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.”
    “Friend.”
    “Yes, that’s right. It’s about true friendship.” Deanna helped Miranda crawl back into bed, as always feeling utterly protective of the girl. Anyone who gave Miranda a quick look would probably guess her age to be about twelve. Deanna tucked her in beneath the soft down duvet and moved up to sit next to her, one hand on Miranda’s cinnamon-colored hair, while she opened the book with the other. She began to read the story of the loyal, intelligent spider that saved the life of her friend, the pig, and as she kept reading the classic story, her own anger began to dissipate.
    She couldn’t help Miranda if she allowed her temper to rule. Her sister needed her calmness as much as she needed love and affection.
    Deanna refused to give her mother’s actions another thought. She would do what she always did—write a no-nonsense message in Miranda’s chart. Nine years ago she vowed never to speak to her mother again, and she had kept her word.
    Angela Moore decided to place Miranda in this facility when she was only seven. Though it was progressive and cutting-edge, Deanna was infuriated because their mother had betrayed both of them. Angela had sworn they’d always be together, be a family, after their father passed away when Deanna was eighteen and Miranda was two.
    Five years later when she met Percy, that all changed. He was a widower with two daughters Miranda’s age, and it didn’t take him long to convince Angela that Miranda was better off in an institution.
    Deanna did everything possible to keep her original family together, and when Angela wouldn’t listen, but talked on and on about how the staff at Tremayne’s worked miracles with autistic children and that it would be good for all of them, Deanna gave her mother an ultimatum.
    She could still see the pained, angry expression on her mother’s face. Deanna told her mother that unless she reconsidered sending Miranda away, she would leave and never talk to her mother again.
    Ever. Angela pleaded with her, but also refused to budge. The incident ended in total chaos. They shipped Miranda off to Tremayne’s, and Deanna left without saying another word to either Angela or Percy.
    Determined to keep her anger at bay, Deanna focused on the story.
    Miranda’s head rested on her shoulder and grew increasingly heavy as the story of Charlotte, the spider, unfolded. After only forty-five pages, Miranda’s breathing was even and she had slid farther down under her duvet.Deanna carefully dislodged her arm and rose from the bed. She made sure Miranda was comfortable and carefully brushed the silky hair out of her face. Her sister was the epitome of cuteness, with her slightly freckled, upturned nose and huge blue eyes. Deanna wanted Miranda to have every opportunity—not only the ones available for anyone with her diagnosis, but any chance possible for happiness and fulfillment. Did Angela see how amazing her youngest daughter was and the progress she had made the last few years? Miranda’s language skills had picked up enormously when Tremayne’s enrolled five of their students in a trial program devised by the University of Vermont.
    Deanna had to admit that Tremayne’s had been good for Miranda, and that the feud between her and her mother didn’t benefit her sister at all. Still, they reached total gridlock nine years ago, and after the nightmare two years ago when all hell broke loose around Deanna at Grantville High, she saw no end. If not for the all-consuming sisterly love she felt for Miranda, Deanna would have disappeared a long time ago. She would have changed her name and moved to another state, perhaps even to Canada. Instead she was stuck in a life that revolved around her sister and her work.
    Deanna grabbed a binder from a shelf, browsing through the latest entries jotted down by the staff, to see if they had recorded anything the last few days to explain what had happened. Irene Costa had made a short entry the previous