“I’d call it Lucky timing, Mira,” Aidan says.
Mira giggles.
And I don’t know if it is the first time it has happened, or if it is simply the first time I have noticed, but yes, there was a definite googly aspect to Aidan’s eyes when he said Mira’s name.
A gust of wind rustles, and I feel a chill on my neck. “It’s time to go,” I say, and we all pile into the car. Lucky included.
14
I HAD WANTED A SISTER, but when I found out it was a boy, I was happy soon enough. For a six-year-old, a baby was a baby, and Mother had already told me I could help push the pram. A boy could be paraded just as nicely as a girl. And Father was quick to point out the advantages, that a brother wouldn’t borrow my clothes or bother my treasured Madame Alexander dolls. The one thing I didn’t have was patience, which is not surprising for a six-year-old.
“Hold your hand still, Destiny. You must be patient,” Mother told me. I held my hand on her growing tummy. “Timing is everything. We have to wait for the baby to move.” She nudged the side of her belly, perhaps impatient herself. And then I felt it. The swipe of a hand, or a foot, or an elbow, I didn’t know, but it was my brother reaching out and touching my fingertips. I was certain. I looked at my mother’s eyes. For both of us it was a moment of magic. And timing. Timing is everything.
How was I to know that moment of magic was the beginning of me being edged out of their lives?
15
“DID YOU SEE THAT? Twenty-two miles to Langdon.” Mira leans forward for emphasis. “And we still haven’t heard your secrets.”
If nothing else, Mira is persistent. I knew she wouldn’t forget. Our morning routine at Hedgebrook is evidence of that, and even as much as I had resisted her intrusion at the beginning, I have to admit, Mira had a way of making me a part of her day.
“Tell yours, Seth,” I say.
“I’m driving.”
“Come on, Des,” Mira pleads.
I sigh and then flip around in my seat to face her. “All right. But no questions. Promise?”
She nods vigorously. Aidan shrugs.
I have something that will satisfy Mira, or it will at least keep her occupied until we reach Langdon and I am no longer confined to the same ten square feet of space. “Ready?”
“Yes,” Aidan and Seth both say impatiently. Mira is respectfully quiet.
“No one knows this, and you mustn’t tell anyone, but I am the last descendant of William Shakespeare.”
Mira gasps on cue. This is going to be so easy. I decide I may as well make it worth it.
“That’s not all,” I add. “His unpublished plays have been secretly handed down from one generation to the next, and now I am in possession of the unpublished sequel to Romeo and Juliet.” I lean close to Mira. “They both live,” I whisper.
“Now wait a minute—”
Mira claps her hands. “I knew it! It was just so unfair the way it ended. This is amazing, Des! What did—”
“Shh! What did I say? No questions!”
She motions like she is pulling a zipper across her mouth. “I promise.”
Aidan groans. “Come on, Mira. You pull straight A’s in English Lit and you’re going to buy that?”
Her brow wrinkles. “Seth? Do you?”
“No comment.”
Which of course is not only a comment but an entire rebuttal.
Mira turns back to me. “Destiny.”