The girls rushed over, and Carl shook his head. “Thanks, Mom. I think we’re okay over here.”
She walked over to us. “I couldn’t find the juice. It was all the way in the back of the house. I swear when Seth unpacks the groceries he puts them in the most random places. Oh, I’msorry. I am Kate, you must be Alatheia. It’s so nice to meet you. Usually we come up for the summer but I guess it was canceled this year?”
Barrett nodded. “That’s right. Sorry about that.”
Had they canceled it? I guess maybe because we hadn’t been there. They couldn’t have all the kids from here there if their own weren’t going to show up.
She kept talking. “I am so glad y’all finally stopped by. We look at your houses all the time and just wish you were here more. Oh, look there is Phoenix with Sam. What a blessing he has been.” She met my gaze. “I mean really, I don’t know what would happen to Sam now without Phoenix. It wasn’t going well until he showed up.”
That was interesting. Sam had been in the rehab program a month longer than Phoenix. I stared out at the porch just as Sam laughed at something Phoenix said.
“Those two. Always thick as thieves.” She sighed. “When they could see each other. Why, I sometimes wonder, what would have happened if we’d been there that summer…”
“Mom,” Jadon interrupted her, his cheeks turning a little pink. “Not appropriate.”
Jeremy held up his hand. “It’s okay. We shouldn’t hide from it like it didn’t happen.” As I knew that was a very un-Jeremy phrase; he had to be playing along on this. “Why weren’t you there? Remind me. I don’t remember. Most of that time is a blur.”
She grabbed his arm. “Of course it is. My mother had been very sick for a year. And she died that week. We were with her.”
As they couldn’t have faked that, I took a deep breath. I mean if I wanted to really go down a conspiracy hole I could say that they had used that as a way to not be there, but that was just getting out of hand. This woman wasn’t a mastermind of Phoenix’s kidnapping and the death of children. Her husbands,who I hadn’t met, were running about cleaning, and everyone laughed.
I didn’t know what had happened with Sam. That wasn’t my business unless he shared. But, they weren’t it.
She caught her breath. “And you all stopped coming.”
Yes they had. They’d wanted Phoenix and Walter and River dead. Or at least three kids that were there and those were the ones who ended up getting taken. Why? Who had it out for those families? Not this one for sure.
Carl cleared his throat. “So seriously where do we go to find our Alatheia, because I just can’t with the women we know here.”
“There’s no one like Alatheia. ” Julian kissed my head. “Yours will show up. Assuming they want to put up with you.”
That made everyone laugh. I didn’t have an answer, but it was a nice visit. And at least I knew Sam was safe for Phoenix. As much as anyone was for anyone else.
I layin bed listening to the guys breathe. I couldn’t sleep. Barrett breathed deeply. He was actually closer to the window when he usually slept on the other side. Phoenix was out cold where Barrett would usually be. His face was scrunched up. I couldn’t sleep and he was having a nightmare.
I ran my hands through his soft locks. “It’s just a dream. You’re safe.”
“They’re going to take me to the dark place.” He shook his head.
I hated this nightmare. He had it a lot. I blinked. They were going to take him to the dark place? Why hadn’t I focused on it before? Well, because usually it was about someone trying totake me to the dark place. And it was just about trying to comfort Phoenix. But what was this dark place?
I didn’t want him to get stuck in this dream. But was the dark place… the play? It wasn’t like I could coax him to tell me. It was just something to think about. I moved to face him. “Hey Phoenix, just a dream. It’s over. That time is over. You’re here with me.”
His eyes opened to slits before immediately closing again, but he didn’t look like he was in pain. That was good. How often did that happen when I didn’t know? He worried about so many things. Did the others?
This time I turned to Barrett. He wasn’t having trouble sleeping. You would think after the night I’d had the night before not sleeping that tonight I could. I flopped onto my stomach. This just fucking sucked. Was this going to be a thing now?
I had therapy first thing in the morning. My pillow was hot. I flipped it over to the cooler side. Barrett tugged me to him, not awake. My flopping was probably bothering him. I scooted out of the bed and walked into the bathroom. Quickly, I used it, making note that my spotting had stopped. Most of the cramping had too.
I didn’t want to wake anyone. It wasn’t like I needed help. They couldn’t turn off my brain. I walked through the house, touching things as I went. I still hadn’t seen Barrett, Julian, or Jeremy’s rooms. I wasn’t going to go in and just enter without their permission. They’d tell me it was fine, only it wasn’t. It was kind of rude.
When I got downstairs, I flipped on the light in the living room and grabbed the journal from where I had left it.
May1st1968
Well,we are at the Lake. Maybe that is a good thing. It feels like the world has exploded. Since the last time I wrote, Martin Luther King has been assassinated. Is everything going to blow up? I have to write it here because I find that if I start to get too low, my husbands get very concerned. If it’s possible to over care about someone’s mood, they do when it comes to me. But oh how I love them. I love them enough to come to this place and be insulted by their mother every other minute.
I wish that was an exaggeration.
