Misty Blue by Dyanne Davis

me?”
    “Yes.”
    “And?”
    “Okay, we’ll do it together.”
    “Good. Now I want to hear more about this Jerry. Are you close with him? I mean, do you really think of him as a father?”
    “No.”
    “Then why on earth…”
    “Because he’s the only person I could think of that Keefe would believe I was even seriously considering. Anyone else and he would have seen through it.”
    “Why won’t he see through Jerry?”
    “Jerry helped us. Our mother took off and we were sent to foster care.” Mia’s voice lowered. “It wasn’t the first time she’d taken off, just the first time she didn’t come back. We, well, I called around to our relatives, searching for her. Keefe warned me not to, told me what would happen if I did. I did it anyway. One of my cousins called social services and they found out we were alone. Keefe was taking good care of me, like always, but they said he couldn’t. They put us in separate homes.”
    Mia closed her eyes, shivering at the unpleasant memory. “I couldn’t believe it when they came to take us. I was screaming and hollering, kicking everyone in sight. I couldn’t believe it. It was all my fault and poor Keefe…”
    Mia’s voice broke and she sobbed. “He was fighting with them, trying to stop them from taking me. But it was no use. They took me anyway. The last thing I heard was him promising to come and get me.”
    “How long were you in foster care?” Damien asked.
    “We were separated for a couple of months. But it seemed like forever. They wouldn’t tell me where my brother was, wouldn’t let me see him. I almost went crazy. They put me in the hospital because I refused to eat until they let me see my brother. When he came, I begged him not to let them take me away again. I promised him I would be good, that I would listen if he saved me.”
    “Save you? Save you from what, Mia?” Damien asked gently. Did someone…”
    “I don’t know. I just knew that I needed him to save me. Still, they took me back to the home. But within a couple of days I heard Keefe’s voice screaming for me. I was hiding in a closet, had been for a very long time. At first I thought someone was playing a joke. Then I ran out. He was with Jerry. Keefe told me not to worry, that he’d come to get me and he’d never let anyone hurt me again.”
    “Jerry became your foster father?”
    “Sort of. He pretended. We could call him if we needed him, if social workers were coming, things like that. He kept some clothes at our apartment.”
    “He just left two kids alone?”
    “Damien, he helped us. No one else would.”
    “Why didn’t he let you live with him?”
    “He had a girlfriend who didn’t want us there. But it didn’t matter. We didn’t want to be there. Keefe made a deal with Jerry that he would take care of me. They both warned me not to say anything to kids at school or to any relatives.”
    “You didn’t?”
    “Only once. I almost told one of my friends. Luckily Keefe was around. He looked at me, and I remembered that I wasn’t supposed to tell anyone that we lived alone. I think my almost slipping up worried Keefe. He called Jerry and asked him to come over.
    “Jerry warned me that if I told, he would go to jail and I would go back into foster care and I would never see my brother again, ever. After that, I stopped having friends. I couldn’t take a chance of forgetting, of telling anyone.”
    “Your brother didn’t want you having friends?”
    “He didn’t mind. He just told me I had to be careful. It was my own decision. Besides, Keefe didn’t have friends anymore. I felt bad for him. He stopped going anywhere with them. He took me everywhere with him.”
    “What about your relatives?”
    “They hardly ever came over. They’d invite me to my cousins’ birthday parties but Keefe got mad because they didn’t invite me to more things, like the pajama parties my cousins had, so he told me I wasn’t going anymore. Anytime they had a party, Keefe