“That he’s nearby.”
“Have you seen him?”
Tanya looked away, then shook her head. “I remember some things.” Her voice came softly, almost a whisper. “They were just things, like fire in a hogan, and a chant.”
“Do you remember words in the chant?” Sheila asked.
Tanya shook her head. “I remember the snout of a wolf, but that could have been in my dreams. I don’t know.”
“I understand.” Sheila felt sick. She wanted to be able to tell Tanya she would be okay, that they would protect her. And they might be able to if only they knew who was hurting Tanya.
“Honey, you’re a very beautiful young girl, and physically mature for your age—”
Tanya jerked away, glaring at Sheila. “You think I’ve been sleeping around.”
“No, I don’t. I think you honestly don’t know what’s happened to you because you don’t remember.”
“I never did anything like that.” Tanya’s eyes filled with tears. She turned away, her shoulders hunched, body curling into the fetal position. “I’d remember that,” she said, her voice muffled by the pillow and blanket.
“No, that’s just the point, Tanya. You might not have remembered a thing.”
“I’d remember something about it. Just wait until the test results. Then you’ll see that’s not what this is.”
“Canaan called Doc, and he’s coming to see you.”
“I don’t want him to come here. I don’t want him to know about all this, until you have the results of the tests to prove that I’m not pregnant.”
“Honey, even if he knows there was a pregnancy, he’ll also know that you are innocent. We may need his help to find the person who’s doing this.”
Chapter Twenty
C anaan turned from his contemplation of a cloudless sky to see Sheila enter the tiny hospital waiting room. The dark circles beneath her eyes were more prominent than when she’d arrived at the school on Friday. He knew he had not improved her situation. Why had he even gone to her apartment this morning? He should have handled this on his own, without involving her.
She didn’t come back to Arizona to reclaim her role as his personal hero, and he didn’t need one. It had surprised him yesterday when they had fallen so naturally into the familiar repartee that they’d had as children. It had also encouraged him, though he didn’t want to look too closely at why.
She hugged herself and shivered. “Twelve years old.” She closed her eyes, wincing as if in pain. “How could this happen? It’s a nightmare. It’s so…” She walked to a window to stare out at the nearby canyon walls that seemed to loom over the hospital. “It’s so wrong.”
Canaan joined her at the window. “You’re convinced it was a miscarriage, but don’t jump to conclusions. The test results should be back shortly, and then we’ll know for sure what we’re dealing with.”
She looked up at him. “Don’t go into denial on me, Canaan.”
“I’m not in denial about anything. There were no injuries, no one attacked her. To hemorrhage like that…I know it appears to be a miscarriage, but I know Tanya and her family. This is so alien to her nature, that—”
“Pardon me, but you have no idea what kind of nature a young girl might have when she feels alone and needs to feel loved and wanted.”
He felt his teeth grinding with exasperation as she once again criticized the ways of people whom she didn’t even attempt to understand.
“Sorry,” she said. “I’m not trying to imply that her parents did anything wrong. What I’m saying is that—”
“I know what you’re trying to say, but the way you say it is an insult.”
“That’s not my intention. I’m simply speaking from…experience, Canaan.”
He blinked.
“It wasn’t my mother’s fault she died, and my father did all he knew to do, but I felt abandoned anyway. And I acted out. All I’m saying is that Tanya’s experience might be somewhat the same. She might do as I did and look for attention in the wrong places, not because she’s a bad girl, but because she desperately needs to feel loved. Don’t automatically label her as a bad girl if you find out this is a miscarriage.”
“I wouldn’t do that.”
“It certainly sounded to me as if you would. Besides,” Sheila added, “Tanya’s nature might have nothing to do with what happened to her.”
He looked at her askance. What was she talking about?
“Oh, come on, Canaan, you know what she’s so afraid of. You know the other kids are behaving strangely. I’m sure Rohypnol has found its way to the reservation, just as it has everywhere else in the world. Some pervert could be using that drug to do who knows what to the children, and they won’t remember a thing afterward. Is there someone on the school campus who might be a child molester?”
“Not possible.”
“How can you be so sure? You know everyone that well?”
Again, he felt his jaw muscles tense. “Why are you suddenly so eager to place the blame for Tanya’s illness on our school when we don’t even know what’s wrong with her yet?”
Sheila shook her head, obviously confused. She glanced over her shoulder toward the doorway, then turned back to him. “What have you and I been discussing since Friday night? You implied that there’s a problem at the school. You’re the one who’s pulled old records of students who have died. You’re the one who’s suspicious of the recent deaths at the school, just as Tanya is.”
“She is? And you couldn’t have told me this?”
“Sorry, at the time it seemed like an overreaction by an impressionable young girl. She suggested a connection between my mother’s death and Wendy’s.”
“Tanya did?”
“That subject comes up a lot. So will you please get down off your high horse and talk to me?”
That old, familiar phrase broke the tension, and Canaan felt himself relax. This was his old friend he was talking to, after all.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “This whole thing has me a little tense. The staff works well together, most have been at the school for years and everyone is thoroughly screened before he or she is hired at the school.”
“I wasn’t. I wasn’t asked a single question.”
“It’s possible my grandfather didn’t want to question you. The screening process most often involves former coworkers, bosses, neighbors and school officials. He checks for any kind of trouble with the law.”
“Well, then I’m amazed I’ve been allowed to enter the hallowed halls of the school if all those people from my life were questioned,” she said, her sarcasm dripping from every word. “But can we take the chance that just one person has slipped beneath the radar? What if there’s someone who’s molesting not only Tanya, but other children, as well?”
“Would you please wait until the test results come back before you start talking like this? Word can carry fast, and that would be a dangerous rumor to start.”
Frustration tightened the lines of her face. “It doesn’t hurt to be pre—”
“Dr. York?” came the voice of the E.R. secretary from the doorway. “Dr. Balmas wanted me to show you these results. He says he’d like to talk to you about it as soon as he finishes with a patient.”
Canaan took the lab printouts and read the results of the pregnancy test. For a moment, his relief was so powerful he wanted to shout. “Negative for pregnancy.”
Sheila exhaled with a sigh of obvious relief as she joined him and glanced at the lab sheet. “What did the CBC show?”
He flipped to the next sheet. “Low platelets.”
“How low?”
“It rates aggressive treatment of immunoglobulin G to stop the bleeding.”
“But bleeding from what?”
“I’ll talk to Dr. Balmas, but I think it’s ITP, idiopathic thrombocytic purpura.”
“Isn’t that a bleeding disorder that usually happens with younger children after a virus?”
“Tanya isn’t too old, even if i
t is less common for a child her age. At least I didn’t accuse her of being pregnant.”
“I didn’t accuse her—”
“She wasn’t feeling well a few weeks ago, probably a virus.”
“This looks like she’s just bleeding too much with her menses,” Sheila said.
“The platelet count doesn’t drop with excess menstrual bleeding—if anything, it will go up to compensate. This is something else, I think.” He checked the comprehensive metabolic profile, which was normal. “I’ll talk to Dr. Balmas about that immunoglobulin G.”
“I’ll go reassure Tanya,” Sheila said. “I’m afraid I might have set her off just a little.”
Canaan glanced at her sharply. “You didn’t tell her she was pregnant, did you?”
“I’m sorry, I might have suggested it as a possibility when I was questioning her about what could have been wrong.”
“Then by all means reassure her that she’s still pure,” he said. “Next time you want to try diagnosing a child without consulting me, keep your theories to yourself until you know for sure.”
Sheila frowned. “I wasn’t diagnosing.”
“Tell her I’ll be in to talk to her in a few minutes. Doc’s on his way here with her medical records so I can double-check her history.” He nodded to dismiss her, and caught the flash of irritation in her eyes. “What’s wrong?”
“Wouldn’t it be best to treat her immediately? Canaan, she bled so badly she was passed out in the desert.”
“If it’ll make you feel any better, most of these kinds of cases are self-limiting.”
“But what if she isn’t—”
“You’re going to have to trust me with this,” he said, knowing his sharpness surprised her. “She’s in the hospital emergency room. She can’t get much safer than that.”
Sheila nodded and left without another word.
He had been wrong to think that they had returned to their childhood friendship. Now he was her boss, and she would have to deal with that. So would he.
Chapter Twenty-One
S heila stepped from the waiting room into the broad hallway that led to the E.R. She paused at the small window that revealed only a small section of the hillside beyond the hospital. This day had held a surreal quality from the time Canaan knocked on her door to their flare of words just now.
It was as if her presence here had set a series of events into play, and the relationship she had hoped would resume from childhood wasn’t as comfortable as she’d expected.
She thought again about what she had said to Preston on Monday—that God might have a hand in everything that was happening. Of course, she knew that to be true, but these most recent moments seemed to be particularly significant.
Would it be better to never know what happened to her mother? And to herself? Was it too late to leave the mystery of her past as it had always been?
She closed her eyes and prayed for strength. As she prayed, a rhythmic echo reached her. She opened her eyes to see Doc Cottonwood, Kai Begay and Jane Witherbe coming toward her, their footsteps echoing. Sheila smiled a greeting, ignoring Kai’s cool gaze.
“How’s our patient?” Doc asked, stepping forward to drape an arm over Sheila’s shoulders.
She took comfort in his presence. “Tired. It seems Tanya’s lost a lot of sleep lately.”
“I could have told you that,” Jane said. “She’s up half the night pacing in and out of her room, keeping everybody awake.”
“And what’s wrong with her?” Doc asked Sheila.
“I don’t think the exact diagnosis has been made yet,” Sheila said. If she wanted to keep her job, she’d better let Canaan announce the diagnosis. “All I can say is that she’s lost a lot of blood. Canaan thinks it’s an aftereffect of a recent virus.” There, she’d already said too much. Could she expect disciplinary action?
“When can we see her?” Doc asked.
“Give me a few minutes to talk to her. She wasn’t in the best of moods earlier, and she said she didn’t want to see anyone.”
“That’s okay.” Jane held up a duffel bag. “Doc thought she might need some fresh clothes. When Canaan called, he mentioned our girl might have to spend the night.”
“I brought Tanya’s medical records for Canaan,” Doc said, “though I had a dickens of a time finding them.”
Sheila directed him into the E.R. and excused herself as she went to Tanya’s room.
Tanya was asleep when Sheila entered, but she awakened with a start at the soft swish of curtains being closed. She blinked sleepily at Sheila.
“Feeling better?” Sheila asked.
Tanya watched her in silence for a few seconds, then gave a brief nod.
“I bet you’ll sleep the night away,” Sheila said.
“Where’s Canaan? Are we going home now?”
“Probably in the morning,” Sheila said. “Jane, Doc and Kai are here. Jane brought some things for you. They’d like to see for themselves that you’re okay.”
“If I’m okay, why do I have to spend the night, and why did they come to see me?”
“I’ll let Canaan tell you what he and Dr. Balmas decide to do, but I have an apology to make to you.”
Again, Tanya watched her silently.
Sheila took Tanya’s hands, surprised that Tanya didn’t resist. “Honey, you know what we talked about earlier?”
Tanya nodded. Her hands tightened in Sheila’s.
“I jumped to a conclusion I shouldn’t have, and I was wrong.”
Tanya’s lips parted, and there was no misreading the relief in her expression. “I didn’t have a miscarriage?”
Sheila studied her expression. “No.” Why the surprise? Was it possible that the child was already acting out? “I’m sorry if I frightened you. Canaan will call your parents soon.”
Tanya suddenly seemed interested in avoiding eye contact. “Why? He doesn’t have to call them. Everything’s okay, right?”
“You lost a significant amount of blood, and he and Dr. Balmas will want to make sure that doesn’t happen again.”
Tanya glanced toward the curtain, then motioned for Sheila to lean closer. She whispered, “It was a warning from…from him.”
Sheila didn’t pretend ignorance. “The wolf didn’t have anything to do with this.”
“You don’t know that. You don’t understand.”
“I understand more than you think. Canaan mentioned you were sick recently.”
“Uh-huh. Wendy Hunt was in the clinic when I went to get some cough medicine one day, and she made me stay there and had Canaan come check me over.”
“Did you have a high temperature?” Sheila asked.
Tanya nodded. “Wendy had me come back to the clinic a couple of times so she could check me, but I got well fast because of the vitamins Doc makes all the track kids take. They keep us healthy.”
“Did Wendy know about the wolf you’re so afraid—”
With shocking suddenness, Tanya gagged, then coughed. Sheila watched in stunned surprise as tiny droplets of blood spattered the crisp, white sheet beneath her chin.
Tanya gagged again. “What’s—” she coughed more blood “—happening?”
Sheila grabbed a towel and held it to Tanya’s face. “You’re still bleeding. I’ll get the doctor.”
She rushed through the curtain and into Dr. Balmas’s office, where Canaan and Dr. Balmas were studying a lab report.
“She’s coughing up blood.”
Canaan turned to Dr. Balmas. “You did check for plague and anthrax?”
“That’s right, even though we know how rare those both are.”
“It’s still endemic,” Canaan said.
“I just checked the blood under the microscope, and there’s no evidence of boxcar or safety pin microbes.”
“What about hantavirus?”
“That takes longer, but in the meantime we’ll go with our assumption that it’s ITP and begin immunoglobulin treatment and see if it helps. If it does, we’ll know
what we’ve got.”
“May I suggest a chest X-ray?” Canaan asked.
“That’s a given.” Dr. Balmas turned to a nurse, who was already nodding and writing the order.
Sheila returned to Tanya, who had coughed more blood, and whose eyes were wide with terror. Sheila sat on the side of the bed and put an arm around the girl’s shoulders. “Canaan and Dr. Balmas are going to want a chest X-ray, but that’s just because they’re checking all options, honey. Whatever this is, it can be treated, and you’re in good hands. Obviously, you’ll need to stay here until it’s clear what’s going on with you.”
“By myself?”
“I’ll be with you.” She hadn’t discussed it with Canaan, and in his sudden, bossy mood he might veto her decision, but if he did, he could be the one to tell Tanya that she’d be spending the night alone.
“Don’t tell my parents,” Tanya asked.
“I can’t tell Canaan what to do.”
Tanya coughed again.
“Don’t try to talk,” Sheila said. “Canaan will do what’s best with your parents.”
Tanya covered her mouth with her hand as she coughed again, then held her hand out, staring at the blood. “The wolf—”
“Tanya, you’ll be safe with me. If some wolf tries to get to you, he’ll have to get through me, and he’ll be sorry he tried.”
Betsy Two Horses sat in the late-evening shade of a piñon tree and watched the children play. Some children were still returning from their weekend, being dropped off by their parents.
There were often tears when the children returned for a new week, along with many words of love, promises to be good and to learn a lot. Sunday afternoons and evenings bustled and the activity continued through the week.
Navajo parents wanted their children at home, but they allowed them to stay through the week because Twin Mesas was such a good school.
The children who remained over the weekend either lived too far away to travel home every weekend or they were on the track team, participating in meets on Saturdays. Those who stayed were well fed and well loved; the staff cared deeply for the children. They were good, Christian people. At least, most of them.
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