Safe and Sound(42)
“Lola, your aunt Blair is going to take care of you for a while,” Veronica informed her, stepping up to the bed.
The woman continued to talk, but none of it registered with Lola. She stared at the woman she had just been told was her aunt. Her father’s sister.
Lola unconsciously touched her nose and chin, seeing the same features on the woman standing before her. She winced as the tender flesh newly stitched reacted negatively to her touch.
“Wait a minute,” Lola interrupted. “Where’s my mom?”
Veronica pursed her lips. “Your mother is signing over guardianship to your aunt, at least temporarily. She can’t take care of you right now.”
The room faded and flared back in blinding white. Lola’s ear buzzed. “What? I don’t understand.”
The brusque woman turned to Blair. “I’ll let you two get acquainted. Someone from Social Services will be in touch.”
Her aunt nodded, waited until the older woman had left, then turned to Lola. “This must be…odd for you. I know a lot has happened to you. I thought, um, maybe we could talk for a bit?” Blair tilted her head, studying Lola.
Lola didn’t say anything.
Blair cleared her throat and seemed to shake herself. “I guess I’ll go first. I live here in Morgan Creek. I have for the past eleven years.”
Two years after Lola moved there. She’d been so close this whole time.
“I write a column for a women’s magazine. I’ve never been married. I have two cats. I like funny movies and Chinese food. Let’s see…” Blair seemed to search her brain. “My favorite color is green.”
“What are their names?”
She blinked. “What?”
“Your cats. What are their names?”
“Oh!” Blair smiled a true smile and a dimple appeared in her left cheek. “Piper and Larry. Both males.”
“Why did you name them Piper and Larry?”
“Well, Larry is after an ex-boyfriend. He had a shoe fetish. Particularly my shoes, I should add. I caught him trying on a pair once. He was a little…strange. We broke up shortly after that.” Blair giggled and Lola felt a small smile stretch her lips. It fell from her lips at the realization. It didn’t seem right to smile after the events of the past night.
“Larry, the cat, that is, likes to sleep with my shoes. He wraps his paws around them like a teddy bear and sleeps that way.” She shrugged. “It just fit. I honestly don’t know how I came up with the name Piper. I think I heard it on a movie or something.”
Lola looked at the blank television screen as the quiet dragged on. She had so many questions. She didn’t know where to begin.
Blair stood and pulled her shirt down. “I imagine you’re wondering why you haven’t met me before now, living in the same town and all.”
“Yes. Why didn’t you contact me sooner? You’ve been here this whole time…” Her voice trailed off. Lola frowned, resentment and confusion battling inside her.
Her aunt crossed the floor and stopped beside Lola. There were such varying glimpses of pain on Blair’s face Lola felt a tightening in her chest.
“I’ll explain everything, Lola, in time. But first, I want to make sure it’s okay with you that you’ll be staying with me. I realize we don’t know each other, but I would love to be able to change that.”
Blair lifted a hand, made a fist, and let it drop to her side. “You look so much like your father,” she whispered, brown eyes shimmering with tears.
“What about my mother? Why doesn’t she want me?”
Her eyes shifted away. “It’s not that she doesn’t want you, Lola; she’s just incapable of giving you proper care right now.”
It felt like someone had punched a hole in her chest, ripped out her heart, and left her like that; wounded, bleeding, and beyond repair.
She’d had it all figured out in her imaginary world where wishes and hopes and dreams come true. Her mother would show up at the hospital. She would tell her she was sorry and they would never see Bob again; never have to deal with him again.
In spite of everything her mother had allowed, she was still Lola’s mother. Lola still needed her, messed up or not. Lana had carried her in her womb for months, brought her into the world, raised her, and, for the longest time, been a good mother to Lola.
What had happened to the mother Lola remembered from her childhood? Why had she changed? Or had Lola recreated a childhood in her mind that didn’t exist? No, that couldn’t be true.
Lola forced herself to meet her aunt’s gaze. “When can we leave?”
“I’m so sorry, Lola,” Blair said in a voice low with regret. “I’m so sorry all of this has happened to you.”