Home with My Sisters (12 page)

“I'm here, I'm here,” Faith called out, stumbling into the room and dropping her Coach purse as if it weighed a hundred pounds. Then she stood surveying the room, hands on hips. She was so tall and thin. Her brown hair was longer than Hope had ever seen it, wavy and free, hanging down past her breasts. Faith was definitely getting better with age. Hope watched as her older sister made a beeline for Yvette and threw her arms around her. Why hadn't Hope felt free to do that? Where did that kind of confidence come from?

“I remember you,” Faith said, stepping forward and staring at Yvette. She thrust her chin up. “Do you remember us?”

Yvette nodded. “Joy was the screamer, Hope was the chubby one, and you were a bossy little thing.”

“Faith is still the bossy one,” Joy said.

“And you're still a screamer,” Harrison said, nudging Joy.

“I'm not chubby,” Hope said.

Yvette's eyes flicked over Hope. “So I see.” She said it like it was a bad thing.

“Why are you taking everything out of your refrigerator?” Faith said, stepping up and eyeing the items lined up on the counter.

“This is what I have. I'm giving you everything I have.”

“Where's our father?” Joy asked. “Do you have him?” Hope gasped. A heavy silence fell. Hope felt a slippery sort of panic enter her body. She had wanted to control this herself, ease into it. It was like being in an airplane when unexpected turbulence bounced you around. What's done was done. They stared at Yvette, awaiting an answer.

Yvette picked up a gallon of juice and slammed it down. “My house, my rules.”

Faith squared her shoulders. “We all want to know.” Hope's heart hammered in her chest. She was ready for the question. She wasn't so sure she was ready for the answers. But the saying was true. You couldn't un-ring a bell. Hope imagined sleigh bells ringing. She missed her father like no time had passed at all since he'd thrown her up in the air and caught her on the way down.
You're my girls,
he always said to them with a look of fierce pride in his eyes.
You're my girls.

“Your father is no longer with us,” Yvette said. The words felt like stones being aimed directly at Hope's heart.

“What does that mean?” Hope heard herself ask. Yvette turned her back and began putting the items back in the fridge. Hope took a step forward. “You mean, he's not here?” Hope said. “Like he's in another state?” She heard the pathetic quiver in her voice. Yvette slowly turned around and locked eyes with her. Hope saw a world of pain reflected in Yvette's eyes. The pain of losing a child. Oh no. Yvette headed for one of the stools at the kitchen island, her steps slow and deliberate, as if she were walking with an invisible cane. Harrison jumped up and pulled out her stool. She sat, then took a deep breath, and looked each one of the girls in the eye.

“There was a car accident. Your father died in a car accident.” There it was, the question that had been on all of their minds the past two decades, answered so matter-of-factly. Hope felt the sensation of something clawing at her insides. She wanted to throw something. She didn't like this woman. Maybe Carla was right. Maybe Yvette was a liar. But even Hope couldn't cling on to that thought. She may have been stoic, but the pain in Yvette's eyes wasn't something even an award-winning actress could pull off.

“When?” Hope asked.

“Twenty-four years ago. Shortly after you girls were taken from him.”

“No,” Faith said. “Daddy. No.” Faith buried her head in her hands and began to sob. Brittany hurried up and threw her arms around her mother's waist. Josh stared out at the yard.

“At least we know now,” Joy said. Hope wanted to smack her. She'd ruined everything. Why did she always have to blurt out whatever was on her mind? Hope wasn't ready for this. She hadn't wanted to know this soon.

“Tell us everything,” Hope said.

“Now who's the bossy one?” Yvette said.

“Tell us everything,” Faith said.

“Or we walk,” Joy said. The three of them stood, chins up, staring at Yvette. Hope felt sad that this was what it took to unite them, but happy to know they had her back.

“Six months after you were taken,” Yvette said. “A few days before Christmas. He was on his way to get you girls back.”

We weren't taken,
Hope thought.

“We weren't taken,” Joy said.

“Six months after they separated?” Faith asked.

“Separated?” Yvette said. “Is that what she told you?”

“What who told us?” Joy asked.

“That woman. The woman who ruined my life. My son's life. All of our lives!”

“You blame our mother,” Faith said.

“She is to blame,” Yvette said.

“They were young. They were in an argument,” Faith said. “Carla was running to her mommy. That's all. She said he'd follow. We've been waiting for him.”

“Well, looks like the wait is over,” Joy said.

He drank a lot,
Hope thought. She kept it to herself, she wasn't here to throw her father under a bus.

“Your parents didn't separate. My son woke up one morning and you were all gone. You call her your mother. I call her your kidnapper.”

CHAPTER 13

A thick silence blanketed the room. Hope could hear the ticking of a clock somewhere, birds chirping, and a dog barking excitedly in the distance. That was probably Mr. Jingles. Hope wanted to tear out and look for him. He was definitely having a better time out there than they were in here. They appeared to be stuck in some sort of avant-garde tableau, or permanently frozen in a game of tag. This could be next year's Christmas card
. Hey, remember this moment? This is where our estranged, dying grandmother told us our father was long dead and our mother was a kidnapper. Good times. Happy new year from the Garland Girls!

Harrison broke the silence. “For real?” He looked around the room as if waiting for someone to declare it a joke.

“We weren't kidnapped,” Joy said. “Your son abandoned us.”

“Old enough to remember, were you?” Yvette said.

Oh, snap.
Joy glared but said nothing.

“You want to see the police report?” Yvette asked.

“Sure,” Joy said.

“If he was coming to get us, then he had to know where we were,” Faith pointed out.

“She'd threatened to do it before it happened. Said she'd take you all to Florida. But he didn't know where. And he didn't know she was actually going to do it. He woke up one morning and you were gone. Broke his heart into a million pieces.”

Hope felt herself sway and sank into the nearest chair. Was she telling the truth? Her own heart felt like it was breaking as she imagined her handsome young father waking up to find them all gone.

“There was a snowstorm predicted for the day he left. I told him to wait. But he wouldn't. He said he had to make it to you girls by Christmas.”

No, no, no, no, no,
Hope thought.
That sounds like something he would say
.
No, no, no, no, no
.

“What happened?” Josh asked.

“His car hit a patch of ice, spun out, and crashed into the woods on the other side.”

“Oh my God,” Faith said.

Anger surged through Hope. She sprung off the chair and faced Yvette. “Why? Why didn't you find us then and tell us? Why did you make us wait all these years?”

“How was I supposed to find you when the police couldn't?”

“Did you even try?” Hope said.

“I lost my son. I was grieving.”

“Is that a no?” Hope asked. The anger was driving her.

“I did the best I could,” Yvette said.

“So did our mother,” Faith said. “She wasn't hiding us. She didn't kidnap us. In fact, she spent almost every day of her life waiting for my father to walk through our front door. She loved him. She wanted him to find her.”

“I forgot about that,” Hope said. An image of Carla rose to mind. Their young mother sitting on the dirty floor in a yellow sundress, dark hair falling about her pretty face, back against the kitchen cabinets with her long, tanned legs pulled up, smoking a cigarette, staring at the door and waiting. “She literally sat on the kitchen floor for days. Was that what she was doing? Waiting for him?”

“Of course that's what she was doing,” Faith said. “What did you think she was doing?”

“I don't know,” Hope said. “That's why I asked.”

“Where was I?” Joy asked. “Was anyone taking care of me?”

Hope wanted to zap Joy with a nasty retort. In Joy's world, it was all about her. But the truth was, she was the one who had lost the most. Faith, who was eight when they took off, had years of memories of their father; Hope at four didn't have nearly enough, but what she did remember she clung to; but poor Joy had none. She had a right to be a little bit selfish. She'd missed out on the best dad in the world. Well. In certain moments he was the best. He loved them fiercely. He was young, and so not a perfect man, but he did love them fiercely.

“You've been filled with her lies. I expected as much.” Yvette stood her ground.

Hope stepped even closer. “We had a right to know. We had a right to go to his funeral. We
loved
him.” Hope could feel years of tears filling up in her eyes. She suddenly wished Austin were here. She was missing a total stranger, wanted him to take her in his arms while she sobbed.

“I'm dying,” Yvette said. “What more do you want?”

“Where is he buried?” Harrison asked. Joy shot him a look. “It might help you get closure,” he added, taking her hand. Hope felt a pang of jealousy. He was such a nice guy. Joy had better not let this one go.

“He was cremated. I spread his ashes on this land. He's part of it now. Just like you can be part of it now.” Yvette gestured around her as if their father were part of the dust mites in the air.

“Happy we're all together for Christmas now?” Joy said to Hope.

“Yes,” Hope said.
Am I?
It just didn't feel right to answer,
Sort of.
“And our father would be happy too.”

“Speaking of Christmas,” Yvette said. “I have a few rules.”

An image of the nutcrackers stuck in the backseat of Faith's SUV flashed through Hope's mind.

“Rules?” Joy said. Her nostrils flared and Hope found herself staring at Joy's silver nose ring.

“My only son died around Christmas. I lost you three girls too. I haven't celebrated a Christmas since Rupert passed and I don't intend to start now.”

“But you invited us here for Christmas,” Hope said.
And it might be your last one.

“I invited you here,” Yvette said. “It just happens to be around Christmas. If I could have postponed my death until Easter, I would have.”

“We could celebrate Kwanzaa instead,” Joy said.

“What's that?” Yvette said.

“See?” Joy said, turning to Harrison. “Racist.”

“Oh, do give us an informed rundown of Kwanzaa, Joy,” Faith said. She pulled up a spot on the floor and began doing yoga stretches.

Harrison shook his head. “I don't celebrate Kwanzaa. But I do love me a Merry Christmas.”

“Not the point,” Joy said.

“Mom?” Brittany said. “Are we really not going to have a Christmas?”

“Of course not,” Faith said. She was now lying on her back and tilting her legs over her head. “We'll celebrate Christmas.”

“And Kwanzaa,” Joy said.

“You really want to rob your only great-granddaughter of celebrating Christmas this year?” Faith yelled from the floor. Watching Faith do yoga was really stressing Hope out. She had an urge to make Christmas cookies. Or just eat fudge icing with a spoon. Heck, her finger would do. Just give her the container. Maybe she could wash it down with a candy cane martini. She made a mean one if she did say so herself.

“You can celebrate Christmas after I'm gone,” Yvette said. She leaned in toward Brittany. “I'll give you five hundred dollars to skip Christmas this year.” Brittany's eyes widened.

“We'll take it,” Josh said. He stuck out his hand like a businessman shaking after a deal.

“No tree, no cookies, no lights, no decorating, no singing?” Brittany said.

“Correct,” Yvette said. “None of that nonsense, period.”

“You can keep your money,” Brittany said. “I'd rather have Christmas.”

Thatta girl,
Hope thought.

Faith un-pretzeled herself from the floor and turned to Josh and Brittany. “Why don't you two go outside?”

“I'll take the money to not celebrate,” Josh said. He held out his hand.

“Me too,” Joy said.

Hope bit her lip to literally keep herself from turning to Joy and saying,
Of course you will
.

“Nobody is taking money,” Faith said. “I will draw up a plan for Christmas that everyone can agree to.” Faith turned to Yvette. “You won't have to lift a finger.”

“No,” Yvette said. “No Christmas. End of story.”

“I don't want the money,” Brittany said. “I'll take Christmas, please.”

“Good luck getting Hope not to celebrate Christmas,” Faith said.

There she was, singling Hope out, mocking her. As if there was something wrong with wanting to celebrate Christmas. Hope took the higher road and did not say a word.

“What about Kwanzaa?” Joy said.

“This isn't happening,” Hope said.

“
A Christmas Story
!” Harrison exclaimed. “With the leg lamp and the little dude that gets his tongue stuck on an icy pole. Have you seen that one, Mrs. G?”

“Do this for me, and every single one of you will be set,” Yvette said. “You will never have to work another day in your life.”

“Five hundred dollars would last our whole lives?” Brittany asked.

“Not just five hundred,” Yvette said, pinching Brittany's cheek. “This whole house and land. All yours. Well, your mom would own one-third of it. Sounding like a better deal now?”

“Give up Christmas and we get this house?” Brittany said.

“Deal,” Josh said. He stuck out his hand once more.

“Leave my children out of this,” Faith said.

“The whole house?” Brittany said. “The skating pond?”

Joy's head seemed to float above the crowd. “You're leaving us this entire place?” Hope could almost see her eyes glowing.

“Kwanzaa it is, baby,” Harrison said. They high-fived.

“I intended to leave the estate to you three girls,” Yvette said. “Whosoever follows my rules. I'm hoping it will be all three of you.”

“Whosoever,” Harrison repeated, drawing it out.

“Christmas is out this year!” Joy said. “It's too materialistic anyway.”

“Says the girl who pretends to be homeless for spare change,” Hope said.

“What?” Faith said.

“What are the rest of the rules?” Josh asked.

“You might want to get paper and pen,” Yvette said.

Joy held up her smartphone. “Siri. What is paper and pen?”

Yvette looked around wildly as Siri robotically explained what she found on the Web for paper and pen. “What's happening?”

“What do you mean, pretends to be homeless?” Faith said, yanking the phone out of Joy's hands. Joy turned on Hope. She was practically snarling. “I should have known you wouldn't keep your mouth shut. You love thinking the worst of me, don't you?” Joy jabbed her finger at Hope. There it was again. The not-so-veiled hint that Hope had once done something terrible to Joy. What in the world was it?

“Why don't you just tell me what grudge you're harboring against me so we can be done with this?” Hope said. She loved her baby sister, natural deodorant and all. But why did Joy have to be so mean?

“And Mom says we fight a lot,” Brittany said to Josh. What an awful example they were setting. They should have waited until they were alone. Fighting in front of the kids and their dying grandmother. It was a good thing they weren't going to celebrate Christmas, Santa was definitely going to skip them this year.

“Somebody tell me what ‘pretends to be homeless' means in very concrete terms or I'm going to scream.” Faith didn't literally stomp her foot, but she might as well have. Hope and Faith stared at Joy.

“It's nobody's business!” Joy grabbed her phone back from Faith.

“I thought you weren't ashamed of it,” Hope said.

“I'm not.” Joy thrust her chin up, then furiously typed something into her phone. Great. Hope could only imagine all the tweets Joy was sending out about her. #mysisterssuck. It made her sad. And furious. Although maybe she should have kept her mouth shut about Joy pretending to be homeless. Nah, it would not have been humanly possible to keep that to herself.

“We were funding creatively,” Harrison said.

“Exactly,” Joy said. “Crowd sourcing.”

“Crowd sourcing?” Hope said.

“Like the Kickstarter,” Joy said. She narrowed her eyes. “Did you guys get the link?”

“If you were legitimately crowd sourcing, then what's the big deal if I tell Faith?”

“Go ahead,” Joy said. Her left eye began to twitch.

Hope turned to Faith. “She and Harrison were on the streets of Seattle with a group of homeless kids, holding up a sign that said, H
UNGRY AND
T
HIRSTY
. Austin gave them a hundred dollars.”

Joy shrugged. The twitch grew more pronounced.

“How could you do something like that?” Faith said.

“A hundred dollars?” Josh said. “Just for carrying a sign?”

“Don't get any ideas,” Faith said. She turned back to Joy. “You should be ashamed of yourself.” Hope felt a twinge of guilt for starting this in front of everyone. She hadn't meant to. Sometimes things just flew out of her mouth.

“I had no choice. I'm starting a business. It's not like my rich older sister was willing to give me a loan.”

“You shouldn't be starting a business if you don't have money,” Faith said.

“That's what I was doing. Raising capital,” Joy said.

“I need to lie down,” Yvette said. “We'll go over my rules later.”

“I'm sorry if we upset you,” Hope said. “We really do love each other.” Faith stretched her arms behind her back, Joy buried herself in her phone.

“My room is down here at the end of the hall. There are six bedrooms upstairs. I'll let you take your pick. Joy, you will not be sharing a room with Harrison. There will be no comingling in my house while I'm here.”

“What about when you're not here?” Harrison said.