14
Ruth Anne
Edmonds, Washington – 2018
The flight homefrom Texas was tense. Even though the girls told me they’d just gone for a drive while I was at my meeting, I knew something happened. Yet neither one of them wanted to talk about it. I just hoped whatever it was wouldn’t lead to the kind of falling out I had with my own sister. Holding a grudge wasn’t worth it, knowing the world could change so quickly.
Back in Edmonds, we wrapped up the summer by celebrating our birthday month. For a special treat, I booked a harbor tour. I knew I could probably come up with a less expensive option, but I’d always wanted to charter a boat for my family.
On the boat, not counting the captain, there were six of us: Lia, Brandy, and me, of course. Then there was Brandy’s husband Troy, and their twins Caleb and Ryan. Next year, with Lia’s baby, we would be a party of seven, unless she invited the child’s mysterious father, which would make us a party of eight.
As the school year approached and I returned for training, there was still no news from the parole board. Had something happened to delay the decision?
I tried putting that out of my mind by focusing on my work. There was always so much to do at the beginning of the school year—lesson plans, new displays, meetings, and the never-ending task of updating the website and social media accounts.
In addition, we needed to schedule an author for our annual Meet the Author event. So, Wednesday morning found me sitting in our principal’s office with Harriet James, my favorite volunteer mom. Fortunately for me, Harriet loved volunteering with library events, especially author visits.
“I really hope he says yes,” Harriet said, crossing her fingers.
“Me too.”
Any minute, our principal would arrive for a conference call with a popular children’s book author who’d agreed to talk to us about visiting our school.
“Oh, Lia just called.” Harriet pointed to the message on my phone that informed me I had indeed missed a call from Lia. While at work, I always kept my ringer off. In fact, I usually kept my phone in my purse, but I had it out today so I could easily access my calendar and other information during the call with our prospective author.
“How’s Lia doing with the pregnancy?” Harriet asked.
“Pretty good.”
“Has she had her second trimester ultrasound yet?”
“Second trimester ultrasound?”
“It’s a full anatomy scan. I just went with my sister to hers, and it was amazing. The image of the baby on the screen was so clear, I’ve never seen anything like it. Didn’t Brandy have one?”
“She did.” I thought about the sonogram image of Brandy’s twins. Then my mind raced to that horrible day I’d gone for my own scan during Lia’s pregnancy. Pushing the memory away, I reminded myself that Lia’s situation was different. Lia was—
“Are you going?” Harriet asked. “Or is she taking the baby daddy? What’s his name?”
“What?”
“What’s the name of the father of Lia’s baby?”
I hesitated before choosing not to answer her question. As much as I liked Harriet, she could be a little nosy.
Harriet gestured at my phone. “She left a voice mail.”
Nodding, I glanced at the notification. Usually, I would’ve made a mental note to listen to Lia’s message on my break, but something urged me to listen now.
“Mom.” Lia sounded like she was crying. “Mom, I need your help. I just went to the bathroom, and I’m bleeding. My doctor wants me to come in right now. I know you’re at work, but I can’t get hold of Brandy or Dad. Can you—” The line crackled with static, making it impossible to hear the rest of her message.
My stomach dropped.
“What’s wrong?” Harriet asked.
“She’s bleeding.”
“Oh no.”