The Tree Shepherd's Daughter Read Online Free PDF Page B

Zeke."
    His shoulders tensed, but he turned and walked on.
    As she followed her father through the maze of furniture, she ticked off a mental list of her life goals: finish high
school, attend college, then law school. She would become
a lawyer like Mom had always wanted her to. Maybe she'd
make partner one day. That had always been Mom's dream,
and she'd throw herself a party when it happened.
    "Did Ms. Talbot tell you anything about my luggage?"
she asked. "The stupid airlines lost everything."
    Her most valuable possessions were inside those suitcases. The tangible objects that connected her to Mom: the purple
jumpsuit that Keelie had worn on the first day of kindergarten, her tattered Boo-Boo bunny, and the scrapbooks with
Mom's pictures. She didn't think she could look at them
right now, but she wanted them back.

    He shrugged. "She gave me your folder. We didn't really have time to talk. She said everything I needed was
in the file: vaccination record, birth certificate, and school
transcript."
    Sudden tears trembled on her lower lids. She widened
her eyes a couple of times to spread the tears around so
that she didn't have to wipe them away. Everything he
needed to know about her, in one folder? He didn't know
anything about her. He'd missed most of her life. Now
her mother's attorney had reduced her existence to three
pieces of paper. Keelie turned her head. She wouldn't cry.
She would never let her father see her cry.
    Thunder boomed, and rain splattered the saturated
ground. Crowds cheered from the jousting field, too excited or too dumb to get out of the rain. Keelie wondered
if her golden knight had won.
    Lightning forked across the black clouds, the brightness
blinding her for a second. Fire burned her. Her head felt
as if it were splitting. "Help," she cried. "In the meadowfire."
    Dimly, she saw her father, mouth open, staring at her.
"What? Fire, where?"
    Keelie clutched her head, trying to hold back the
pain. "There's a tree on fire. In the meadow. It's calling
for help." Her father took off running, leaving her there, alone, and without an aspirin. What was going on? Was
she getting voicemails from trees now? Where the heck
was this meadow?

    She sat on the flagstoned floor, not trusting the nearby
wooden chairs, in case they sent messages through her
backside. She didn't know where to go, so she'd wait for
her father to return. She knew where she ranked on his
priority list. Dead bottom.
    As soon as she could, she'd call Laurie and get their
plan moving. Keelie had to get back to California.

     

three
    "So what should I call you? Zeke? Lord Heartwood?"
Keelie sat on her father's overstuffed green sofa, swaddled
in a leaf-colored quilt, a mug of hot tea in her hands. Her
straggly wet hair tickled her cheeks as she looked around
the apartment above the shop.
    It had taken him two hours to return, and it would
serve him right if she died of pneumonia. At least she'd be
with Mom.
    "Call me Dad."
    "How about not?"
    "Knot's the cat. I'm your father."

    "Well, you don't act like one. Why'd you take off like
that? It was just a dumb tree."
    His smile faded. "How did you know that the tree was
on fire? Did you see the lightning bolt hit?"
    Keelie was relieved he'd supplied the answer. "Yeah.
And I saw smoke."
    He didn't look like he believed her. "I ran because fire
is very serious up here. We live in a forest. If it had spread,
our lives would be in danger."
    "Oh. That's the first thing anyone's said that makes
sense in this wacky place."
    From the window beside her, she could see the jousting
arena at the bottom of the hill. The jousters were gone,
and the field was empty except for a couple of workers
picking up garbage.
    She wondered if her golden knight had won and pictured him bending down for a kiss from the girl with the
perfect Goldilocks hair. She frowned. Bad image. She
needed to imagine him kissing her.
    What was she thinking? She wouldn't be here long