CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Scott
Now
It was Saturday, and I was in a pretty good mood.
The doctor had given me a good report on Blair the day before.
Her vitals were all steady, her brain activity was more than encouraging, and he thought if she held the upward trend for another week, she’d be ready to slowly end the medically induced coma.
I was both excited and terrified at the prospect.
I wanted her back desperately. We all did.
It wasn’t just me who’d learned a greater appreciation for Blair; the kids had a newfound respect for her, too.
Seeing how much of a bumbling fool I’d been, and still was, they suddenly appreciated that what Blair did wasn’t easy in any way.
I was so damn excited and hopeful for her to come back to us.
But the last thing she’d said to me was that she wanted a divorce. A chill ran through me every time I thought about that.
The doorbell rang, interrupting my thoughts. I was glad; I didn’t want to focus on the horrible things that could happen.
I couldn’t think about that now. Or ever, if I had my choice.
I opened the door and stared at the woman standing on my doorstep.
“What the hell are you doing here?”
Scarlett winked at me and walked in without being invited. “Are we alone?” she asked in a sexy voice.
“Not even close. I have six children in case you’ve forgotten.”
“Silly,” she laughed, “as if I could ever forget that.” She poked me in the chest and leaned in. “It’s perfect, though.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’m Scarlett and you’re Scott,” she said as if that explained it all.
My eyes widened. Had she lost it?
“And all your kids have ‘s’ names? Come on, Scott. We were meant to be. Scarlett sounds so much better with Scott, Sutton, Sean, Spencer, Sophia, Selene, and Sammy.”
“What the hell are you talking about? Better than what?”
She rolled her eyes, and I noticed for the first time that she wore colored contacts. One of them got stuck funny, and I could see the murky gray color underneath her turquoise lenses. Jesus. Was there anything real about this woman?
“Better than Blair,” she said, wrinkling her nose. “And the best part is that I didn’t even have to ruin all of this to have those kids.” She did a little shimmy dance to show off her body.
“Wait. Let me get this straight. You’re actually hitting on me again while my wife is in a coma? Did you think I would find that appealing? And are actually trying to say you’d make a good stepmom?”
“Sure. How hard can it be? I already have one kid. I mean, sure, he spends ninety percent of his time with his dad, but I’m still a mom.”
I laughed, knowing it was harder than anything she’d done in her life. I was proof of that. And when I could catch a breath, I said, “Hard pass.”
She looked taken aback. “You don’t mean that.”
“Oh, I do. So much. You’d be a horrible stepmom. Worse than fairy tales.”
She did a double take, and I realized that not everyone read fairy tales to children every night. “You’re so much worse than the evil queen in Snow White. Or the wicked stepmother in Cinderella.”
She blinked at me as if she didn’t quite know how to take what I was saying. As if there was possibly a positive take on evil stepmoms.
“And by the way,” I said leaning in, “you’re nothing compared to Blair. She’s better than you in every possible way. Looks, body, personality—literally anything you could think of. And she’s the best mother on the planet.”
Scarlett gave a little sniff. “Well, I’ll come back next week and see if your tune has changed.”
I shook my head. “You’re delusional. If you come back, I’m filing a restraining order.”
She narrowed her eyes. “You want me. I know you do. You did all those years ago, and you do now.”
“I didn’t want you then or now. Not even close.”
Suddenly, Sutton appeared next to me. “Is this my new mom?” she asked.
Scarlett smiled at me triumphantly while I had to hide a smile. I didn’t know exactly what was happening, but I thought it would probably be good.
“Yes. Of course.” Scarlett pasted a large, fake smile on her face.
“Thank God.” Sutton reached out and pulled Scarlett inside. “I need help. We all do. Come sit down.”
“Sure,” Scarlett said. “You’re a very pretty girl, Sutton. You should maybe go out for cheerleading or…”
“Oh, I’m already on the squad.” She sighed. “But I’m tired of living this way. Hiding who I really am.”
I leaned against the wall, arms crossed over my chest. I couldn’t wait to hear this.
“Oh, you should never hide who you are… dear.” Scarlett patted Sutton’s shoulder awkwardly.
“I’m so glad you think so,” Sutton hugged her fiercely. “So, you’ll take me?”
“Take you where?”
“To the salon.”
Scarlett breathed a visible sigh of relief. “There’s nothing I like more. What do you want done today? Platinum highlights? Ready to go blonde?”
Sutton laughed. “No. I want to look just like this.” She turned her phone around and showed her a picture of a generic Goth girl, jet black hair, tons of dark makeup, form-fitting clothing, piercings, tattoos, the whole works.
“Oh my God,” Scarlett covered her mouth like she was going to be sick. “Honey, you cannot look like that and cheer.”
“That’s such a relief. I’ve always preferred Bulgarian-style weightlifting.”
Scarlett looked disturbed. “Maybe your dad could help you…”
“No. No way. Daddy doesn’t believe in face tattoos. You’ve got to help me.” Sutton got right in her face and widened her eyes. “Mommy.”
Scarlett shuddered. “You know, maybe this isn’t the best idea…” she was trying to stand up when Sammy rocketed onto her lap.
“Mom!” he threw his arms around her. “I just threw up. And I wet the bed. Can you help me?”
“Oh God.” She lurched away from him, practically dumping him onto the floor.
Sean and Spencer stomped down the stairs. “This is her?” Sean asked Sutton, pointing at Scarlett.
“That’s our new mother,” Sutton said in a fake dreamy voice as she made ‘an appointment’ for a face tattoo on her phone.
“Good.” Spencer looked relieved. “Mom played ball with us whenever we wanted her to. She’s helped us become phenomenal athletes.”
Sean made a face and grabbed Scarlett’s hand. He held it up. “These have to go,” he said tapping her long fingernails.
Scarlett pulled her hand away like she’d been burned. “I’m not very athletic.” She looked at me like I was going to help her.
“I’ve booked a venue for the wedding, darling,” I lied.
Her eyes widened in alarm.
Sophia walked down the stairs. She looked normal and beautiful in a pink ruffled dress and matching hair bow.
She looked at Scarlett and hurried over to her.
“I’m so relieved. I’m not the only one anymore.
” She hugged Scarlett, who held her arms out stiffly as if she’d catch something by touching a child.
Scarlett looked relieved, though. “You mean normal? You’re not the only normal one anymore?”
Sophia cocked her head. “No. You’re of the spirit world, like me. I can tell by your aura. You can help me fight the demons. Let’s have a séance and stay up all night to communicate with the dead.”
Scarlett stood up, eyeing Sophia with actual fear. “You know, I think y’all will be better off with someone a little more like you are…”
Selene came hurrying out of the kitchen carrying a butcher knife, dripping what looked to be blood. “Can you help me? I cut up one of them chickens we got running around out back. Can you go milk the dairy cow and grab another chicken for me to butcher?”
Scarlett screeched and lurched away from her as the butcher knife dripped ‘blood’ onto her spotless designer outfit.
“Oops. Well, you’ll learn to only wear what you don’t mind putting the bleach on to get rid of the blood stains.”
Scarlett got up so fast, she turned her ankle. “Shit,” she said.
“Demon!” Sophia pointed at her with her eyes rolled back in her head, looking like a creepy doll or something.
Scarlett screamed and limped from the house with me and the children chasing her.
“Scarlett,” I screamed after her retreating back, “come back to us! We need you!”
Her response was the screech of tires as she flew back down our driveway and out onto the street. She honked at any car that got in her way.
It turned out my children had been better than a restraining order would ever be.
We all waited until she was out of sight before collapsing with laughter.
After we were all laughed out and we sat on the porch in companionable silence, I asked, “How did y’all know she was coming?”
Sutton snorted. “Please, Dad. Everyone knew. She told every mom within a five foot radius of you at the twins’ last soccer game that you were hers. We’ve been coming up with a plan ever since.”
I couldn’t hold back the laughter as I pictured her face when Sophia called her a demon and Selene had dripped ‘blood’ on her.
After we’d had enough time to enjoy Scarlett’s discomfort, I asked, “What’s everyone got going on today? I don’t have anything on the calendar for once.”
I was surprised when, one by one, the kids all said they’d decided to stay home today and spend time with me.
“Let’s have a cookout,” Sutton suggested.
“Sure,” I said, excited to have all of them home with me.
Just a few weeks ago, I’d wondered how in the world I’d ever know what to say to them or how to spend time with them.
I’d started counting the days for them to go off to college.
Even Sammy. Now? My heart broke when I thought about Sutton getting older.
She’d be driving soon. Then it was just a couple of years before she was in college.
The thought made my heart ache.
“Should we invite everyone over?” Everyone meant Blair’s friends, her friends’ parents, and Gam.
For once, no one screamed in happiness.
“You know, Dad?” Selene said. “I kind of just want it to be us tonight.”
The way that made me feel? There was nothing else like it.
We spent the rest of the day hanging out in the backyard, going to the grocery store to pick out what everyone wanted on the grill, and just enjoying being together.
There was a lull a couple of hours before it was time to cook. I looked around at my children. “Who wants to have friends over?”
They stared as if I’d lost my mind. The concept of me asking if they wanted to bring even more children to our home was so foreign they couldn’t imagine it.
I grinned. “Invite whomever you’d like.”
“No one says ‘whomever’” Selene said in a fake British accent. “It’s archaic.”
“I’m not sure you know what archaic means,” I countered.
“Ooh… sick burn,” Spencer yelled.
“I’m calling some friends if you’re sure that’s okay,” Sutton asked, looking warily at me.
“Go for it,” I said, leaning back on the porch and staring up at the clouds in the blue October sky. “Whoever you want.” I emphasized the ‘who’ and gave Selene a pointed look.
She smirked at me.
Sean followed Sutton. “Are you inviting Katie over?”
“What about Pilar?” asked Spencer.
“Sure, I’ll invite them. But y’all owe me one,” she said. “It’s not like there are any of your loser friends that I’m interested in.”
“What about Micah?” Sean asked innocently.
Sutton’s head whipped around. “I thought he was dating Maura.”
“They broke up,” Spencer said smugly, giving his twin a fist bump.
“Who is Micah?” I asked, worried about the starry-eyed look on Sutton’s face.
The afternoon morphed into evening, and evening turned to night. We lit tiki torches in the yard, ate good food, and everyone participated in a made-up Olympics event created by Selene.
At the end of the night, after everyone had made ice cream sundaes from the ingredients set out in bowls on the kitchen island, we sat around our smokeless fire pit, and the kids told ghost stories that terrified me. Mine were tame in comparison.
I decided, after all the kids’ friends had gone home, that we should drag out our sleeping bags and sleep on the deck under the stars on the mild fall evening.
Before I fell asleep, I found the brightest star in the sky and wished on it that Blair would be home soon. With my entire being, I wished that Blair could’ve been with us on this perfect day. She’s the only thing that could’ve possibly made it better.
“Hey,” Sophia said, making me realize the kids weren’t asleep. “Remember how Mom always used to say, ‘I’m so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers?’”
The all murmured their sleepy assent.
“I don’t,” I said quietly.
“It’s from Anne of Green Gables, Dad,” Sammy said. “That’s one of Mommy’s favorite books. She always wanted to go to Prince Edward Island.”
“Canada?” I asked.
Sutton side-eyed me. “Do you know of another Prince Edward Island?”
“I do not,” I admitted, a smile on my face. “So, what you’re saying is, that if I were to give Mom a trip to Prince Edward Island as an anniversary present, that would be a good thing?”
Selene yawned. “It would be a great thing.”
“No, wait,” Sophia said, sitting straight up out of her sleeping bag. “That’s not her favorite book. She likes it, but her favorite is Pride and Prejudice. I think a trip to England to see the real places Jane Austen described in the book would be even better.”
Everyone agreed.
“But she still needs the party,” Sean said. “Don’t forget that.”
I couldn’t if I tried, I thought, picturing Blair’s face as she saw Calliope and me discussing it. “Of course we’ll have the party,” I assured them. “And I’d already planned a trip to England without thinking of that book.”
The kids all made little satisfied murmurs, sleepy from the jam-packed day.
And soon, amidst the sound of tree frogs and crickets, we fell asleep, one by one.
I waited until everyone’s breathing was smooth and regular. Then I whispered into the night sky, “I miss you, Blair.”
She had to come back to us.