Part 14 (1/2)

soon to take her away again.

Bev had driven her in the pretty car to go shopping in a big store with

bright clothes and beautiful smells. She had bought bags and boxes of

things for Emma. Emma liked a pink organdy dress with a frilly skirt

the best. She'd felt like a princess when she'd worn it the day her dad

and Bev had been married. She'd had s.h.i.+ny black shoes with little

straps as well, and white tights. No one had scolded when she'd smudged

the knees.

The wedding had seemed very strange and solemn to Emma, with everyone

standing out in the garden and the sun fighting off clouds. One of the

men everyone called Stevie had worn a long white s.h.i.+rt and baggy white

pants. He'd sung in a husky voice while strumming a glossy white

guitar. Emma had thought he was an angel, but when she'd asked Johnno,

he'd only laughed.

Bev had worn a circle of flowers in her hair and a flowing multicolored

dress that had swept her ankles. To Emma, she was the most beautiful

woman in the world. For the first time in her young life, she had been

struck by true envy. Th be beautiful, and grown-up, and standing beside

Dad. She'd never be afraid again, or hungry again. And like the girls

in the fairy tales Brian was so fond of, she would be happy ever after.

When the rain had started, they had gone inside to have cake and

champagne in a room with fabric books and flowers and fresh paint. More

guitars had been played and people had sung along and laughed. Beautiful

women, in slim short skirts or flowing cotton dresses, had roamed the

house. Some of them had cooed over her or patted her head, but for the

most part she'd been left to herself