Mrs. Gardner pressed her lips together and motioned to her husband. “Dear, you’d better call the paramedics.”
“No, no, we’re fine,” Dad stuttered, but he was looking strangely at Mrs. Gardner too. I had forgotten that Dad and Sandra knew Mrs.
Gardner and knew she had died a year ago. Still staring at her, Dad said, “We’re all fine … I think.” He strode over to the window and looked out as though checking to see if the rest of the world was the same.
“Hmmm,” Mrs. Gardner said, watching him. To her husband she mouthed, “Make the call.”
While he did, the rest of us congregated around Sandra. Dad came over, although he kept a good distance away from Mrs. Gardner.
She knelt down by Sandra, took her hand, and tapped it gently. “Can you hear me?”
“It’s probably delayed shock,” Nick said. “I’m sure she’ll be fine.” Sandra blinked open her eyes, took in Mrs. Gardner, and let out a startled scream.
“It’s okay,” I told Sandra. “I can explain everything”—I glanced at Mrs. Gardner—“at a later time.”
Sandra’s gaze ricocheted between Mrs. Gardner and me, and at last she seemed to understand. She let out several quick breaths. “You traded …,” she gasped out, “… for Hudson.”
“Right,” I said.
When Mrs. Gardner looked at me questioningly, I shrugged and whispered, “It’s the shock. I’m humoring her.” 341/356
My dad’s eyes widened and he said, “Oh—ooooh!” And I knew he understood too.
Sandra took a few more deep breaths and pulled herself to a sitting position. She put her free hand on her chest. “I’m fine now,” she said weakly.
“Good.” Mrs. Gardner looked Sandra over carefully before she let go of her hand. “Don’t try to get up yet. If you need anything, have one of your children …” Her gaze narrowed in on my face. Then her mouth opened in surprise. “You’re Tansy, aren’t you?” To Sandra she said, “I didn’t know Tansy was your daughter.”
“You’ve met?” Sandra asked.
“Yes, last year …” And then, as though she just realized it, she added, “I think you were wearing that same dress.” I forced a smile. “Weird coincidence.” Her gaze fell to Stetson. “And who is this darling baby?”
“My nephew,” Sandra said quickly.
“Well, isn’t he the cutest thing.” Mrs. Gardner bent down for a closer look. “He reminds me of Hudson when he was a baby.” Another weird coincidence I was not going to comment on.
Hudson apparently didn’t want to comment either. He went and talked with his father, repeating the story of what the bandits had done.
Over the next few minutes, more police officers came, along with paramedics. I was glad the golden heart was gone because I wasn’t sure how I would have explained it to the guy who listened to my heart and lungs with his stethoscope. We were examined and questioned while the police roamed around taking pictures for their report. As they were packing up to go, Mrs. Gardner came over to talk to Sandra again.
342/356
“I feel so awful that you lost so much,” she said. “What can I do to help?”
“We didn’t lose anything that can’t be replaced.” Sandra glanced around the nearly empty room. “And on the bright side, it just got a lot easier to pack for our move.”
Mrs. Gardner’s eyebrows dipped. “What move?” Before Sandra could answer, Mrs. Gardner put a consoling hand on Sandra’s shoulder. “You’re not going to let this robbery make you move, are you? Rock Canyon is still a safe city, and the library needs you. Don’t tell me I went through all that work to keep the branch open for nothing.”
“All that work …,” Sandra repeated.
“I had to practically browbeat the mayor,” Mrs. Gardner said.
“The branch is staying open?” Sandra asked.
Mrs. Gardner pursed her lips and cocked her head. “The paramedics checked you out, right?”
Sandra let out a happy gasp. “That’s wonderful … I mean about the branch. I mean, of course we won’t move. Thank you so much for working to keep it open.”
“Well, we all do our part to help the community,” Mrs. Gardner said, still eyeing her as though she might faint again.
I smiled. I hadn’t needed gold to save Dad’s and Sandra’s jobs after all. I’d only needed Mrs. Gardner.
Hudson left not long after that. His mother looped her arm possessively through his and said, “I don’t know about you, but I need to go home and sleep.”