It was a perfectly reasonable plan that the universe had clearly taken personal offense to.
Bad things were supposed to come in threes, right? Well, she must have won the gold prize today because this day had given her way more than three bad things. First, Ivy had kept her after work to talk to her in private. Bliss had felt just like she did when she used to get called into Father Cassian’s office at the compound. That same sinking feeling in her stomach, like whatever the trouble was, it had her name written all over it.
She held Tipsy up to her face. “We don’t like being nervous, do we? No.”
That was the nice thing about asking Tipsy a question. She always had the right answer. Not with actual words, of course. She’d communicate with those golden eyes, like Connor had.
Thankfully, Winnie was able to come and get the girls. It was hard to focus on what people were saying when the babies were around. She didn’t mind since it was hard for the other people to focus, too.
Everyone loved her girls. Sadie and Sophie were dimpled bundles of babbling, trying-to-walk joy. And Nori was taking in everything around her in that quiet, thoughtful way she had. Just like her father. She never cried, just watched life go on around her as if she already understood the world better than anyone else. Especially Bliss.
It turned out Ivy wanted to know about how things were going at home. It was sweet, although it wasn’t anything they couldn’t have talked about over lunch. She’d asked about how Bliss was coping with raising three babies alone, and if they were getting enough to eat. She’d even asked how often Bliss changed their diapers. When Bliss asked why she wanted to know, Ivy gave a funny look and said she wanted to make sure Bliss and the girls were doing okay.
See, sweet. But it put her trying to get out of town at the busiest part of the day. Running over the million-and-one happy tourists clogging up the streets with their happy vacationing wouldn’t help. Seeing all the Littles and their Daddies playing in the snow forts and having snowball fights in the town square just made her stroll downWhat Could Have BeenLane. Connor probably built great snow forts.
Darn it! That was two nickels. She was running out of nickels to put in the swear jar. Not that his name was exactly a swear word. But it made her heart hurt. She gave herself a consequence every time she went over the limit of saying Connor’s name.
Argh! Three nickels.
A glance at her watch had her groaning. It might not have been those happy tourists’ fault that she was already twenty minutes late picking up her kids from Winnie’s house, but they hadn’t helped. Winnie had said to be there by 5:30, and it was almost that now. If changing the tire didn’t take too long—and why should it—she could still make it to Arcadian Hills before six.
Mary and Miranda both agreed, though Miranda still voted for fire.
Adjusting her speed to slightly above the speed limit, she’d cranked up her AM radio. Her voice had bounced around the little car with reckless enthusiasm as she belted outRockin' Around the Christmas Tree. Not that she had a Christmas tree.
But she would soon have a fresh one that made the whole house smell like Christmas. She couldn’t wait for scents of pine needles and cinnamon candles to fill the cabin as her three giggling babies crawled across the living room floor. That was the picture she’d been holding onto like a lifeline.
When the song had shifted toRun, Run, Rudolph, she’d danced as she drove. Shoulders swaying, she wiggled her hips against the worn driver’s seat like she was performing for a sold-out arena instead of a rusty avocado-green sedan. The shiny jingle bells attached to the moose antlers on her sweater had jingled away, lifting her spirits as she sang.
The cheerful sounds filled the car, which was exactly what she needed. No one could’ve blamed her if the accelerator got pushed a bit too hard.
The sky had been all purples and deep pinks in the setting sunlight, and fresh snow blanketed the ground and branches, like a Christmas postcard. It had been way too gorgeous to stay cranky. So, she’d cranked the music up some more and pressed the pedal down. She would have made it to Winnie’s on time. Five minutes early, even. The perfect amount of time to scoop upher babies and steal a hug from Winnie before the evening chaos began.
But halfway to Winnie’s house, something under her car exploded. Not popped… exploded. The steering wheel had jerked to the right so hard she’d veered into the oncoming lane. She’d seen the Grim Reaper holding out his hand to her.
Screaming, she’d gripped the wheel as hard as she could and slammed on the brakes. Her tires had locked, causing her to skid and swerve all over the road. The world outside her windshield turned into a spinning blur of snowbanks and pine trees.
Leaning forward, she’d used every ounce of strength she had to get her car under control, steering her rattling and shaking car back into her lane. Every muscle in her arms screamed as she’d fought the wheel, which had personally declared war.
By the time she’d gotten most of her car to the side of the road, her arms had been quivering like fresh-set Jello. She’d rested her forehead on the steering wheel and chanted big girls don’t cry along with Mary and Miranda, even though every shaky breath threatened to turn into a sob.
She’d reached for her phone, but remembered her battery was dead. She’d had no way to call Winnie to let her know she was running late. When she’d calmed down enough to think, she’d opened the door and stepped out of the car on shaking legs to assess the damage. The cold air slapped her cheeks the second she stepped out of her car.
Why did this have to happen now?
Mary had the answer.That’s what happens when you drive around on bad tires.Sometimes Mary could be snide like that. It made Bliss want to do mean things to her with that prim little umbrella she had.
Guilt overwhelmed her. Sure, she needed new tires, but tires were freakin expensive. The kind of expensive that made grocery budgets irrelevant. She’d been saving up for them, but she’donly been back in Darling a couple of months. And three babies had a way of turning every extra dollar into diapers, formula, or something sticky.
It was the realization that the girls could have been in the car when the tire blew out that had dropped her to her butt in the middle of the road. She could have killed her babies! She was the worst mother in the world. In the entire history of motherhood.
Mary Poppinstskedin Bliss’s ear. Miranda suggested a stiff drink, preferably from the bottle.
It was all she could do not to curl up in a fetal position right there on the highway. Covering her face, she rocked back and forth. The cold asphalt seeped through her jeans while the smell of burned rubber drifted around her, a stinky reminder of how close she’d come to disaster.
All right, she’d give her legs thirty seconds to stop trembling. That’s all the time she had, and then she’d stand up and tackle the car. Besides, the scent of burning rubber was hard to take.
After her allotted pit-party time ended, she glared at her tire. “I don’t suppose you’ll change yourself, will you? It’s the least you can do. No? Well, fine.”
