Chapter 23
Avidya
It was exactly a week later when the house phone rang, startling me. I dropped the spoon I was using to stir the pizza sauce on the stove, splattering red sauce along the counter and stove top. I was trying my hand at homemade pizza; sauce, bread and all. It sounded like a good idea, even though I felt worn out and more tired than I had for a while. I passed my tiredness off from the late night, again, that Zachariah and I had. I refused to think that I was getting sick.
The phone rang again, causing me to jump into action. No one had ever once called the house phone.
“Hello?” I asked, my voice filled with nerves.
Who could possibly be calling? Why would anyonebecalling?
It was the middle of the day, so really, having the phone ring should have been a normal everyday thing.
“Vidie?” the voice asked. A voice I would know just about anywhere.
I was speechless. I never expected her to call, least of all here. What was I to say? What should I do?
“I’m sorry,” her voice said. “Please, don’t hang up, okay.”
I remained silent. I could literally hear my heart beat within my chest as I stood there, phone to my ear. What was I waiting for? Why would she call me?
“Are you alone?” she asked after a moment.
“Y…yes,” I croaked. “As much as I can be.” I tacked on the last part, just in case she was planning something. After everything I’ve learned the past six months, I knew I could no longer trust this stranger I had once called my mother.
“Good,” she said, seeming nervous all of a sudden. Why would she be nervous? She was the one that called me, not the other way around.
“I’ve been worried about you, Avidya,” she sighed over the line. “I hope you are doing okay.”
I wasn’t sure if I believed her. Had she ever given me any reason to truly believe her words with all the years that I knew her? I wasn’t mad at her, but I wasn’t accepting her choices, either. Not when it caused my life to be filled with death and pain. Then again, if it hadn’t been for Lynn, I wouldn’t have ended up with Zachariah.
“Just peachy,” I answered, my voice a bit stronger than when I had previously spoken.
“I’m sorry that I put you through so much,” Lynn sighed out. “Are you really okay? I’m not entirely sure how thatmanis treating you with his life choices, but I do worry, you know. I never meant for what you’ve been through.”
“You didn’t mean for me to be taken?” I asked, my voice monotone. That was the huge cloud that hung over my head. Why did she want me to be taken, when she could have taken me with her and disappeared somewhere? “It wasn’tyouthat had been behind the whole ordeal to save me?”
“I just wanted to keep you safe,” Lynn spoke. “I hadn’t meant to cause you harm. It was up to Shemoli to get you to safety. I hadn’t counted on Cody to plan the same thing, but with different results in the end. Shemoli was to take you to the Melendez family, and they were to help you get out of what would be the end of your life. I trusted him to get you to where you were meant to be all along but you did end up in that family, which is all I wanted. I just wanted to keep you safe from everyone that meant you harm.
“That’s what Racheal did, you know. She went to Kent, I think his name is. She went to that man to seek safety. I thought she was crazy at the time, but after knowing what I never thought I’d find out, she did the right thing. She should have just given you to them to begin with.”
“So, you did what you thought would be best for me?” I asked, keeping my voice low. I didn’t want to yell, but I was so dang close to doing that. “Just hand me over to the Devil?”
I wasn’t going to let her know just how happy I was here. I thought that it would do Lynn some good to know how much of a disaster this all could have been. It could have been the total opposite of what I was able to get. I knew it could have been ten times worse than what really did happen.
“Zachariah is a good man, that I do know. His parents raised him well,” Lynn was quick to reply. “That I know. He won’t lay a hand on you unless he thought you really deserved it.”
“How can you be so certain? I mean, Miquel could have still ended up with me, you know. It’s not like I have any say over my so called life,” I griped. Every word I spoke certainly could have been the truth. Not like it mattered. Zachariah claimed me; I was his.
“I talked to Kent a few weeks back,” Lynn confessed. “You are with his grandson and treated well enough. I couldn’t ask for more.”
“So, then, why did you call if you know how I am?” I barked out.
Everything was a lie. I no longer knew this woman. I had once thought that I did. Not anymore.
“I miss you, Vidie,” she said near tears.
“Can’t say the same,” I mumbled.
