A mute, foundling girl hides from her pursuers with the help of a reluctant recluse. The two of them have nothing in common except deep emotional scars. Who is she? How did she end up unconscious and scantily clothed on Evan's isolated property? Why...
Looking back to the time Emily left me, during the past seventeen months, I realized I had just been going through the motions of living. No joy remained within me, only an emptiness and a desire to isolate myself. Until the day I found Sophie.
She was rekindling my hope for a brighter future. My misanthropic tendencies were fading. We worked and played together making the time fly by. Her youthful energy and constant motion warmed me. Her playfulness and teasing amused me. I enjoyed playing along with her antics. Sometimes, though, I had to check myself and disengage when her teasing crossed the line into overt flirting.
I'm not sure she realized how seductive she could be, the way she shot shy glances my way from beneath her eyelashes, or the way she sashayed through the cabin, or the way she looked at me over her shoulder before going into the bedroom at night. The nightly ritual of tucking her in always quickened my heartbeat.
I was a man. It had been a long time. Sophie was young, beautiful, curious, vulnerable, and sending signals of willingness. A dangerous combination.
I steeled myself and resolved to continue being the adult in the situation by keeping her best interests in mind. She was just a naïve teenager with a schoolgirl crush, because I had rescued her and provided for her. If she really was Amish, I probably indulged her more than her parents ever did.
Sophie was forcing me to face the obvious solution to my dilemma. I had to get over myself, climb out of my self-imposed exile, and put myself out there. I needed to start dating again, an age-appropriate woman.
Sunday rolled around, and Sophie had been living under my care for eight days. We sat side-by-side on the sofa. A football game played on the TV, but I was only half watching. Sophie was using my iPad to watch YouTube videos on mute so as not to disturb me.
I glanced her way. "I can mute the game if you need to hear your video."
She shook her head and showed me subtitles scrolling across the bottom of the screen.
"What are you watching?"
She paused the video and showed me the title. How to build an insulated dog run.
I groaned. The girl had a one-track mind. "We can't, Sophie, for all the reasons I already discussed with you."
She pouted.
I turned off the TV. "This has been a nice weekend, but the reality of Monday morning is fast approaching. My long four-day work week starts up again, so I'll be leaving you during the day, just like I did last week."
Sophie nodded, signaling she understood.
"When I'm away from you, I worry."
She rolled her eyes and wrote: I won't burn down your cabin.
"I'm not worried about my cabin."
She went quiet.
"If you want me to stop worrying, then the secrecy has to end. You need to show me your journal so I can find a way to rid you of the fear that has you so broken."
She wrote: I haven't finished writing it all down yet.
"Then finish it."
She wrote: I'll complete my journal and show you on Thanksgiving, but it won't change anything. I'm still all alone with no place to go. I still want to stay with you.
"At least I'll understand your situation better. We'll be able to work on a solution."
Her eyebrows knit together. She wrote: The solution is for me to stay with you. Why would that be so bad?
I tried to think of a way to answer her question. "It's complicated. There are legal issues. Being isolated has allowed us to get away with it so far. How long can we keep you being here a secret?"
She wrote: Only fourteen months until I turn eighteen.
An interesting revelation. I never thought to ask about her birthday. Now I knew it was in January.
"Fourteen months is a long time. Also, you're undocumented. You have no ID. How can I get you healthcare if something happens to you?"
She thought a while. Then, she wrote: I'll write to Minnesota to get a birth certificate. I can use that to get a proper ID.
The girl certainly was quick with answers. She had thought about everything. She flipped to a new pad page and wrote: After I get an ID you can adopt me.
Her determination brought a smile to my face. "I'm not old enough to have a sixteen-year-old daughter. No court would allow it."
Her eyes lit up as if she had a sudden revelation. You could be my big brother!
Hmm. Maybe. Except. "I may be a recluse, but a lot of people in the area know who I am, and they knew my family. They'd know if I had a kid sister."
She was already writing before I finished speaking. I could be your half-sister. We could say I came to live with you because something happened to my mother.
"You have it all figured out, don't you?" I admitted to myself how the scenario could work. We might be able to pull it off. When I started dating, it would be an acceptable way to explain a young girl like Sophie living with me.
She stared at me, wearing a hopeful expression.
"I'll think about it."
She wore a beaming smile and applauded.
"It's not a done deal. I said I'd think about it."
She was writing and not listening. On her pad, she wrote: Since I'm staying, there's no reason for us to not get a dog!
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Could it work if Sophie and Evan made it known they were brother and sister?
