Winter White (6 page)

“You guys are having a baby!” Connor blurted out. Mira’s stomach lurched.

“No!” Mira’s mom laughed. “That would be… wow. What with my charity work and you three, how would I find the time for diapers? That’s not it, but…” She trailed off.

“I know you probably thought I called this meeting to say I was going away again, or that we were all going on a campaign tour,” Mira’s dad held her mom’s gaze. “But a family road trip has been put on hold.”

Thank God
, Mira thought, resisting the urge to cheer.

“There is something more important going on,” he added, looking around the table seriously. “I know this is going to sound unexpected. It was unexpected for us, too.”

Mira grabbed Hayden’s hand and squeezed. Now she was getting nervous. What was going on?

“I’m not sure how to explain this, but you see, I didn’t know…” Her dad never rambled. Her parents weren’t getting divorced, were they? They seemed so happy. “We’re going to be…”

“It’s okay. I know we’re not getting a golden retriever,” Hayden said, trying to break the ice. “I’m over it now. It’s been six years.” Their father barely smiled. “Dad, just spill it.”

Mira’s dad sighed deeply. This was the first time Mira had ever seen him look anxious, and she’d seen him in some pretty stressful situations, like the time he met Angelina Jolie at a benefit, or when he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

“I’m sorry, it’s just this is big news. Our family is expanding, Connor, but no, it’s not a baby—or a golden retriever,” he added as an afterthought, and Hayden shook his head sadly. “Several months ago, your mom and I got a phone call. It was a distant relative of mine who was raising a girl about your age, Mirabelle. The woman had recently found out she had Alzheimer’s and was worried about whom her granddaughter would live with when her mind started to fail,” he explained. “We looked into the situation extensively, and we really are their only living relatives. Things went downhill pretty quickly for this woman, and, well, tonight, your cousin is coming to live with us. Permanently.”

Her dad looked relieved, but Mira wasn’t. Her hands went numb. They had a cousin who was coming to live with them? Permanently? Who? The news was too big to comprehend. She stared at her water glass again. She could almost hear the ice cracking.

“We’ve never met her before?” Hayden asked as if he’d heard Mira’s thoughts.

“No,” Mira’s mom said softly. “None of us have, actually.” She looked at her husband pensively. “This is a huge commitment. We know that. I wish this was happening differently, but this is the way it is. We knew about your cousin’s situation last winter, but her home life was more stable then, so there seemed to be no need to rush things or upset anyone.” Her mother played with her necklace as she stared out at the water. “We thought there would be time to meet her, introduce all of you, and then discuss her moving in with us. But her social worker feels the home situation is deteriorating quickly, and last week it became apparent that the situation needed to change right away. Thank God Lucas has connections.” Mira’s mom smiled at him.

This was getting weirder by the second. Something didn’t add up. “I don’t understand,” Mira said, trying to piece the story together. “Doesn’t this girl have any other family? You’d think she’d want to live with people she knew.”

“We’re not doing a very good job of this, are we?” Mira’s dad said nervously, looking at Lucas, then at her. Her dad cleared his throat. “It’s complicated, but the girl’s mom died when she was ten, there is no dad in the picture, and the grandmother is in her eighties. Her health has steadily worsened since the diagnosis a few years ago. She’ll be moving into a nursing home immediately.”

“It’s us or foster care,” Mira’s mom said grimly. “There is no one else. Her social worker says she’s a good kid. She’s on the swim team and she lifeguards, but her life hasn’t been easy. She takes care of her grandmother, works, and goes to school. We could really change the course of her life,” she added, getting that glint in her eye she got when she found a new pet project.

“Why does she have a social worker?” Hayden asked.

“The situation she’s in, mainly,” Mira’s dad said, and tapped his fingers on the table. “It’s… not good. She was raised in Harborside.”

“Harborside?” Mira repeated, surprised. The Butterflies sometimes did holiday toy drives for kids in Harborside. They had the largest trailer park in the state, and there were always stories on the news about break-ins and occasional gunfights. The area was less than savory. She knew people who visited the Harborside boardwalk, but Mira’s parents never let her go there. Was her cousin as rough as the town she was from? Oh my God, was she going to have to hide her wallet under her bed at night? Mira’s face reddened. She couldn’t believe she’d just thought that. “How is she related to us again?”

“She’s a distant cousin.” Lucas surprised her by answering for her dad. “On your dad’s side.”

“Which cousin?” Mira pressed, wanting to picture people in her head.

“She’s my third cousin’s daughter,” her dad told her.

“And who is that?” Hayden was apparently confused, too.

“It’s Tracy’s girl, right, Bill?” Mira’s mom said.

“Is that the one with the lazy eye?” Connor asked, and Mira’s mom gave him a stern look.

“Tracy’s the one with the thirteen cats,” Mira reminded them. “She’s the one who lives in Oklahoma City, and her house smells like mothballs, remember?”

Hayden laughed. “Oh yeah. We had to stay there for the family reunion because there were no hotels for twenty miles. You kept sneezing because you were allergic to the cats.”

Mira laughed, then stopped abruptly. “Tracy didn’t have kids.” She looked at her parents. “We were the youngest ones at the reunion.”

“Sorry, I meant my cousin Chloe,” her dad said, and took a sip of water. “You haven’t met her. We weren’t close growing up, but the point is, she’s my cousin’s daughter, and your mother and I feel the need to step in and help her.”

Mira stared at the ocean, feeling like at any second the waves would become a whirlpool that got bigger and bigger until it engulfed the restaurant. Her parents didn’t even make a dinner reservation without consulting Zagat’s. Now they were legal guardians to a complete stranger? And a girl from Harborside, no less? Weren’t they worried about how her cousin would mesh with the family? She saw stories on TV like this all the time, and things never ended well. And what were her friends going to say? She didn’t get it. But before she could voice her opinion, Lucas spoke up again.

“I know this is hard on you three, but can you imagine how this girl feels?” Lucas asked. “She’s losing the only home she’s ever known.” Lucas’s face was solemn. “She’ll need counseling, Bill. We should talk about how you want to position this story in the press.” Mira resented his weighing in.

“We can discuss that later,” her dad said. He looked at his children again. “The timing is rough, I know that. But your mom and I have discussed this a lot, and in the end we knew we had to do the right thing. We hope you’ll understand someday.” Mira noticed he sounded choked up. Suddenly she felt bad for grilling him.

Two waiters arrived with trays of food. Lobster for Hayden, her parents, and herself, and filet mignon for Lucas. Connor had his standard mac and cheese with applesauce.

Mira couldn’t even think of eating the lobster that was staring up at her mournfully. An hour ago, she had been worried about her hair and getting out of dinner early enough to make it to Taylor’s practice, and now she was getting a semisister? The idea was too much for her to comprehend. She didn’t do well with change. She’d had the same laptop for the past three years because she loved the keyboard. She refused to change her field hockey stick because she thought it brought her luck, and she slept with a Mexican worry doll under her pillow because a waiter had told her it would ease her fears. She might need to invest in a case of worry dolls after this news.

“Does she know about us?” Hayden used his fork to expertly pull a piece of lobster from a claw.

“I believe she only found out about us today, too,” their dad said, sounding like he was choosing his words carefully. “The social worker is bringing her tonight at nine.”

Mira’s jaw dropped, and it took all her energy not to let her fork clang onto the plate.

“The guest room is made up,” her mom told them. “I had Paula put fresh linens and flowers in there, and we registered her for school. We need her size for uniforms….” Her mom listed the items like she would for one of her to-do lists. But this was much bigger than needing to buy a new comforter at Bed Bath & Beyond.

“We’ll introduce her next week or the following at a dinner, I think,” Lucas said, having a one-track mind. “And I’m readying a press release. I think the reaction will be positive. This is an incredible thing your family is doing.” Mira resisted the urge to gag. Of course Lucas was working an angle already. She was still trying to figure out how she and this girl were related.

Her dad looked at her. “What are you thinking, Pea?” That’s what he always called Mira as a baby—Sweet Pea. Later it was shortened to just Pea. At the moment, that’s how small she felt.

“It’s a lot to digest.” She thumbed her glass again and looked at the melting ice.

Her dad hardly asked her opinion anymore. He used to all the time, but now he was too busy reforming the North Carolina school lunch program to ask Mira what she thought of his necktie. Today he wanted her approval, and Mira couldn’t let him down. She never had before. She sighed. “I think what you’re doing is amazing.”

“We’re all doing it,” he said, and squeezed Mira’s hand. “We’ll make her feel welcome, and before you know it, it will feel like she’s always been a Monroe.”

“You never told us her name,” Mira realized.

“It’s Isabelle,” her dad said, and smiled softly. “Isabelle Scott. She spells her name the same way we spell yours,” her dad added.

Her mother nodded approvingly. “So pretty that way.”

“It sounds like your name!” Connor exclaimed to Mira.

“It does, doesn’t it?” Mira said thoughtfully, unsure of how she felt about the similarity. She wasn’t sure what she thought about any of this, really, and she didn’t have a lot of time to sort her feelings out. Whether Mira liked it or not, Isabelle Scott was on her way.

Five

Barbara’s car pulled away from 22 Hancock Street at the same time the Coastal Assisted Living van pulled out of the driveway with Grams tucked inside. Izzie watched the house disappear into the distance. She had a feeling this would be the last time she’d ever see it.

Barbara didn’t push her to make conversation in the car. She’d worked overtime trying to do that while Izzie had packed. Didn’t Barbara know how upset Izzie was? The last thing she wanted to do was make light conversation with her social worker while she tried to pack up her life in half an hour. She grabbed her first swim team medal and the framed picture of her and her mom at the shore the summer before she died. She tucked the frame between her Michael Jackson tee and her
Harborside Beach Lifeguard
jacket to keep it from breaking. The lavender paisley comforter Grams had bought her but Izzie never really liked would “accidentally” be left behind, along with the collection of dusty Beanie Babies Grams never wanted her to throw away (“You spent your allowance on those!”).

Izzie knew Barbara was just trying to do her job by loitering nearby while Izzie filled the large duffel bag to the brim, but her job didn’t give her the big picture. Izzie may have hated the lily wallpaper (which was why she’d covered it in black-and-white beach photos), and she wouldn’t miss the green garage-sale desk where she did her homework, but this was still her room, and had been her whole life. She couldn’t imagine loving anywhere as much as she did 22 Hancock Street. She liked how smooth the worn wooden banister felt on her hand as she hurried down the stairs (late for school—again) and how the sunlight hit the antique glass window in the foyer. She’d even miss the crooked front porch with its leaning porch swing.

She’d never again bike over to the Associate to buy a Powerade. She wouldn’t ride up to the boardwalk and feel the wind on her face. She didn’t know the next time she’d see her friends, the community center, or the swim team. Maybe there was a way she could still come back and compete. And she could probably take the bus to the boardwalk, right? Izzie didn’t know the Monroes, but they’d probably appreciate her earning her keep. If she kept lifeguarding, she could still see Brayden, and picturing Brayden’s face was the only thing giving her a calm exterior. Inside, she was freaking out. She quickly sent a text to him and Kylie so they’d know where she was.

IZZIE’S CELL: Don’t freak out. IM OK, but had 2 leave town & won’t B back anytime soon. Grams going into nursing home. Social taking me 2 new digs. Not sure what will happen, but will explain all when I resurface. Miss U guys already. xoxo Iz

Was the “miss you” part too much to write to Brayden? Izzie didn’t have time to debate it. She hit Send as Barbara turned onto Harborside’s main drag. She pressed her face against the window and watched the storefronts she knew so well scroll by. When they passed the community center, Izzie felt a pang in her stomach so sharp that she had to grip the door handle. Izzie felt like Barbara was torturing her by moving so slowly, but the truth was, Barbara drove like a snail all the time.