Chapter 1

People often forgot the girls were in the room whenever anything serious was going on or under discussion. That was partly due to the fact that they were such well-behaved, quiet children (at least, some of the time), and partly because no one really expected that they would understand any of it, anyway.

People never gave them enough credit.

When Alice collapsed on the kitchen floor, burning up with a high fever, her face flushed and her eyes glazed over, Lily knew just what to do and where to go. She told her little sister, Cami, to stay right there beside their mother, then she ran out the door as swiftly as her nimble little feet could carry her, across the dirt road to the pretty little church where she knew she would find Alisa and Nathan. Bursting in through the doors, her very entrance startled them from their quiet prayers and brought them to their feet.

"'Lisa, 'Lisa! Mama's sick!" Lily cried as she ran up to them, clutching at Alisa's skirts to pull her towards the door. "She's red and hot all over and she fell down and she isn't talking! Hurry!"

The two adults turned startled faces towards each other. "Sick? Alice? Why, I.... Very well, Alisa, you go back with the child and see what you can do. I'll go fetch Cam. It may be nothing serious, but far better to be safe...."

Alisa nodded, her deep blue-violet eyes clouded with concern as she hurried after the little girl. On her arrival, she found Cami sitting next to her unconscious mother, stroking her hair, crying and pleading with her to wake up. She couldn't lift Alice on her own, she knew, but she checked her pulse (racing), her breathing (shallow) and her temperature (scorching). Biting her lip, uncertain how best to help, she hesitated a moment before hurrying to the kitchen sink. She soaked a cloth in cold water, wrung it out, and placed it on her feverish brow. Then she asked Lily to take Cami into the living room and read her a story, assuring the girls that their mother would be just fine. A few minutes later, Cam burst into the room. He stopped short when he saw his wife lying on the floor, Alisa kneeling next to her in prayer. Nathan came huffing and puffing along behind him, stopping in the doorway to catch his breath before joining his foster daughter in her supplications to the Harvest Goddess.

Cam knelt down beside Alice and reached to lift her. Feeling the heat radiating from her, he hesitated, drawing back in alarm. Then he carefully picked her up and gently carried her into their bedroom, laying her on the bed. He asked Nathan and Alisa to stay with her a little longer, then he ran out the door, heedless of the two worried little faces peeking around the corner of the room at him as he tore out the front door.

A short while later, he returned, still at a run, Dr. Ayame and Hiro close on his heels. As the good doctor turned towards her patient, Hiro dropped her black bag on the bedside table and opened it up, standing ready to pass her whichever instruments she required.

"I think first we need to get her out of these clothes," she started to say.

Blushing, Nathan edged towards the bedroom door. "Oh, ahh, I think perhaps I should return to the church. Cam, you know where to find me, should you need me. Meanwhile, I will be praying for a swift recovery for Alice. Alisa, you may stay here if you can be of assistance, my daughter. If not, return to the church and add your prayers with mine." Then he hurried out the door, closing it quietly behind him.

Alisa looked uncertainly at Cam, then the doctor, and finally Hiro, but they were too preoccupied to notice her timidly looking around. So with a gentle murmur, she slipped out the door and followed Nathan down the road, except that she turned and headed up the mountain, feeling compelled to pray to the goddess beside the small clear lake at the mountain's peak said to be her special dwelling place, rather than within the confines of a manmade church.

Back in the farmhouse, Dr. Ayame and Cam removed Alice's clothing, stripping her down to her undergarments. She seemed to hover just at the edge of consciousness, shivering violently as if freezing cold, though her skin was hot to the touch. A few times, she suffered severe coughing fits that left her curled up in a fetal position, her face contorting with pain.

After she completed her examination, Dr. Ayame looked down at her thoughtfully. "Pneumonia," she pronounced. "Probably bacterial. I'll give her a shot of antibiotic to get her started, then I'll send Hiro back with some tablets. She'll probably be out of it for a while, though. Try to keep her comfortable and quiet, and when she wakes, push her to drink as much as she can. While she's still coughing, you can try herbal tea with honey to soothe her throat. Rest, lots of fluids, and antibiotics—that's what she needs most right now."

A little tug at the hem of her white coat caught her attention. "Please, doctor, will Mama be okay?" a tremulous little voice asked. She glanced down into storm-blue eyes, wide with fear and shining with unshed tears.

Smiling as she stroked the caramel-colored hair of the little girl's head, she said, "Yes, Lily. Your mother will be all right." Then glancing down at the flushed, restless figure on the bed, she muttered under her breath, "I hope," unaware that the child's sharp ears picked up her mumbling.

As Dr. Ayame and Hiro were departing, Laney arrived. "What happened? Is someone sick?" she asked as she stepped through the bedroom door to let the doctor and Hiro pass.

"Alice has pneumonia," Cam replied, pulling a chair up next to the bed and dropping heavily into it. "I guess she collapsed, and Lily ran to get Alisa and Nathan. She's a smart girl, to think of such a thing. But I'm afraid she's pretty sick."

"Oh, my goodness! I wondered what had happened when I saw you take off like that. I'd have been here sooner, except just as you left, we got a rush in the café. Can I do anything?"

"I don't want to leave her. I hate to ask, but... would you close up my shop for me?" Cam asked, not taking his eyes from his wife's flushed face.

"I'll do you one better," she replied. "I'll get Ash to take care of that for you. He's stronger than me, so he'll get it done faster. And while he's seeing to your shop, I'll whip something up to bring you and the girls for dinner. I'll be back in a while. And Cam—please don't worry. She's a healthy, strong woman. Remember how she pulled through that terrible fall when she was pregnant with Lily? She'll be just fine, you'll see."

Cam just nodded silently, and Laney slipped quietly out the door, leaving the family alone.

He sat beside the bed, stroking Alice's hair gently as he watched her. Before long, he felt little fingers grabbing hold of his shirt, and looking over, he saw the frightened faces of his little girls staring up at him. Forcing himself to smile, he said, "Don't you worry, girls. The doctor and Laney are right. Mama will be just fine. She just needs some rest."

Lily nodded after a little hesitation, but Cami began to sniffle as tears spilled out of the corners of her eyes. Neither girl had ever seen their mother sick or showing weakness of any sort before, and the sight of her unconscious and feverish in bed alarmed them. They felt as though the world had flipped upside down and inside out, and as they watched her weakly flail an arm as if fending off some unseen threat, they wondered when or even if everything would be right again.

Cam lifted his daughters up onto his lap, and the three of them clung to each other, Cami's arms around his neck and Lily's arms around Cami. One pair of grey-blue eyes and two pairs of green watched over Alice as they sat in silence, and when she spoke, they all jumped, badly startled.

"Nnuh... not roses," she mumbled, shaking her head slightly. "Wild roses. Has... has to be... wild.... They're her fav'rit... mine, too...." Her eyes squeezed even more tightly closed as tears appeared in the corners. "No, have to... have to find them... for her... an' for me...." Then she shook as another paroxysm of coughing overtook her, and afterwards she was still and silent once again.

The girls and Cam looked at each other, bewildered. "Daddy, what is wild woses?" Cami asked, leaning against her father as she tightened her grip.

"Wild roses are a kind of rose that grow all by themselves out in wild places. They look different from the roses that you mother grows and that I sell. They're very pretty, but unfortunately they don't grow around here anymore."

"Why not?" Lily asked. "And why does Mama want them so much?"

Cam looked back down at his sleeping wife. "They don't grow here anymore because they were so pretty, people picked the flowers and dug up the plants to take home, and eventually there just weren't any left. The last time I saw a wild rose around here was when I wasn't much older than you two. But they still grow where your mama grew up. They grow very well there—thick hedges of them all along the roads and the edges of fields. As for why she wants them... I have no idea at all."

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