Page 61 of The Land that Binds

Freya sat across her, face in her hands.

They had been in this position at the table before, the two of them. Waiting to hear the popping of gravel as the truck returned from the hospital. Waiting to see if everything with Mom was okay, or if things had gotten worse.

It was never good news. It was always worse.

Leo stayed busy in the kitchen, tossing up a linguini with summer squash, goat cheese, and basil. She wasn’t hungry, but she nibbled on what he made regardless, at least to give her hands something to do.

Freya ignored her food.

Underneath the table, Leo brushed a hand against Alana’s thigh, rubbing a circle into her bare skin. He didn’t try to fill the silence with mindless chatter. He merely let them be, and Alana was grateful for his empathy.

Eventually the three of them made moves to go to sleep. Alana lay in her bed, listening to the old springs on Freya’s mattress as her sister tossed and turned. She felt so alone. She didn’t want to be alone. She reached for her phone.

Seconds later, she heard movement from the couch in the living room below and the soft creaking of wood as Leo made his way up the stairs. She’d left her door ajar in hopes of hearing the truck return, and it was enough space for Leo to sneak in.

He sat by her bed, then brushed strands of her hair with his fingers.

She tugged on his shirt and pulled him down to the mattress, and he didn’t resist. He wrapped his arms around her as she nuzzled her nose into his chest. She let him hold her for a long while. At some point, she drifted off.

She woke up to soft kisses on her temple. “Alana,” he whispered.

“Hmmm?” she hummed.

“I think they’re home.”

She sat up quickly, feeling a head rush. Leo stood up and held out his hands, helping Alana out of her sleeping stupor as she got to her feet. She woke Freya, then the three of them made their way down the stairs as Otto and Sophie stepped into the house.

Otto scanned their faces, then sighed heavily. “Girls, it’s nothing bad.”

The weight pressing on her chest and shoulders lifted as she took a deep breath for the first time that night. She glanced at her youngest sister, and despite Otto’s reassurance, her sister didn’t look good. Her face was red and splotchy, and her hair was a chaotic mess.

Freya’s forehead pinched. “Are you sure?”

Sophie’s bottom lip wobbled, then she began to cry. Likely, she hadn’t stopped. She made her way to the living room and sat down on the couch, crisscrossing her legs.

Alana and Freya glanced at one another before following their sister. The men were at their heels.

She got down on her knees and crawled over to Sophie, taking her sister’s hands. “Bean, what’s wrong? What’s going on?”