Anna, the one I thought would be the least affected, is the one who clings to me for a minute too long. She grabs me tightly and holds me close. “My mommy will be home soon,” she says close to my ear, just like she did that first day we met.
I brush her hair back from her forehead. “Your mommy is going to be so proud of you all when she hears about how mature and well-behaved you all were on this trip.”
She nods. “She’ll be proud.”
“Yes, and you be sure to tell your mother how proud you are of her when she comes home, okay?”
“When she gets here, I’ll tell her.” She gets quiet for a minute and then squeezes me again. With her lips close to my ear, she whispers, “When I grow up, I want to be just like you.”
I tug a lock of her hair. “When I grow up, I want to be just like you.”
She wipes beneath her eyes and goes to stand beside her grandmother.
Devon is much less restrained. He hugs me tightly. “Will you come and see us again?” he asks.
“Of course, we will. And you can write to me, if you’d like.” I already gave my address and email to their grandmother. “I’ll miss you,” I say.
“You don’t seem quite so sad as you did when you first came to our house. Did we make you happy?” He cocks his head at me like an inquisitive puppy.
“You made me very happy,” I say, and tears sting my eyes as I blink them back.
The baby—he’s the hardest one to give up. I cuddled him and gave him one last bottle, but I know I can’t keep him forever. Mick takes him from me and kisses him on the forehead.
“Call us if you need anything at all, okay?” he says to his aunt.
She nods, but she’s already ushering the kids into the house.
“Would you rather fly back?” Mick asks as he takes my hand. We walk to the bus together, and I feel light and happy, lighter and happier than I have felt in a long time.
“Would you?” I counter.
He shakes his head. “I’d rather spend the time with you.” He kisses me.
We sit at the window as the bus pulls away from Patsy’s mother’s house. The kids wave from the porch, and I watch them until the house is a tiny speck in the distance. Mick holds my hand tightly as I get choked by emotion I didn’t know was even in me. “They’re going to be all right, aren’t they? No matter what happens, they’ll be okay?”
He brushes my hair back behind my ear. “Yes. They’ll be fine. She’ll take care of them, and she’ll take care of Patsy, too.” His thumb swipes the tear from beneath my eye. “Do you want some more cheesecake?”
I smile at him. “Yeah, I do.”
He rubs his belly. “Good, because I’m starving.”
I elbow him in the ribs. “You’re always starving.”
Throughout the day, Mick has gotten calls from his mom and dad and Ryan, and my sisters have all send him texts with birthday greetings.
“Happy birthday,” I say as we settle at the little dinette table, with a piece of cheesecake between us.
He grins as he shovels a large bite into his mouth.
Mick
I keep having to remind myself that Mel and Alex are at the front of the bus. For two nights, it has been like having constant chaperones. Sometimes Alex moves to the middle of the bus so he can watch TV while Mel’s driving. That puts him about ten feet away from us, with nothing but a thin curtain separating us from him.
I’d hoped that once we dropped the children off, we’d have a little privacy, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. If anything, I feel like a bug under one of those glass magnifying lenses, and I’m just waiting for someone to tilt it toward the light and burn me to pieces.
“I can’t wait until we get home,” Wren says as she pulls the curtain between us and the front of the bus.
I lie back on the bed with my palms behind my head, looking up at her. She’s so damn pretty. Her hair is piled on top of her head in a messy jumble and she must have just washed her face, because it’s all clean and shiny.