caccia-to-reee,” Hilda sang out. She knew he hadn’t eaten. As hard as she’d tried to feed him up, he was still as skinny as he was when he’d come home from the service.
“Smells great. If it’s gone tomorrow, you’ll know I got the midnight munchies.” He held up a big plastic bag. “One of the nurses said you’d taken charge of the little girl, so I brought over a few things that were in the room.”
Star’s little head rose above the dog-kid huddle like a periscope. “What room?”
“The motel room.” Sam cleared his throat, eyeing the child as though he was afraid he might scare her. Or she, him. Quietly he explained, “I thought you might need some clothes.”
“Where’s my backpack?”
“It’s safe in my office. I’m…” He shifted to a lower voice, his version of theatrical. “I’m the sheriff in these parts, so I get to—”
“You can’t have my backpack. All my stuff is in it.”
“I’m not going to keep it. Listen…Star?” He looked to Hilda for approval, and she nodded. That’s right, son. You’re doing fine. He squatted on his heels, hat on his knee, and offered the child the plastic bag. “Star, can you tell me where you and your mother live now? And how you got here?”
She peered into the bag. “We used to live in California, but not anymore.” She pulled her face out of the bag and told Sam, “We came on the bus to find my grandmother.”
“Where does your grandmother live?” he asked, his voice soft and gentle.
“Right here.”
Sam looked up at Hilda as though she was the one who owed an explanation.
“I need your help downstairs, Sam.” She nodded toward the door. “Can’t quite reach the Oreos. Maggie, would you give the kids some ice cream while Sam helps me get the cookies?” She glanced at Star. “And then we’ll go check on your mom. Okay?”
Hilda said nothing as she led the way downstairs, followed by one of only two people in the world that could make her a real grandmother. Strong, steadfast, straight-shooting Sam. Hilda marched past the cookies and turned on him between cough drops and condoms.
“I don’t know what she’s doing here, Ma.” Hat in hand, he made a helpless gesture, all innocence. “It’s been more than eight years since I last saw her. Met her down in Wyoming when I was workin’ the oilfields. We were together for a while before I enlisted.”
“Star tells me I’m the grandmother she came looking for.”
Stared for a long moment, and then shook his head. “I don’t think so.”
“You don’t think so.”
“I left because there was another man.”
“Who’s my competition?”
“Mrs. Randone, I guess. Vic never said much about his family, but whoever raised him, she’d be no match for you, Ma. On the other hand, I wasn’t the right match for Merilee.”
“You never looked back?”
He lifted one strapping shoulder. “I called her a couple of times after I left. Wanted to make sure she was all right. I let her know I was shippin’ out. She didn’t say anything about a kid. She barely said anything at all.”
“Star’s last name is Brown,” Hilda reminded him.
A long moment passed over that thought. No father. Exclusively her mother’s child. Hilda knew her son, knew they were chewing on the same tough truth. Somebody hadn’t done his job.
“I just talked to the doctor. She’s in real bad shape.” Sam glanced toward the top of the stairs. “How’s the girl doin’? Does she seem okay?”
“Considering she’s in a strange place and her mother’s laid up in some kind of a coma, I think she’s doing pretty well.” She laid her hand on her boy’s sleeve. “She’s a brave little girl. Quite grown up for one so young. She cares wholeheartedly for her mother.”
He drew a deep breath and blew a sigh, still staring. “Merilee did a lot of drugs. That was another reason I left. If she was pregnant and still into…” He looked to his mother for assurance. “The girl seems, you know…really okay?”
“Her name is Star.”
“I found her birth certificate in Merilee’s stuff. ‘Father unknown’ looks pretty cold when you see it in black and white. I don’t know anything about Merilee’s family. As for Randone…” He shook his head. “I don’t know, Ma. You ask me, he shouldn’t be anybody’s father, but he was…you know.”
Under different circumstances, his reluctance to put it into words for his mother would have amused her. He’d had sex with a woman. Not that the fact that somebody had been having sex with her, too, was amusing, but he couldn’t tell her in so many words. She was his mother. And he was forever Sam.
“Your woman brought her child here, son. Star knew my name. She knew about the store.”
“I can’t claim she was ever really my woman, but I told Merilee all kinds of things.”
“Good things?”
“She came lookin’ for you, didn’t she?” He gave her a loving smile. “I’m always talkin’ you up, Ma.”
“You’re not what I’d call a big talker,” she teased, and he suffered in silence as she patted his chiseled jaw. “It has to be you, Sam. You’re the one she was looking for. Had to be. Maybe she thought you were still in the marines all this time.”
“Wouldn’t be hard for her to find that out without coming here.” He reached around her and plucked a package of Oreos off the shelf. “Especially if she told them she had my kid. The military’s pretty fussy about stuff like that.”
“Well, we’re speculating. We can do the detective work later. Right now I seem to have a granddaughter.”
“Yeah, well, don’t get too attached.” He handed her the cookies.
“I’m going to take Star at her word, Sam. Her mother’s word. That’s all she has to hang on to right now. The little security the child has.”
Staring at the top of the stairs once again, Sam pressed lips together and nodded mechanically. “You’re a nice lady, Hilda Beaudry.”
“Nice has nothing to do with it. I’m a woman of grandmothering age, and all I have is unattached sons. My clock is ticking, and I’m realizing I could actually have grandchildren, and they could be anywhere.”
“I take back nice.”
“I already gave it back.” But not her new role. “Who’s going to decide where she stays?”
“Social services, and I’ve already talked to them. Lila Demery’s the social worker assigned to the hospital. Until somebody else comes forward, I’m the only one who knows Merilee, and since I’m the sheriff…” He raised an eyebrow and returned the pat on the cheek. “I’m going to leave Star with you for now. But put the clock in a drawer.”
“I told her we’d have supper and then go see her mother.” He questioned her judgment with a look. “It’s what she wants. She’s already seen the worst.”
“I’m givin’ you wise. You’re a wise woman, so I guess you know what you’re doin’.”
“That’s better than nice. I’m old enough, I don’t have to be nice.”
“It’s good Maggie brought her kid over. Kids do better with other kids around.”
“Maggie has good instincts.” She gave a perfunctory smile. “Come up and have something