Hattie felt her face flush, and the palms of her hands were damp; her heart pounded and she began to feel light-headed. She told the driver to wait for her in a sharp tone of voice she hadn’t used before, and scarcely noticed his scowl. She realized she hadn’t prepared herself for parting with Indigo; she hadn’t really believed they’d locate her sister so easily or so soon. She parted with Edward because it was the right thing; neither of them wanted the marriage to continue. But she loved Indigo with all of her heart; without the girl she didn’t know what she would do.
Hattie watched from the doorway as the girls chattered happily inside, laughing all together. It was clear how much Indigo’s homeland meant to her, and how she loved her Sister Salt. The two girls delighted in each other. She’d never seen Indigo’s face glow with such joy. She scarcely would have recognized the laughing, chattering child as Indigo.
Hattie felt relief and pride too that she’d reunited the sisters, but another sensation began to emerge — a dreadful sense of how alone she was. But that was silly, she scolded herself; both her parents were in good health, and Edward and she were not estranged; they would still correspond.
She had to get hold of herself for Indigo’s sake. The two sisters were reunited, but what about their mother? If the mother could not be found, would the authorities allow Sister Salt to care for Indigo? The reservation superintendent said the law required Hattie to give him a full update on Indigo’s whereabouts, the sort of family her sister had, and what school she would attend.
Out of the corner of her eye, Sister saw the white woman watch them from the doorway, and she wondered what the woman wanted. Why did this woman take Indigo away from the boarding school?
“Good-bye,” Indigo heard Hattie call and looked up from her unpacking.
“Oh! I thought you would stay longer,” Indigo said as she walked Hattie to the buggy. The other girls followed; Sister held up the little grandfather so he could get a good look at Indigo’s white friend. Maybe tonight after they were asleep, the little grandfather would give her information on that woman. He watched his auntie and the white woman intently.
Hattie hugged Indigo once and then again; she’d be back to check on her next week, and maybe have some news for the girls on the whereabouts of their mother.
“You could stay here if you wanted,” Indigo said, glancing at the driver, then looking Hattie in the eyes. They both knew what she meant.
“I’ll be fine, don’t worry,” Hattie said, but she was too upset by their parting to worry about the driver. She doubted there would be any trouble because he was in such a hurry to get to Needles. He started the horses almost before she was seated, but Hattie had to smile because the girls all made faces at him for her benefit. Hattie was beginning to have a plan for the weeks to come; it all revolved around Indigo and her sister.
Indigo gave the twins the smelly can of lamp oil and the bundle of canned goods, sugar, and flour Hattie bought at the trading post. She opened the valise of seeds and gladiolus corms only long enough to remove the tin of seeds and grain to fill the cup in Rainbow’s cage, and filled the other cup from their water bucket with the flat sandstone lid.
“Oh candy balls!” Maytha called out as she held up the paper sack.
“Too bad she didn’t buy us some lard or coffee — we could have had tortillas and coffee for supper!” Vedna said as she stuffed two candy balls into her mouth. They all helped themselves to the candy.
Indigo took out her color pencils and her notebook to show off her drawings of flowers to Sister while the twins lifted the fine linen underwear and petticoats from the trunk. They oohed and aahed over the chambray dresses trimmed in satin ribbon, and joked with one another about how much money they could sell them for — enough to eat for months, they laughed.
Indigo unpacked her two other pairs of new kidskin slippers and held them next to Maytha’s bare feet; the shoes were too small, but Maytha and Vedna didn’t care. They stretched the kidskin and forced the slippers on their feet, and wore them proudly.
The little grandfather was in his bundle propped up in the corner of the room so he could watch. Sister opened the big hatbox and lifted up a pot of orchids for a better look. Indigo cautioned her sister to be careful with the plants, which irritated Sister.
“You think I don’t know what a flowerpot is?” She put it back in the hatbox just as she found it. Indigo saw Sister’s hurt expression and felt terrible; she apologized over and over until Sister told her it was all right. Indigo tried to hand her the hatbox of orchids — she insisted she take them, but Sister shook her head; she knew nothing about these plants; she’d only kill them.
Indigo hated herself for hurting Sister’s feelings — she loved her more than anyone, as much as she loved Mama and Grandma Fleet. If Sister didn’t want the orchids, then Indigo didn’t want them either. She tossed the hatbox out the door; it landed with a thud on the sand, and all the pots overturned, dumping bark, orchids, and all. Later Sister took pity on the poor orchids and scooped them back into their pots and gave them a place on the windowsill.
It was getting dark now and Maytha filled their lamp with oil; they hadn’t bought lamp oil in so long they didn’t bother to replace the lamp chimney after it shattered. They used a piece of rag for the wick, and Vedna lit one of their precious matches; a lovely orange-yellow flame glowed in the dark room. Without the proper wick or chimney it gave off puffs of sooty smoke, but they didn’t care.
They finished off the candy balls but had no way to open the tins of peaches and corn. Sister laid down the sleeping baby and took the cans and the axe outside. Whack-whack-whack, they heard, and a moment later Sister returned, both hands cupped around the can dripping sugary peach juice. Indigo shared her portions of the peaches and the corn with Linnaeus, then put him to bed in his cage next to Rainbow. After they finished off the can of corn, the twins and Sister took the tin of tobacco and rolling papers outside for a smoke before bed.
Indigo realized then she had no bedding, no blanket, so she arranged her wool coat and raincoat on the sandy floor near Sister’s bedding. For covers she used her nightgowns one on top of the other, and slept in her clothes as the other girls did.
♦ ♦ ♦
Hattie noticed the buggy driver was acquainted with the trader and his wife; all the white people here seemed to know one another. “Strength in numbers,” she supposed, since whites were outnumbered by Indians here. The driver probably stopped there overnight each time he drove to Parker or Yuma. Hattie smelled fried chicken and biscuits, but the woman said nothing about food. She wasn’t really hungry anyway; she was worried about Indigo. Maybe she was wrong to leave the child at Road’s End. Indigo’s sister and her friends seemed nice enough, but they’d created a good bit of notoriety for themselves along the river.
The trader’s wife put her in the same room as she and Indigo had shared the night before last; the sheets on the bed had not been changed. She brought out the bottle of paregoric syrup Edward gave her for emergencies, to help her sleep. She pulled the bedding to the floor off the horsehair mattress, and wept because this was Indigo’s custom, to sleep on the floor. Blankets! Indigo had no blankets, nothing!
Hattie rolled over and sobbed facedown in the pillow, so the others did not hear. She took two good swallows of the paregoric and lay back with her eyes closed, listening to her own heartbeat. Gradually her heart and her breathing slowed and the anxiety over Indigo without blankets gradually passed. Her sister and the other girls would take care of Indigo; it was plain how much her sister loved her, and the other girls seemed very kind. Hattie would simply buy Indigo blankets and other necessities the girls might need and return to Road’s End next week, but this time with a new driver. She drifted away to sleep as she imagined warm white wool blankets piled next to the parrot cage in the little mud house.