Thirty-Five #2
“Sadie?” Mia’s features lit up. When she spotted Brynn in my arms, confusion replaced her happiness, and she glanced at Theo. “Is there something you forgot to tell me, little brother?”
“You can stop looking at me like that,” he said with a smile. “This is Brynn. We only found her an hour ago. She’s new to us, too.”
“Oh, my God.” Mia pressed her hands to her mouth. “Seriously?”
“Mum. Mum! It’s a baby!” Ruby rushed over to me and cupped Brynn’s hand. The baby sucked her thumb and looked down at Theo’s niece with a tentative smile, kicking her foot as if she was excited to see another young person.
“I think she likes you,” I said, jiggling Brynn to widen her smile. She pulled out her thumb and made a sound that bordered on a giggle.
“I like her too.” Ruby jumped up and down beside me as the front door darkened with the appearance of another family member.
An older man wandered outside, broad shouldered, with short, dark hair peppered with the same grey as his eyes. He wore a blue and black checkered flannel shirt and well-loved jeans, looking as comfortable in his own body as Theo always had.
The lines on his face made him seem like a time-lapse version of his son, twenty-some years down the track. Still handsome, still strong and capable.
He scanned Mia and Ruby, then the baby and me. It was too much to take in, and I held my breath, waiting for it to click into place.
When his eyes roamed over his son, his expression shifted to one of disbelief.
Theo made a rough sound in his throat, and my tears threatened to fall again.
Communication had been down for less than a week, but with no way to speak to one another, we imagined all kinds of terrible fates for the people we cared about.
His father—Dave—walked toward us like he didn’t trust what he was seeing. Theo met him halfway with long strides, and the two of them embraced, a solid hug with loud claps on the back. I thought I’d even picked up on a muffled sob.
Norm bounded over and pushed his nose between them, jumping until Dave rested a hand on his head to settle him.
“You finally ignored the roadblocks,” he said, his voice husky.
“Didn’t have to,” Theo said. “They’re gone. Everything’s gone. I’ll tell you more about it inside.” He pulled back and wiped the tears from his face, his gaze flicking to me. “Dad, this is Sadie.”
With a gleam in his eye, Dave took me in from head to toe. “So, this is the girl my boy’s always talking about. Has he been taking care of you?”
Theo’s expression fell somewhere between horrified and amused.
“He has,” I said with a laughing breath, surprised he’d spoken about me. “He’s the best.”
“Welcome to the family,” Dave said with a good-natured smile. “We’re glad to have you.” Then the baby in my arms finally registered, and he tilted his head. “Is this your… daughter?”
Theo came over to join me, standing on my other side while Ruby stayed close. “Nope. Well, not until today. We found her on the way here,” he said, palming the back of Brynn’s head. “She doesn’t have anyone.”
Ruby surprised me by leaning against me and keeping hold of Brynn’s hand, smiling up at me. Freckles spread across the bridge of her nose, and her eyes were the clearest blue. Rather than hold back with new people like I once would have, I returned her smile and looked from one person to the other.
“It’s nice to meet you all,” I said, “and this is Brynn.”
I couldn’t help thinking how lucky Theo was to have his family.
They were whole. Safe.
I still didn’t know what had happened to Ava, but seeing him happy was enough.
The house was so warm inside. Candles glowed in the early evening light. A wood fire crackled, and a small crowd I’d never met before lounged on an oversized couch the same colour as the lattes I used to grab on my way to work.
It turned out several people from neighbouring farms were spending their nights here behind secure fences, then returning to their own homes during the day. In time, I could see them moving here permanently, but for now, it was more important to hang onto whatever normality they could.
I was introduced to Barb and John, a grey-haired couple in their sixties who ran a sheep farm; Alan and his son, Joel, who grew canola crops on the outskirts of town, and Alicia, a woman in her thirties who operated a candle and soap shop from her home.
I sat at the dining table beside Mia, watching as she cared for Brynn with more experienced hands than mine.
She’d set her on a cushioned dining chair, offering her mashed apple from a pot she warmed by the fire.
Brynn devoured the food rather than refusing it, and Mia wiped her mouth after each bite.
“How old do you think she is?” I asked. We’d already tried her on the floor to see if she was a crawler or a walker.
It turned out she was neither. She sat still for a few minutes, getting the lay of the land, then did an adorable bum shuffle over to a chair, which she used to pull herself up and stand.
Mia crinkled her nose. “I’d say eleven months, give or take a couple of weeks. You should pick a birthdate for her, now you've given her a name.”
I'd add that to the list of things that had never occurred to me. “I’m so glad you’re here,” I said. “I don’t know what I’m doing, and it’s not like I can look it up on the Internet anymore.”
“We’ll figure it out together and get her into a new routine—but you two can take a break tonight,” she said with an understanding smile. “I’ll look out for little Brynnie while you get some sleep.”
“Are you sure?” I leaned my elbows on the table, my gaze shifting to where Theo sat amongst the others in the lounge area.
Mia offered Brynn another spoonful of apple. “I’m sure,” she said. “She’s an angel, and it’s taking me back to when Ruby was a baby. I don’t mind at all.”
“Thank you.” Relief washed over me, and the tiredness I’d been keeping at bay hit me like a tidal wave. “I’ll soak up any advice you have to offer tomorrow, I promise. I want to learn everything.”
She smiled. “No rush. I’m just glad you both came. Theo didn’t say much when we were talking on the phone, but I read between the lines and got the impression you wouldn’t be easy to convince.”
“I wasn’t.” I tucked my hair behind my ear. “My sister’s missing, and I told her I’d wait for her at my place.”
“Oh, I’m sorry.” Mia pursed her lips and scraped the last spoonful of apple from the bowl. “That’s tough.”
I nodded, attempting to push out thoughts of Ava. “Looks like Ruby’s been missing Theo.”
She hadn’t left his side once. Not when we were talking in low voices about what had happened, or when his dad squeezed his shoulder now and then as if to convince himself he was here.
She perched on the arm of the couch with Theo’s hand held between both of hers, playing with the friendship bracelet that never seemed to leave his wrist.
“She was really upset about losing Wi-Fi,” Mia said, following my line of sight. “Catching up with him online helped get her through the pandemic.”
“She might see him too much now.” I smiled as his eyes met mine across the room. It didn’t matter how often we’d been apart in the hours since we’d arrived, he was always seeking me out, sharing glances, touching me in passing.
“I doubt it,” Mia said with a laugh. “I think you’ll be getting most of his attention.” She wiped Brynn’s mouth with a cloth and lifted her from the chair, holding her against her chest.
I didn’t know what to say, so I let my reddened cheeks do the talking.
Eventually, when Brynn was cleaned up, changed, and asleep in a corner of the lounge room, Theo came over to me with a lantern in one hand. “Ready to crash?”
I nodded, and he laced his fingers with mine, pulling me up from the chair.
Together we left the loud chatter and laughter behind us.