Dreams for Stones (35 page)

She made sure he was fed and dry, washed and
clothed, hugged and cooed back at, surprised she could manage
it.

For Marisol and Carlito’s sake, she
pretended everything was going to be okay, and she was beginning to
hope that might eventually be true, when her step-uncle, Martin
Blair, stopped by the house two days after the funeral.

With him was a woman with a barracuda smile
who wore a tailored suit and carried a designer briefcase. The two
settled themselves in the living room.

“We have arrangements to make, Luz,” Martin
said.

Arrangements
? Like they’d had to make
for the funeral? Martin hadn’t even asked her opinion about that,
or she would have made sure the hymn “On Eagles’ Wings” wasn’t
included since
Mami
disliked it.

“What arrangements?” And couldn’t she manage
two words without them wobbling?

“Ms. Ross from Children’s Services is here
to explain where Carlito and Marisol will be living.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.
They’re going to live here with me.”

“Now, Luz, you know that just isn’t
possible.”

No, she didn’t know that. Spots danced in
front of her eyes, and her voice continued to betray her. “Why not?
They’re my brother and sister. And this is our home.”

Ross’s and Martin’s faces wavered, and the
edges of Luz’s vision darkened. She’d begun to float, when a sharp
pressure on her arm and a push on the back of her neck jerked her
back to earth.

“Here, keep your head down for a moment.
Now, take a deep breath.” It was the tucked and tailored Ms. Ross
who was pushing on the back of her head with more efficiency than
sympathy.

Luz kept her head down. Gradually, the
ringing in her ears subsided to be replaced by Martin’s voice.

“. . . house is in your parents’ names, but
the bank owns a big piece of it.” He sighed, still trying for
sympathy, no doubt. “I hate to have to be the one to tell you this,
Luz, but there’s no money.”

Blinking, she sat up and pushed Ms. Ross
away. “What do you mean there’s no money?”

“Sweetheart, I know this is a lot to take in
all at once so soon after losing your parents. But I’m the
executor, and I’ve already accessed all the bank accounts. There’s
very little in them, and there are lots of debts. The funeral alone
wiped out—”

“No!” Luz didn’t believe it. Some people
lived on every penny, but not
Mami
and
Papi
.
Especially not
Papi
, who had arrived in Scottsbluff with Luz
and nothing else. Besides, when they’d discussed where she would go
to college,
Papi
had told her his business was doing so
well, as was
Mami
’s medical practice, that they could afford
to send her to Colorado College. Even if she hadn’t won the
scholarship, he’d said they’d be able to swing it.

“We’ll talk about all that later,” Martin
said. “What we need to talk about right now are Carlito and
Marisol.”

“Yes,” Ms. Ross added, after Martin nudged
her with a look. “We’ll try to find them a foster home together,
but there are no guarantees.”

“Foster home?”

“Of course, dear,” Ms. Ross said. “Since
you’ll be away at school, you won’t have to go into foster care
yourself. But I know Judge Smale very well, and he would never
grant custody for two young children to an underage sibling.”

Underage?
She was nineteen. Old
enough to get married, have her own children. Judge Smale had to be
an idiot.

She sat with her mouth hanging open as the
significance of what they were saying sank in. No money, which she
found impossible to believe, and even more impossible, they planned
to take Marisol and Carlito away from her and make them live with
strangers. She wanted to howl, but she was too stunned.

“So. We need to set a time for me to pick
the children up. I’d like them to be ready tomorrow morning. You’ll
pack their things?”

The gall, the insensitivity, the idiocy, the
evil. Luz ran out of labels for the outrage she felt. Martin was
formidable, and she suspected this Ms. Ross was no pushover either.
Highly unlikely she’d be able to change either of their minds.

The only option was to pretend to go along
with it.

She dabbed at her eyes. “Tomorrow morning
would be awfully difficult.” The tears were ones of rage, not
sorrow, but she doubted either Martin or Ms. Ross could tell the
difference. “I promised Marisol I’d take her riding tomorrow. This
has been so hard on all of us.” She continued to mop up tears, her
brain going into overdrive as she tried to read how they were
responding.

“I can have them ready for you Thursday.
Please. I’d like this last chance, to, to—” A sob that was totally
genuine cut off her words.

Through the tears, she tried to gauge how
her request was being viewed. Her step-uncle appeared annoyed, but
Ms. Ross was attempting a compassionate look. A definite
stretch.

“I’ll compromise with you.” The woman
glanced at Martin. “You can go for your ride in the morning. I’ll
pick the children up at two.”

Would Martin buy a quick capitulation, or
would he be suspicious?

He looked irritably at his watch, and Luz
decided she didn’t need to lay it on any thicker. He’d bought her
cooperation act, likely because he found it impossible to believe
she would cross him.

As soon as Martin and Ms. Ross were gone,
Luz put Carlito down for a nap. She came back to the living room
and was surprised to find Marisol asleep on the couch. She hoped
Marisol hadn’t overheard, or if she had, that she hadn’t understood
what the visit was about.

While Marisol and Carlito slept, Luz went
methodically through the house collecting items and moving them
into the trunk of her mother’s car. First were the photo albums,
but she also took linens, towels, kitchen supplies, a cooler filled
with food, all of Marisol and Carlito’s clothes and Carlito’s
stroller and high chair. She ran the dirty clothes through the
laundry and added them to the growing pile of things in the car,
all the activity giving her some relief from the rage and fear
Martin had left behind.

As she packed, she thought about where
they’d go and what they’d do for money. Then she remembered that
Papi
kept cash in the bottom drawer of his dresser,
something she’d discovered while playing dress-up years ago.

With a sigh of relief, she found the black
wallet had $320 in it. It wouldn’t take them far, but it would get
them out of Scottsbluff and give her time to plan.

She also pocketed the credit and bank cards
she found with the money and gathered together
Mami
’s
jewelry and went through
Papi
’s desk. Among her finds were
the title to
Mami
’s car, Marisol and Carlito’s birth
certificates, and her own birth certificate and citizenship papers.
Running out of time, she piled the remaining files into a couple of
boxes.

By the time Carlito and Marisol woke up, she
had the car packed. She played quietly with the children until
dinnertime. After dinner, she bathed them and got them dressed in
their nightclothes. By then, exhausted, she curled up with Marisol
in their parents’ bed and managed to sleep until midnight when the
alarm woke her. She drank a cup of instant coffee and forced
herself to eat a sandwich.

Carlito didn’t awaken when she carried him
to the car, and Marisol awoke only briefly. Luz backed down the
driveway, heart thudding, and drove a block before turning on her
lights. The gas tank was half full, so she went to the nearest
station and filled it, charging it to the credit card.

She was removing the nozzle from the gas
tank when a car pulled in behind her. Her nerves stuttered, but the
driver, a tired-looking woman in a waitress uniform, barely glanced
at her. Sighing with relief, Luz got back in the car, then with a
burst of inspiration drove to the nearest cash machine and put the
bank card in. As a pin, she entered the date
Papi
and
Mami
got married. The number worked, but the machine gave
her only two hundred dollars. Still, it was a welcome addition to
her tiny stash.

She left town, heading southwest, toward
Denver. Maybe this was the wrong thing to do—running away. But she
could see no other choice. She
had
to get away from
Scottsbluff where Martin was in control.

She drove over a hill, and the glow from the
lights of Scottsbluff snuffed out behind her.

Persistence of Dreams
is now available in
electronic and print formats.

Back to the Table of
Contents

The books Ann loved most as a child were those about horses. After
reading Mary O’Hara’s Wyoming ranch stories, she decided she would
one day marry a rancher and own a racehorse—although not
necessarily in that order.

Since it was clear to Ann, after reading
My Friend Flicka
and
Green Grass of Wyoming
, that money could be a sore point
between ranchers and their wives, not to mention racehorses don’t
come cheap, she decided appropriate planning was needed. Thus she
appended a “rich” to the rancher requirement.

But when she started dating, there were no ranchers in the offing,
rich or otherwise. Instead, Ann fell in love with a fellow graduate
student at the University of Kansas. Not only does her husband not
share her love of horses, he doesn’t even particularly like them,
given that one stepped on him with deliberate intent when he was
ten.

After years in academia, Ann took a turn down another road and
began writing fiction. In this her first novel, originally
published by Samhain Publishing on Christmas Day 2007, and
scheduled for re-release in 2015, the protagonist is both a
university professor and part–time rancher—proof perhaps that
dreams never truly go away, but continue to exert their influence
in unexpected ways.

Those unexpected influences continue to play a role in Ann’s
succeeding books.

First, I wish to acknowledge, Jennifer Miller. Jennifer edited the
Samhain edition of the novel, and working with her, my first
experience with an editor, was both a pleasure and an
education.

Writing can be a lonely endeavor, but I have been blessed with
wonderful writer friends who are always willing to lend a
sympathetic ear when I need it, and who are also able to provide me
with feedback on my writing that never fails to inspire me. Thank
you, Angelene Jamison-Hall, Roger Collins, Daphne Wedig, Judy
Carpenter, Jayne Close.

And special thanks to author Sharon Cullen for suggesting the
perfect ending.

This book would not be the same without all of you.

Back to the Table of
Contents

1. Dreams for Stones
opens with Alan Francini visiting a
mountain lake. What does the lake symbolize for Alan and why do you
think Ann chose that as the opening scene? Was it a good
choice?

2. As the story begins, Kathy is engaged. How does
that engagement and its ending affect how she reacts to Alan?

3. When Alan and Kathy meet, both have already
decided something about love. What is Kathy’s decision? Alan’s? At
what point do they each discover these decisions run counter to
their future happiness?

4. How do Alan’s difficulties at the University
affect what happens in the story?

5. The novel celebrates the resilience of the human
heart. How does Ann use this theme to tell her story? Is a need for
such resilience something you have experienced in your life?

6
. Dreams for Stones
is also about
friendship. How does Emily affect Kathy’s life? How does Delia’s
illness affect both Kathy and Alan? How does Charles’s decision to
end his relationship with Kathy affect his friendship with Alan?
Have you had any similar experiences with friendship?

7. Is Elaine’s interference in her brother’s life
justified? If she hadn’t interfered what do you think would have
happened?

8. How does Alan cope with his grief at the
beginning of the book? Once you learn what happened to his wife, do
you believe he will be able to recover? What part do Angela Taylor,
Charles, and Kathy play in helping Alan to heal? Do you know
someone who has responded to grief the way Alan has? How did they
heal?

9. Stones are an important motif in the novel. Where
are they used and what is their significance? Can you identify
other recurring motifs?

10. Although the characters experience loss, at the
end of the book is there a feeling of hope and resolution? Do you
believe Alan and Kathy are ready to make a life together?