, then squared her shoulders, as if to shake off the thought.

It didn’t do to dwell on the dark sides of the past, not when there was so much brightness all around.

Ruby wanted to bring brightness.

It was why she was here.

2