Southern Lights: A Novel

Daisy was still sitting on the bed and took the iPod off so she could talk to Savannah again. “I like your music. It’s cool.” She had the same soft southern drawl their father did, and it sounded cute on her. It was eleven o’clock by then. “Do you like your mom being a lawyer? Mine doesn’t do anything. She plays bridge and goes to lunch, and shops a lot.”

“I like shopping too,” Savannah admitted. “So does my mom, but she works hard. Her work is really interesting, except when something stupid happens, like the letters I got. That never happened before. My grandma was a lawyer too,” she added. “Now she’s a judge.”

“I thought judges were men.” Daisy looked puzzled.

“Nope,” Savannah informed her. “They can be women too. She runs the family court, they do divorces and stuff, custody cases, a lot of stuff about kids.”

“She must be smart.” Daisy looked impressed.

“She is, and nice. I love her a lot.”

“My grandma is the president general of the United Daughters of the Confederacy.” It was a mouthful for a ten-year-old, but she whipped through it, never realizing that she was Savannah’s grandmother too. “And I have two brothers, Henry and Travis.” Savannah laughed at that.

“Me too.”

“That’s odd.” Daisy looked surprised.

“Same brothers, because we have the same dad,” Savannah explained.

“That is soooo weird,” she said, smiling. “I always wanted a sister.”

“Me too.”

“Did you know about me?” Daisy asked, as she lay back against the pillows and looked at Savannah.

“Yes, I did,” Savannah said gently. “My mom told me a long time ago.” And then she had an idea. “Do you want to sleep in here with me tonight?” There was room for ten of them in the huge bed, and Savannah thought it might form a bond between them that was already off to a good start. Daisy considered the offer, and then nodded. “Do you want to go get your bear?” Savannah asked, since Daisy had said she slept with him.

“I better not. Mama might hear me and not let me come back.” She was smart, and right. “I can sleep with yours.”

Savannah pulled the covers down for her, and Daisy slipped between the sheets with a grin. Savannah went to put her own nightgown on then, and was back in a few minutes while Daisy waited for her wide awake. And Savannah turned off the lights and got into bed too.

“Are you scared to be here?” Daisy asked her in a whisper after a few minutes. They were both lying on their backs in the dark, looking up at the blue silk canopy on the bed. The question made Savannah think of her mother and how much she missed her, and how strange it was to be here.

“A little,” she answered in a whisper. “That’s why I asked you to sleep with me tonight.” In answer, Daisy slipped her small hand into Savannah’s and held tight.

“You’ll be okay,” she reassured her. “Daddy won’t let anything happen to you, and the bad man won’t write to you anymore, and then your mama will put him in jail. And we have each other now,” she said with the sweetness and innocence of childhood. What she said, and the little hand in hers, brought tears to Savannah’s eyes.

“Thank you,” she said softly, and leaned over to kiss Daisy on the cheek. It was soft and felt like a baby’s skin to her. Daisy smiled and closed her eyes, and kept her hand in Savannah’s. Her grip relaxed eventually, and they both fell asleep side by side.

It was after midnight when their father knocked gently on the door. When there was no answer, he opened it a crack to peek in. He saw that Savannah was in bed, and tiptoed into the room in the darkness, and then noticed two shapes side by side in the moonlight. He saw both his daughters there, sound asleep and holding hands. He stood looking at them for a minute with a tender smile, as tears ran down his cheeks. And then he left the room as silently as he had come in and closed the door.

Chapter 8

When Savannah woke up in the morning, sunlight was streaming into the room, and Daisy was gone. She was shocked to see that it was ten o’clock and she had slept like a rock. She hadn’t heard Daisy steal out of the room in the morning, and there was no evidence that she’d been there. She had left the room at dawn so no one would find her in Savannah’s bed, or there would have been hell to pay with her mother.

Savannah showered, brushed her hair and teeth and dressed, and made her way to the kitchen, where two women were sitting at the kitchen table. They smiled when she walked in.

“Good morning,” Savannah said cautiously, wondering where her stepmother was.