China frowned very deeply. "But she would have still turned in the direction of your voice..."

"I was right in front of her China...she turned her head as if she was looking for me..."

China frowned. "I'll get Trent."

Sippi nodded and bent over to pick Lizzy back up.

"I have some medicine for her on the table over there. She should be due for a dose soon- half a spoonful. I'll be back as soon as I can."

"Hurry, China..." he said, sitting back in the rocking chair.

Mr. Webster entered the room a moment later. "How is she?" he asked softly.

"She's much better this morning..."

"I'm glad to hear that."

"She slept most of the night..."

He nodded. A short time later Trent and China walked into the room.

"So... tell me exactly what's wrong?" Trent said the second he entered.

"I had her in her bed earlier, changing her diaper...I was talking to her and she kept turning her head as if she were trying to find me..."

He frowned a bit and walked over to her. He took her and put her back in the crib. "Lizzy..." he said. She turned her head to the side.

He frowned, studying her. "Call her name, Sippi."

"Elizabeth..." he called.

Her head twisted around and she whimpered, her arms flailing in the air.

Trent sighed and scratched his chin. "I can't really tell for sure...as young as she is...but I think you're right, Sippi..."

China frowned. "So.. she really is blind then?"

"Blind!?" gasped Mr. Webster.

Trent sighed again. "I'm afraid so."

"How? Is it her illness that caused this?" Mr. Webster asked.

Trent nodded. "Yes."

"It's not temporary?"

"I don't think so..."

He frowned worriedly.

Trent rubbed his face. "Her fever is gone...but so is her eyesight. There is always a chance of something like that happening when the fever goes as high as hers did...especially with one so young."

"Rae will be so upset..."

"Tell me something I don't know, Sippi!" Trent snapped.

"Well don't snap at me!"

"Stop it! Both of you!" China said. "You aren't helping anything!"

They both sighed.

"How soon can I take her back to Rae and Spot?" Sippi asked.

"Probably tomorrow. Her temperature has gone down considerably since I last saw her."

Sippi nodded. "I have some things I need to arrange so that I can take her to Rae myself..." He sighed. "How am I supposed to tell her?"

"I don't know..."

"Do you want me to tell her or do you want to tell her?"

"I should... After all, I told you to wait."

"Can you leave in two days?"

"Yes. I'll make the arrangements."

~*~

Late that night Chris slipped into the house using the tunnel. As he was coming down the stairs from the third floor he bumped into Rae.

She yelped in surprise. "CHRIS! You SCARED me!"

"Sorry, Rae...Checking on the kids?" he asked.

"Yes... What are you doing, sneaking in? I thought you wouldn't be another day or so?"

"I came back early." He leaned against the wall. "I was gonna ask you and Spot about letting me fix up the old cabin..."

"Oh, yes..." She smiled at him. "Yes, you can."

"Thanks, Rae. I'll probably go get Kendra in about two weeks...Molly needs to stay in Brooklyn with North for a while..."

"Is something wrong with North?"

He smiled a bit. "Well... from what I hear... She's going to have a baby."

Rae smiled sadly.

"I... I'm sorry I told you, Rae..."

She shook her head. "I just have a feeling that something is wrong with Lizzy..."

He frowned a bit.

She looked at him. "What?"

"Ah...nothing...I'm just tired..." Chris said. "It's been a long day. Kendra didn't want me to leave."

Rae sighed.

"I'll see you in the morning," he said after a moment and headed off to bed.

Frowning Rae walked down the stairs.

Spot was half awake when she climbed into bed. "What's the matter?" he asked drowsily.

"Chris is back...and he started acting strange when I mentioned Lizzy..."

"Really?... hmmm..."

She shook her head as if to clear it. "He asked about fixing up the old cabin."

He smiled. "For him and Molly?"

"Yep," she said, resting her head on his shoulder.

He kissed her forehead.

She sighed. "Spot?"

"Yes?"

"What are we gonna do if he can't find her?"

"I don't know...." He replied

She sighed again. "We should get some sleep...if we're gonna take all those books into town tomorrow."

He nodded, putting his arm around her. "Sleep well, sweetheart," he said seriously.

~*~

When Rae woke the next morning, Spot was coming in the room with a tray of food. "Spot, you don't have to do that..."

"It was the little girls' idea...when I got up they were trying to mix together muffins."

She laughed a little. "Was it a big mess?

"Let's just say they will be spending the rest of the morning cleaning up the mess."

Rae laughed. "Well, I know they meant well."

She took a bite of one of the muffins. "Hmm...this is good. Did you help them?"

"A bit. Otherwise you would be eating sugar, not a muffin."

She smiled. "I guess we could put off taking the books into town after lunch."

"That would probably be best. And take them with us. They've been getting antsy at home."

"We could always leave them with Chris this morning and take one load in this morning."

"Just finish eating and we'll ask Chris."

She nodded. She finished a few minutes later, just as James was waking up and beginning to fuss. She sighed a bit. "He's hungry."

He picked James up and handed him to Rae. "You feed him...and I'll go talk to Chris."

"Okay."

Spot took the tray and left the room. When he entered the kitchen, he found that Chris was finally up. "I need a favor," Spot said, setting the tray on the counter.

"Hmm?" Chris asked sleepily.

"Can Rae and I leave the kids here with you this morning to do some work in town?"

After a moment, he nodded.

"Thanks..."

"No problem."

Spot left the house to hitch up the wagon, Sam following him as usual.

"Where ya goin'?" Sam asked.

"To hitch the horses up to the wagon."

"Why?"

"Because Momma and I have to go to town."

"Why?"

Spot picked up his son. "We are gonna take some books into town."

"Can I go?"

"No. You're gonna stay here with Chris."

"But I wanna go..."

"You can go with us after lunch, buddy."

He sighed. "Okay..."

~*~

Back in the house Rae finished feeding James and changed his diaper, before placing him back in the cradle. She threw several extra blankets on the floor near the cradle to use for the cold trip into town.

She dressed warmly. Then, scooping up the blankets, she kissed James and Robert on the head, and then headed out the door.

In the kitchen Chris was directing the girls in cleaning up the mess they had made.

Rae smiled, watching them.

Ann saw her first. "Morning, Momma!" she called cheerfully.

"Morning, Ann."

"Did you like the muffins, Miss Rae?" Ginny asked from where she was on the floor wiping up some sugar.

She smiled. "Yes I did. Thank you. That was a very sweet gesture girls."

The three girls grinned at each other.

"Now hurry up and get this cleaned up. Your father and I will be back around lunch time to take you into town for the afternoon."

"Can I PLEASE go now?" Andy asked.

"Well... did you help them make this mess? And tell me the truth."

"No ma'am."

"All right then. Get dressed quickly."

"Yippe!" he yelled, running from the room.

Rae smiled. "Are you sure you can handle all of them?" she asked Chris.

"Yes. I'll lock them out of they get to be too much trouble," he said with a grin.

She shook her head. "We won't be gone too long...Robert will be getting hungry in about two hours."

Chris nodded. "Sounds good."

Spot walked in the back door and put Sam down, just as Andy came sliding into the kitchen, his shoes in his hands. "Where are you going, little man?" Spot asked.

"Momma said I could go with you..."

"Is that so?" he asked, looking at Rae. She nodded. "All right then. Hurry up kiddo, the horses are waiting." He smiled.

"Need any help loading boxes?" Chris asked.

"Yes, actually. There are just a few left."

By the time Andy had his shoes and coat on, Spot and Chris had loaded the last of the boxes in the wagon.

"Ready to go!" Spot called.

After hugging and kissing each of the girls and Sam they left.

"I expect a lot of help from you, okay Andy?" Spot said as they headed down the road.

"Yes sir," he chirped. "When can I learn to drive the wagon?"

"When you're a little bit older."

Andy looked up at him. "How much older?"

He grinned. "This summer. Does that sound good to you?"

"Sure does."

"All right then."

Rae and Spot exchanged a smile over his head. They finally entered the town, which was bustling as usual with morning activity. Rae glanced around, noticing the stares that they were getting. So, she stared back at some of them until they glanced off. She shook her head.

Spot stopped the wagon in front of the building and hopped down. He turned to help Rae down and noticed the look on her face. "Just ignore them, Rae..."

"You think they'd get over it by now!"

"Old habits die hard."

"I know..."

He gently placed his hand on her cheek. "It's alright, Rae...let's just get the books inside."

She sighed and nodded. "All right."

He turned and lifted the first box from the wagon. "Unlock and open the door for me?"

She took the key and unlocked the door as told and then went to grab one of the boxes.

Spot quickly set down the box he held and took the box from her. "You don't need to be lifting these boxes."

"I can do it Spot, this one isn't that heavy."

"You just unpack them as I bring them in."

"All right.... But where do you want me to put them? You don't have all the shelving put together."

"Just start putting them in stacks on the tables."

She nodded and began to unload the books.

"What can I do?" Andy asked.

"Help your mom with the books. After I bring them all in, you and I will work on the shelves."

Andy nodded and ran into the store to help Rae. It took Spot about ten minutes to get all the boxes into the building. But finally, it was done. "Come on Andy, let's get these shelves finished!"

~*~

Chris was leaning against the doorframe of the kitchen watching as the girls washed the last of the dishes, when he heard a noise on the stairs behind him. He frowned a bit. Sam was flipping through a picture book at the table... and it certainly wasn't James or Robert....

He whirled around to see a young woman coming down the stairs. "Who are you?" he demanded.

"Who... are you?" she asked.

"I asked you first."

"I am Misha."

"What are you doing here?" he demanded.

"I am staying here," she said in halting English. "And you? I have never seen you."

"I live here!"

"But I have not seen you... Were you hiding?"

"I was in Brooklyn visiting the girl I plan to marry."

"I was there too!"

"It's a big city."

"Yes. Very big."

Chris crossed his arms. "Why are you here?"

"A man brought me here. I am hiding, until a threat passes."

His eyes narrowed. "What man?"

"His name is Beau."

"Beau what?"

"Um.... I think it is Wayne... But I am not certain. He works for detectives..."

"Ah...Sippi..."

"Yes..... I think someone called him that."

Ann came bounding out of the kitchen. "Morning, Misha..."

"Am I the only one who didn't know about this?" Chris asked as the young woman greeted Ann.

"Well.. ya came back so late last night. Momma and Daddy probably forgot to tell you."

"I leave for a few days and they invite perfect strangers into the house..." Chris muttered, walking toward the study.

"I am... sorry," Misha said as she passed. "I did not choose to be threatened."

Ann hit his leg. "Be nice to Misha!"

Chris winced. "Ouch!"

She stuck her tongue out at him before turning back to Misha. "Do you want some breakfast?"

"Yes. That would be good."

"We made muffins this morning," Ann said, taking Misha's hand and leading her toward the kitchen.

"That sounds delicious," she said with a smile.

Shaking his head, Chris headed into the study and sat down at the desk. He pulled out some blank papers and began to sketch some ideas for the little cabin.