Scarlett slammed the mixer on and started another batch of dough.
Chapter 9
Scarlett’s mother showed up just as Scarlett was getting ready to close the diner. She came in with Gram, and Scarlett counted that a huge blessing. She wanted to talk to her mom before she confronted her dad. If he’d showed up with her mom, Scarlett might have started shrieking.
“Mom,” Scarlett said as Maye crossed to talk to Maeve. “I need to talk to you."
Maye turned slowly. Her gaze was as shifty as Lex’s. What was this? Since when did Maye act like a shoplifting pre-teen.
“Talk to me,” Scarlett said--no she begged.
“I’m coming,” Maye said. She leaned down to whisper to the tableful of girls.
Maeve and Phoebe barely looked up from their makeup tutorial on youtube. Ella nodded over the edge of her book, and Luna jumped up, rubbed her face in Maye’s stomach, and said something to Scarlett’s mom. Probably something about how she needed to take on some random kitten or rabbit.
Her mom rose and crossed to the back of the bakery.
“I’ll keep an eye on things,” Henna said but she was already crossing the dining room to flip the sign on the door to closed.
Scarlett followed her mom up the stairs and into her apartment. Mom had her phone out as she walked and when they went inside Mom said, “Harper is coming.”
Scarlett’s brows rose and then she said, “Ok. Is this conversation going to be a wine conversation or a coffee conversation?"
“I’m feeling a bit like tea,” Maye said, weakly. She flopped onto the couch, rubbing her brow.
Scarlett paused. The way her mom was acting made Scarlett feel as though a ghost was blowing on the back of her neck, “What do I want?”
Mom glanced at Scarlett, rubbing her brow again and said, “You might want some wine.”
Scarlett pulled out the leftover pizza and the wine at the back of her fridge and started a pot of tea. She went ahead and poured Harper a glass of wine too and then threw the pizza into the oven to heat it up.
“Are you all right?" Scarlett asked her mom. "You don't look well."
"I don't want you to be angry with me," Maye said. "I don't want to hurt you. I already have. I know I have."
“I just need to understand," Scarlett said. “I need to understand what's going on."
It was awkwardly quiet between them until Harper showed up, but it gave the pizza enough time to heat up. Scarlett wiped off the table, put hot sauce and red pepper flakes on it.
“Do you ever think about that first Christmas after your dad left? You cried and wouldn't open your presents.”
Scarlett scattered her pizza with red pepper flakes, parmesan, and italian seasonings.
“I don't like to think about that memory. I like to think about the one--the next summer--when we slept every night in the town grove. Where we told each other stories and slept next to the fire in sleeping bags. It was the summer before we got Harper. It only got better after that."
Harper came in, raised a brow at the wine and pizza, and helped herself to one of the pieces of pizza that Scarlett had already doctored up.
“So…” Scarlett said when her mom didn’t start speaking. “Why is my dad here?”
Maye closed her eyes and said, “I saw your dad in Boston.”
“What?” Why hadn’t her mom said anything? She'd gone on a trip a few months ago, seen Scarlett's dad, and then not said a word. Yet he'd shown up or he'd been invited?
Scarlett waited and her mom struggled for words as Harper took a massive bite of her pizza seemingly unconcerned by the byplay between Scarlett and their mom.
“And…he wanted to catch up?” Scarlett asked, looking at her mom and then at Harper. Boston? Of all places? Boston didn't make sense.
"I don't know,” Maye said. "We just...did. It would have been weird if we didn't talk at all. I'm not a pushover. Scarlett...I told him to leave. I kicked him out."
“He lives in Boston?”
Maye shook her head. “No…well...I don't know where he lives, but not Boston.”
“So he just happened to see you there? While he was on another trip?”
Maye nodded.
Harper and Scarlett exchanged glances—neither of them were particularly trustful--but Scarlett was sure that Harper didn't buy that story either. Harper took another bite of her pizza, paused and grabbed the hot sauce, dousing the pizza and making a puddle to dunk it in.
“And we talked. Until late. Really late.” Their mom blushed and Scarlett had to bite back a groan.
Harper, however, wasn't so nice. She groaned and then added, “And you’d been drinking,”
Scarlett winced at Harper’s casual tone.
“Maybe heavily,” Harper added.
“You know I rarely drink,” Mom replied, but her gaze darted to the side.
“By the stars,” Scarlett muttered.
Harper choked back a laugh and then said, “But this night you did.” She swirled a piece of crust through the hot sauce. “Of course. I had been wondering."
“Well…” Maye paused and then said, “Yeah.”
Scarlett leaned back, examining Harper’s face, and then asked, “What do you know, Harper?”
“I’m not blind,” Harper told Scarlett. “But I think you might be. Druid up, sister.”
“What does that mean?”
“I know Mom pretty well. I think these things are obvious.”
“Ok,” Scarlett said slowly, glancing between their mom and Harper.
“You need to tell her,” Harper said, “And we need to know what this means as far as her dad goes because he’s shady. Shayyyydyyyyyy.”
“What is going on?” Scarlett demanded, losing patience. She took a long drink of her wine wanting to drown herself in it because her mother and sister were being far, far too ambiguous.
Maye finally admitted, “I was drunk. Drunker than I have been since your dad left. I mean...I couldn't drink while I was raising you two, could I? I had to be responsible and keep it together, but this was my trip. My chance to relax. I...”
Scarlett blinked, watching the way her mom’s gaze slid to the side and said, “So?”
“We’re druids, Scarlett. But I didn’t really think about what that meant.”
“Meant? I am going to go stark raving mad if you don't speak up.”
“So…” Harper coughed and then said, “We live longer, in general, than regular humans and many of the other races.” She swirled her crust through the hot sauce and said, “You’re blind my darling sister."
“Yes,” Scarlett said, glancing between them and saying, “I know. I’m a druid too. A blind, dumb druid.”
“And,” Harper said slowly like Scarlett were particularly slow, “Because we live longer other things last longer among us.”
Scarlett glanced between Harper and Maye. “I’m apparently incredibly slow. Slow and stupid. I better drink more wine.”
“I’m pregnant,” Maye snapped. “I got drunk. I had some lingering affection for your dad, and if there was anyone able to get into my panties…”
“Oh my stars,” Scarlett said, “Please don’t ever talk about Dad and your panties again. Ever.”
She rose and crossed to the fire. It started without her even thinking about it. She needed to get her self in control. She couldn’t…she just couldn’t. She looked at her mom and said, “This doesn’t make him less of a deadbeat.”
“I agree,” Mom said. Her face was flushed and Scarlett noticed how her mom’s tea cup shook in her hand. “Scarlett, I’m 50. Way too old to be knocked up. But also…way, way too old to repeat the mistakes of my late teens.”
Scarlett nodded. Without even thinking, she crossed to her fridge and started cleaning it out. She had it about half-cleaned out when she turned on the oven, sprayed it down with cleaner, and then turned it to the cleaning setting. She opened the cupboard door and began arranging her spices alphabetically without ever saying anything to the others.<
br />
Finally—after at least 15 minutes, her mom said, “Don’t you have anything to say?”
Scarlett opened her mouth, closed it, and then said, “I don’t want him in my life. Or my daughter’s lives. Not even if you’re pregnant.”
“He could have changed,” her mom said gently. “We were much younger then. We don’t know what he’s been up to.”
“From a kid’s perspective, I don't want to see him be a good dad this time around. Not when I wasn’t good enough for him to get it together.”
“Oh Scarlett,” her mother said. “You were never the problem.”
“My concern,” Harper said carefully, “Is that he set up that meeting in Boston. What is his end-game? And does he know you’re pregnant?”
Maye’s eyes closed and then she said, “He didn’t set it up. I haven’t told him that I’m pregnant, but girls…we met by happenstance.”
Scarlett rearranged the cilantro and chives to be in the right order and considered her knowing. She was too internally tumultuous to be able to consider what she really felt. But then she paused and considered what she knew of her father and gently said, “I…I’m concerned that Harper is right.”
Their mom looked between them and said, “But why?”
Harper didn’t do gentle very often, but she tried for it, “Because he’s a deadbeat, and you aren’t.”
Oh, Scarlett thought and then said carefully, “Harper could be right, Mom.”
“If anyone knows someone playing a game, it’s me,” Harper said. “I think more like a criminal than a druid. And I don’t buy him finding you in Boston when neither of you are from there. Besides, anyone who’d grown and changed would never have expected Scarlett to just throw herself into his arms.”
That, Scarlett thought. Yes. Scarlett didn’t buy that move either, and it made her angry just thinking about it. She deserved an apology. She deserved change and repentance. Scarlett had been a good, sweet 9-year-old who’d adored her dad—maybe undeservingly, but Scarlett had. And he’d just…left. Even if Scarlett was an adult now—that move had colored her whole life.
“Harper, Scarlett…” Mom glanced between them and then said, “Really?”
“I think you should be careful, Mom. I was already concerned about how Leroy died as soon as Dad showed up.”
“Now Peter is dead,” Scarlett said, rubbing her temples. What in the world?
Mom gasped and then said, “Taking advantage of me is quite the difference from…from…from murder. Leroy and Peter spent a lot of time with your dad. With Jeb and his sister, Helen, and Greg. They cared about each other. They spent their holidays and their weekends together. They wouldn't just kill each other now. And why after all this time?”
Scarlett realized she had 3 bottles of red pepper flakes, considered combining them, and then just lined them up together. Was this how she processed life? By cleaning?
“You should wait,” Scarlett said, “Until we know who the killer is and why people are dying now that Dad showed up. We don’t know them. What they were up to. Why they might hate each other. Or maybe it isn't each other. Mabel said they stole and lied—maybe it's one of their victims.”
“They don’t have to be correlated,” Mom said, sounding angry now. “I know you aren’t pleased with this, or that your dad is back, but that doesn't mean that his life was so…evil…that people die when he just shows up. He was…less than ideal when he was part of our lives before…but you turned out ok.”
“Mom,” Scarlett said, cutting in and crossing to her mother. Scarlett sat down, taking her mom's hands, and said, “That baby is the luckiest baby I know to get you for a mom. I’m excited to be a sister again. My upset is entirely directed towards Dad. Anything I am…that I’ve become. It has nothing to do with Dad. It was you. It was always you.”
“I just feel so stupid,” Mom said. “I made a stupid mistake, but I am not stupid. And I am just as responsible as your dad for this baby.”
“You aren’t stupid,” Scarlett agreed. “But, I don’t know that I agree that Dad didn’t hunt you down, get you drunk, and try to—at the minimum—weasel his way back into your life. You’re a catch mom.”
“Right,” Mom said, and Scarlett suddenly realized that she wasn’t the only one who was aching for love. Who had been aching all this time? She bet her mom, like herself, just wanted to be someone’s priority. It wasn’t that her mom was dissatisfied with her life—Scarlett knew Maye was generally happy. Scarlett wasn’t dissatisfied either. She was tired but she wasn’t unhappy. But, how her mom must want to have someone who always took your calls. Scarlett did. How her mom wanted someone who was always there when you woke up. Scarlett certainly did. How her mom must ache for someone who cared enough about you to care about the minutia of your life.
Scarlett reached out and took her Mom’s hand.
“I love you,” Scarlett said, a telltale burning in the back of her eyes. “Me, Harper, and Maeve are so lucky that you’re ours.”
It was just better to not be alone. Of course…only if you had a partner and not a scumbag like Scarlett’s dad or her ex-husband, but a real partner. It was better to have a real partner. Humans certainly were pack animals, and—if anything—druids were even more so.
“If he doesn’t know you’re pregnant,” Harper said, actually gentle for once, swirling her crust through the hot sauce, “Why’s he here?”
Now that, Scarlett thought, was a good question. Mom’s reply was a wordless shrug. It took her a few moments to admit, “We talked a lot about you, Scarlett. How proud I am of you. About the girls. He could be here because he wants to be part of their lives and your life. Because he realized what he missed out on.”
“Please,” Harper said. “He’s not you.”
“This is not a time for jokes, Harper,” Mom said. “Scarlett’s dad is caught up in these murders. You think she’ll leave that alone?”
“When is Scarlett not caught up in a murder? I mean…I can’t keep dredging up emotion about it,” Harper joked. “Mom…”
Harper had to swallow to get her emotions under control which was rare indeed for her. Maye and Scarlett exchanged glances.
Harper smacked Scarlett, breaking the emotion and said, “Scarlett’s right. You aren’t her dad. You can’t project what you would do on him.”
“Please Harper,” Mom said. Her voice cracked and she started crying.
“This is being pregnant,” Harper told Mom. Harper’s tone was light again, but she downed the rest of her wine in one gulp. “Shake it off. I visited Scarlett when she was pregnant, it was terrifying.”
“We need pizza again,” Scarlett told her mom. “We need pizza, and we need to just gather up as a family and…be together.”
“We could go to the house,” Harper said. But her glance was towards the window. Given that it was nearly closing time and her boyfriend, Quinton would be on the sidewalk any minute, Scarlett thought, Harper didn’t really want to leave.
“No,” Scarlett said, loving Quinton a thousand times more for making Harper excited to see him. “Let’s order takeout. Pizza or chinese and lets just…watch a movie with the girls and Quinton?”
Harper nodded and then said, “And Lex…”
Scarlett took a deep breath and found she was nodding before she’d thought it through.
Harper went to close down her store, ask Henna to close the bakery and Scarlett faced her mom, asking, “Are you ok?”
“I…I’m 50-years-old Scarlett. I shouldn’t be repeating the mistakes of my early adulthood.”
“You aren’t.”
“Then why am I pregnant?”
“I don’t know about that,” Scarlett said, “But you’re awesome, Mom. And this isn’t the same as then. Besides what have I learned becoming a mom the way I have?”
Mom glanced up and Scarlett said, “You love her or him already. Children are worth any sacrifice. What trial wouldn’t we pass through for our babies? What challenge wouldn’t we face? What mountain wou
ldn’t we climb? Whatever it takes. So yeah…having a baby again with Dad isn’t great. But when you hold her in your arms and look into her eyes…you won’t care one bit that it was hard.”
Chapter 10
“You know what I want to know?” Harper asked as she and Scarlett walked down Arbor Avenue for the chinese. “What your dad did way back in the day to make it worth killing people now. I carry a mean grudge, and I don’t think I could hold it that long.”
Scarlett kicked a leaf and said, “Can you believe we're gonna be sisters again?”
She did not want to think about her dad or her mom or murders. She wanted to snuggle up with family and let her soul be soothed.
“Yeah,” Harper said. “Keep up. I figured the baby out a while ago. I want to talk about the murder. It has to be a victim. Or a friend. But if it’s a victim…it would have to be bad.”
“I want to talk about babies. We’re gonna have one.” Scarlett nodded at Old Mrs. Lovejoy and the new deputy and then waved at a little kid who came into the bakery every time she earned money. The air was crisp and cold and smelled like fall. It made her want warm apple cider, pie, and a fire in the fireplace.
“It could be both a victim and a friend,” Harper said, not waving to anyone. She shrugged and then admitted, “Or either. I bet my old foster care buddy, Jemmie, thinks he was both a friend and a victim. Gram totally messed with him when I was a suspect in that murder.”
“Yeah,” Scarlett said and sighed. "I can't imagine being angry that long. But a baby…I hope it's a girl. Is it bad that I hope it's a girl? We’d love a boy, probably. But a girl!”
“I could be mad for a long time,” Harper said, ignoring Scarlett. “Maybe if it were a team of guys robbing a bank and then one takes off with the money. You’d get extra mad over that. I think I could carry that grudge a really long time. Or if I got dumped. Like mean dumped. On Valentine’s Day dumped.”
Scarlett did not want to think about the bad things her dad had done. She wanted to go back to the fantasy version her life where he’d taken off, immediately regretted it and been hit by a bus before he could get back to them. For a long time, she’d figured that was the only way not calling or writing a letter or sending a card could be justified. She wasn’t sure that had changed. She considered her daughters and realized that yeah…that was the only way Scarlett would be ok with someone treating them the way she’d been treated.
Hobgoblins and Homework Page 7