Firestone Read Online Free PDF Page A

Sissy’s ballet wear and was headed down to
the basement laundry with another load of sheets.
    A day of organizing and cleaning was exactly
what Sandy needed. She moved slowly down the stairs and into the
Castle main living room. Rosa and her team of cleaners had been
through already today to put right what had been torn apart last
night. She set her load down on a couch to open the door to the
basement.
    “ Um . . .”
Sandy heard as she came back into the living room. She looked
around the room, but didn’t see anyone.
    “ Delphie?” Sandy guessed
at who had spoken to her.
    Delphie was leaning against the doorway to
the room Charlie was using for school.
    “ Are you all right?” Sandy
asked.
    Delphie shook her head.
    “ Can I help?” Sandy
asked.
    Delphie nodded. Sandy gave Delphie a long
assessing look. Delphie’s face was pinched with anxiety. Her
shoulders were folded forward as if she was carrying a great
burden. The woman’s happy go lucky, earth mother glow had been
replaced with a muddy kind of darkness.
    “ Why don’t you come down
with me to the basement?” Sandy smiled, knowing Delphie’s love of
clean laundry. “I wanted to get some sheets done.”
    Delphie face shifted into a bright smile.
She grabbed Sandy’s laundry and started down the stairs to the
basement. While each apartment had their own washing machines,
Jacob had installed two large washers and dryers in the basement.
They were perfect for doing large loads of sheets and
comforters.
    In the basement, Delphie and Sandy silently
went through the piles of sheets and comforters Sandy had already
brought down to create two loads for the big washers. Sandy was
stuffing sheets into one of the washers when Delphie said
something.
    She leaned out of the washing machine.
    “ I didn’t hear what you
said,” Sandy said.
    “ I know,” Delphie gave her
a sad smile. “I . . .”
    “ Is this about Keenan?”
Sandy asked.
    Delphie nodded.
    “ And Ivy?” Sandy
asked.
    Delphie nodded. Sandy looked at Delphie and
waited. Delphie’s head moved up and down in a slow nod.
    “ So . . .?”
Sandy started.
    “ I remember that I was
really afraid about Ivy.” Delphie’s words came out in a fast push.
“How will I take care of her? What do I know? I remember feeling
like that.”
    “ Do you feel like that
now?” Sandy asked.
    “ No,” Delphie said. “I
feel . . . excited. Happy.”
    “ That sounds like a really
good thing,” Sandy said. She smiled and started stuffing the washer
again.
    “ But . . .”
Delphie said.
    Sandy leaned back to look at her.
    “ But?”
    “ Why do you think I don’t
feel anxious about it?” Delphie asked.
    “ Maybe you’re ready,”
Sandy said.
    Delphie shook her head.
    “ What do you think it
was?” Sandy asked.
    “ Fairies,” Delphie said.
“I feel like something is gone.”
    Delphie’s hands moved around her heart and
chest.
    “ Like a brokenness is
lifted,” Delphie nodded and then scowled. “I know that I can’t
raise the kids by myself. But I also know that Sam is going to be
there and you and Jill and Val. They will be raised by all of us
and teachers and . . . I don’t have to be their
everything, just their something.”
    Delphie gave Sandy a pensive look.
    “ I mean you said that
before, and certainly Celia always said that,” Delphie said. “I
really know that
now.”
    “ That sounds like a really
good thing,” Sandy said.
    “ But . . .”
Delphie bit her lip.
    “ But?”
    “ How?” Delphie asked.
“It’s like all that awful stuff is just gone . . .
Not gone, like it never happened, but like it’s over.”
    Delphie nodded.
    “ It is over,” Sandy
smiled. “All the awful stuff I went through too. It’s
over.”
    Delphie gave Sandy a thoughtful look.
    “ Why would fairies want to
help you?” Sandy asked. She gasped and covered her mouth. “I’m
sorry. I don’t mean that like it sounds. It just seems like they
are so . . . involved in what