Chapter 1 Suburban Legends by. Taylor Swift
Theo
Some fortunes aren’t meant to be shared.
That’s what I was told at age twenty one when I took my younger sister, Jackie, to a psychic.
We were both excited to see what she would see in our futures, but when she actually tried to see what our lives would entail her face went pale.
We were quickly ushered out of the room and our money refunded.
I had always wondered what she saw that day.
I highly doubted my reality now would have caused such a reaction.
“Mama!”
This was my life now.
“Mama!”
This had been my life for five and a half years. In May, next month, it will be six years.
“Mama!”
Maybe if I pretended to be asleep she would leave me alone for a little while longer.
It never worked, she would just try and wake me up.
I heard small footsteps enter into my room and felt movement on the side of the bed as she climbed up.
Finally, the tell-tale signs of her breath next to my ear.
“Mama?” my daughter, Violet, whispered.
I turned over in bed to see her cute face. She had my brown hair and my blue eyes. Honestly she looked nothing like her father.
Thank god.
“Can I help you?”
“I’m starving to death.” She flopped onto the bed holding her stomach as if she hadn’t eaten in days.
I laughed at her dramatics. She had always been a firecracker. Violet was never scared to tell you how she felt, no matter how nonsensical it was.
Just a month ago she expressed her anger that Oregon’s ocean wasn’t quite as salty as San Francisco's.
First, why was that a bad thing? I still didn’t know.
Second, they are both the Pacific Ocean, but I chose not to fight too hard on that point.
We had been living here in Eugene, Oregon for about six months. It was a hard transition for Violet.
Okay, to be honest it was a hard transition for me. I had lived in two places my entire life; my childhood house in Utah and my home in San Francisco. It was hard to leave, but I knew it was for the best.
My younger sister, Jackie, had just survived hell. She was literally kidnapped by a cult.
Like, what the fuck?
She had been gone for five days before being found and had no memory of her time away, but I could see she was keeping something about that time to herself. She was slowly adjusting to being back. It helped that her boyfriend, Will, was doing everything he could to support her, and vice versa.
They were disgustingly in love.
I sighed and picked my daughter up as I walked towards the kitchen to cook my gremlin some breakfast. She was oddly insistent on a hot breakfast every morning. I was happy to oblige.
I settled her into her chair and listened to her ramble about her dreams last night. Violet had one of the most active imaginations I had ever witnessed.
Everyday, there was a new story she had to tell me about. One time she was abducted by aliens, another she had apparently moved into the shed behind her preschool.
This morning was all about her friend on the other side of the fence. Whatever that meant.
I was halfway through the pancakes I was whipping up when Will walked into the kitchen.
Did I mention I was living with my sister and her boyfriend?
Honestly, it was incredible.
Their house was huge and had more than enough room for me and Violet. It was also located deep in the woods, which gave the illusion of being in the middle of nowhere. I’m not sure why, but I found it oddly comforting.
“Morning, Theo.” Will’s gaze was glued on today’s newspaper in front of him. He was getting more comfortable with showing his tattoos and today they were on full display with his sleeves rolled up.
It was interesting to witness how Jackie affected him, even in the smallest ways. Including him becoming more comfortable with himself.
“Morning, want some pancakes?” I flipped another pancake in the pan.
He shook his head before sitting next to Violet at the kitchen island and listened intently to her stories.
Now, while true love was an idea I had given up on, I wanted that for Violet.
I wanted her to have some other parental figure besides me she could look up to.
Will, Jackie, and my oldest brother Kai were great for her. But they were aunts and uncles, not parents. Violet deserved everything, she deserved more than I could give her. She deserved more than me.
Jackie interrupted my spiraling chain of thought as she made her way into the kitchen.
“Well if it isn’t my Vi and my Will.” She smiled in the entryway.
Will looked up to my sister, joy immediately showing in his face. He transformed whenever he saw her. “Hi, Sunshine.”
“Hi Auntie Jack!” Violet matched Will’s joy at seeing her favorite and only aunt.
“Hey, Jack,” I greeted my sister. “How are you doing?”
Jackie wandered over to me and leaned against the counter as she looked at me. “Just like I was yesterday, and like I’ll be tomorrow. I’m good. Happy. I promise.” She leaned in a bit closer. “You don’t need to worry about me anymore, Theo.”
I sighed.
I knew she was right. However, I had filled the place of our mom since she was fourteen. It was hard to let the habit go.
“I know, I just worry about you.”
She gave me a quick kiss on the cheek before starting a kettle for tea. None of us James’ siblings were big coffee drinkers.
“I also know why you do, and I love you for it. But I’m good.”
“Let your sister worry about you, Jackie,” Will called from the kitchen island.
I chuckled at the two and listened to them lovingly bicker back and forth. They really were perfect for each other.
I lied, I did still want that. I wanted someone to share my life with. I wanted a partner for the hard decisions. I wanted someone to rely on the way you do with a partner.
When my late brother Nate and I were raising Jackie, we had a kind of partnership. We knew we could rely on each other. He was my best friend.
Damn, I missed him.
It will be seven years this summer since we lost him in a car accident. A lifetime ago, yet it felt like yesterday.
“Breakfast is served.” I set down Violet’s breakfast in front of her.
She smiled and thanked me before absolutely demolishing the plate in front of her. Let me tell ya, that girl could eat.
Will stood to say his goodbye before giving an unnecessary passionate kiss to Jackie on his way out. After what felt like an eternity, but was probably less than ten seconds, he was out the door. He was a professor at the University of Oregon.
Also the son of the most powerful man in the world, but I digress.
“Are you still okay to take Violet to work with you today?” I asked my sister as she sipped on her tea and read Will’s abandoned newspaper.
Jackie nodded. “I’m looking forward to it. She helps break the tension.”
“Fai still being weird with you?”
Fai was her boss and formerly one of the closest people in her life. That was until he learned she was dating his arch nemesis, Will, and lying about her work, which then got her kidnapped. She also didn’t tell him about either of our brothers.
He had a good reason to be initially upset, but we were on month six and he was still giving her the cold shoulder.
“Yeah, I think something’s going on. He’s talking to Will about it.” Her brown eyes were huge with shock.
I chuckled. “They got over their weird hurdle when you were missing.”
“I know, it’s still just so weird.”
I shrugged and began cleaning up. “Not really. We all became a lot closer over that week. It’s impossible not to.”
I cleaned up my dishes before sitting down and eating Violet’s leftovers. Life of a mom, you never get a meal hot or completely untouched food.
I wouldn’t trade it for anything.
“Can I steal the classifieds?” I asked my sister.
She flipped through the paper before pulling out the section I needed. I began perusing the job postings. I had been here for six months and still didn’t have a steady job.
I had a lot of time before I had to start searching seriously. Maybe even years before it became an issue. I sold my old home in San Francisco and made a killing. It set up mine and Violet’s future’s.
However, I had a legal battle that I had to be sure would be well-funded.
I had no professional degree that put me ahead of other candidates and I didn’t want to do any entry level work.
I had started school, working on a degree in photography, but I never loved it.
I did earn my associates degree before pursuing photography full time.
I had built a sizable clientele and reputation.
It fell to pieces when I was twenty-three years old.
When Nate died.
When I got pregnant with Violet.
I sighed.
I would never regret my daughter, but I would admit that it made life more difficult having her when I did.
Speaking of the little bugger, I needed to get her ready for her day with Jackie at Fibonacci Files, the journal Jackie worked for.
“Bath time, Violet. You have syrup from your head to your toes.”
She smiled and wiggled her toes as if to check. “I’ll race ya.”
Before I could blink, she was off in a full-on sprint.
I chuckled and ran after her. No daughter of mine would beat me at a foot race. I picked her up halfway to the bathroom and barrelled us through the doors where we ended up laughing so hard our stomachs hurt.
I got to work getting her ready first. She was good with taking baths and never gave too much of a fight, it definitely made my life easier.
However, her long hair she refused to cut was becoming the bane of my existence. Of course, she didn’t know that.
It was a whole task to tame. She must have gotten her curly hair from her father, because it sure as hell didn’t come from my family.
After a solid fight with the curls, Violet was dressed and her hair braided. I even managed to get myself ready. It was easier because I learned having short hair with a kid was easier than long hair.
We were ready for the day.
Violet for her day with her Auntie Jack.
Me, ready to fight for custody of my daughter.