24. Liberty
Liberty glanced over at her mom as they drove home from the birthday party.
Like Liberty, Mom had always been a bit of a worrywart. Under her mother’s smile, Liberty had always recognized a touch of anxiety that was familiar because it reflected Liberty’s own desire to get everything right, and leave no loose thread dangling.
But tonight Mom looked… different. Relaxed, confident, happy, and maybe even a little nostalgic.
Liberty had never given much thought to her mother’s childhood. After all, Jessica Steele was a classic optimist. When she spoke about the past, it was usually funny stories about Uncle Brian, sweet ones about her own mom, or the occasional reference to Mary McKinnon and her children.
Looking at it from an adult perspective though, Liberty saw everything differently now.
Jess had loved and lost her mom. She had loved and lost the McKinnons, who took her into their hearts as well as their home. And she had loved and lost sweet Uncle Brian.
She had gone from this warm and colorful place where the air was filled with the scent of the ocean, the sound of playful birds, and the hush of the tide, to the cold temperatures and gray-brown winters of Pennsylvania without ever opening her mouth to complain.
But seeing her here, with her foster mother and siblings, a job, and a home of her own…
It was suddenly hard for Liberty to imagine her mother anywhere else.
And Liberty was surprised to find that she didn’t really want to be anywhere else, either. She was just coming to the end of her vacation time, and had expected to have talked honestly with Chase by now, and for them to be officially separated.
She had just assumed she would be going back to Philadelphia. But since she had been offered the option of doing tele-health, she could technically live wherever she liked.
“That was so much fun,” Glory sighed from the back seat.
“Yeah, those guys are the best,” Anthem agreed from beside her.
Their words roused Liberty from the spell she was under. Obviously, Mom would be taking Glory back to her school and their life in Aynwick. It was silly to even dream otherwise.
And of course, Liberty would be going back too. She certainly couldn’t afford to live down here if she had to pay for her own rental in the high season.
I’ve got vacation brain, that’s all…
“Okay,” Jess said, sighing as they pulled up. “Who’s going to help me carry the beach globe in?”
“Wait,” Liberty said, gazing at the light coming from inside the house. “Did we leave a light on?”
“I don’t think so,” Mom said. “I usually check before we head out.”
“I’m sure there was no light on,” Glory said definitively.
“Do you think it’s a burglar?” Liberty asked anxiously.
“My guitar,” Anthem cried, leaping out of the car and tearing up the porch steps.
“Good heavens,” Jess said as she got out. “Anthem, do not go in there until we’re sure no one is in the house.”
But Anthem had already disappeared in the front door. The one that Glory was sure had been locked when they left.
“Call the police, Mom,” Liberty heard herself say as she launched herself out of the car. “I’m going after her.”
“Liberty,” Jess said firmly.
But Liberty’s very first baby sister was in there. And she wasn’t going to let anything happen to her if she could help it. She took the porch steps two at a time and headed inside.
The light was coming from the kitchen.
She heard footsteps behind her, which meant her mother and sister were following instead of calling the police. Given that she had done the same thing, she couldn’t really judge them, but it made her mad anyway.
She moved faster, heading back to the kitchen. If she got there first and screamed, maybe her mom would have some instinct for self-preservation and stop and call this in.
Bursting in the kitchen door, she spotted someone standing on the other side of the island. Not Anthem. She must have gone upstairs to check on her guitar.
It took Liberty’s eyes a moment to adjust to the bright light, and when they did she was stunned.
“Teeny?” she breathed.
Her cousin only stared back. She was frozen in place with a jar of peanut butter and a spoon in her hands, her blue eyes wide.
“What are you doing here?” she asked Liberty after a second.
“What are you doing here, Justine?” Jess asked breathlessly from over Liberty’s shoulder.
“Teeny?” Glory yelled.
“I-I thought this place would be empty,” Teeny stammered. “I thought the only time you guys had ever come down here was for the wedding.”
Her eyes opened even wider in horror, and she glanced over at Liberty, as if she was afraid that bringing up the wedding would make her get angry.
Which was fair. There was a time when thinking about her cousins and the wedding had made Liberty furious.
Teeny’s older sister, Bitsy, was two years younger than Liberty. Liberty had waited patiently while she and Chase finished school and got their careers started before he proposed. But Bitsy’s no-good boyfriend had given her a big, romantic proposal when they had been dating only three months. And he had done it at Liberty’s wedding, right there on the beach, on what was supposed to be Liberty’s big day.
Liberty had been so furious with her cousin she hadn’t spoken to her since. But it hardly mattered now.
“We’ve been staying here for a few weeks, fixing up the house,” Jess said calmly. “But what brings you here?”
Liberty vaguely remembered that Teeny was supposed to be attending Penn State. Her mom had shared something about it in one of their calls, but for the life of her, she couldn’t remember the details. In any case, it was summer break, and she should be with her dad.
“Guess I can’t hide it anymore,” Teeny said, her eyes filling with tears as she stepped out from behind the kitchen island to reveal a rounded belly that was in stark contrast to the rest of her narrow frame. “My dad’s gonna kill me when he finds out.”
“Oh, honey,” Jess said, running to embrace her.
Pregnant. She was pregnant.
Her little cousin was pregnant, and seemed like she didn’t even want to be.
Liberty’s chest throbbed like her heart would implode, and she looked away, directly into Glory’s sympathetic gaze.
It was too much.
Before she knew it, her feet were carrying her away, up the stairs to her bedroom. Footsteps coming after hers told her Glory was following.
“I’m fine,” Liberty said without turning around as she reached her room.
“You’re not fine, Libby,” Glory said softly. “And it’s not fair. At least let me be here for you.”
Liberty bit back a sob.
“I-I just need a little space,” she managed.
She moved as quickly as she could into her room.
But she couldn’t avoid seeing the tears slide down her little sister’s cheeks when she turned to close the door behind her.
Normally, the sight of one of her baby sisters in distress would have Liberty sobbing too and pulling them into a big hug to take their hurt away.
But suddenly, she felt numb inside.
She sank onto her bed instead, and curled into a ball, staring at the pretty, light blue wall and wondering if her heart had just disintegrated.