Vagabond Circus Series

by Sarah Noffke

  Zuma threw her a seething glance and then relayed a few choice messages across a telepathic link to her little sister.

  “Oh fine then, you can have him,” Dakota said, slinking off to the other side of the kitchen.

  Finley shot Zuma a speculative look. “Did you two just have a little chat?”

  She nodded at him. “Yeah, and I think my sister might actually leave you alone now.”

  “I might. And I might not,” Dakota said, winking at Finley. “Well, Mom, I think if Finley and Zuma are an item now then he better stay in my room.”

  Samara turned around from the stove, stirring something. “Kota, you know what I’m going to say?”

  “That I should fetch some clean sheets for my bed?” the younger sister said, a hint of hope in her voice.

  Her mother shook her head. “I’m going to remind you that it’s not my job to dictate what my children do after Dream Travel age. You all have a moral compass and I trust you to employ it. If Zuma wants Finley to stay in her room then she’s wise enough to make that decision.”

  “And if she doesn’t want him to stay in her room?” Dakota said, her voice artificially high.

  “Well, since there’s no guest rooms, then yes, he can stay with you,” Samara said, turning back to the stove.

  Dakota shot a pleading glare at her sister.

  “Not on your life, Dakota. Finley stays with me,” Zuma said.

  Finley found it very strange that this whole conversation was taking place in front of him. He actually felt like he didn’t have a choice and his fate was being decided by a bunch of females who spoke about him like he wasn’t present. And he suspected there was a whole other conversation going on inside the girls’ heads.

  Dakota sighed melodramatically. “Mom, I don’t think this free parenting works anymore. We need to protect Zuma’s honor.”

  Samara, who had emancipated herself from her own mother at an early age, believed in free choice. That’s how she and Matteo had always parented.

  “My honor is not the one in question, Dakota,” Zuma said. “And might I recommend to you that you start asking your personal shopper to buy you clothes in your actual size and not one size too small.”

  Not deterred, Dakota turned and lifted her skirt at her sister, flashing the whole kitchen her entire backside. Zuma reached out and covered Finley’s eyes with her hand.

  Samara pursed her lips and shook her head, dismissing the gesture entirely. “Oh, and Z,” her mother said, her gaze now back on her older daughter, “Mrs. Fuller called to welcome us to the family.”

  Zuma dropped her head. “Yeah, about that…”

  “Whatever possessed you to tell such a lie?” Samara asked.

  “Jack’s parents were belittling him and Keith was being…well, his usual repugnant self,” she said.

  “That’s sweet and all that you were trying to help Jack, but do you really think that it’s productive?” her mother said, her head to the side, awaiting her daughter’s answer.

  “They were going to put him in a nursing home, Mom.”

  “I know how the Fullers are,” Samara said. “But that’s no reason to lie. That’s on you now.”

  “Making my friend look better in front of his snobbish family is every reason to lie,” Zuma said.

  “And how do you think it made Finley feel when you had to go along with this lie?” her mother said.

  “You all do realize I’m here, right?” Finley said, looking at Samara and then Zuma.

  They both ignored him, their focus on each other. Zuma dismissed the questions with a wave. “He was fine with it.”

  “I wasn’t actually,” Finley said to no effect.

  “Telling lies will only create bigger problems for you and Jack. So although I know your heart was in the right place, I fear you’ve only made things more complicated for his family life,” Samara said.

  “It’s not that big of a deal,” Zuma said, shaking her head at her mother.

  “Oh, really? Eva has hired a wedding planner. And she’ll probably have your entire registry done by tomorrow morning,” Samara said.

  Zuma’s mouth dropped open. “But she’s mad at Jack. She was furious when she left the hospital. And she’d just found out her son is paralyzed. How could she have done all that already?”

  Samara leveled her gray eyes at her daughter. “She’s Eva Fuller. There’s nothing more important to her than planning other people’s lives. It doesn’t matter how she feels about Jack or what’s happened to him. Actually, to her, announcing this engagement is the perfect way to deflect from his handicap. I think she’ll make an even bigger deal about it than she would have otherwise.”

  “Bigger deal?” Zuma said, trying to swallow and failing.

  “The engagement announcements will go out tomorrow,” Samara said firmly.

  “Oh, shit,” Zuma said, dropping her head back into her arms.

  “Oh, shit is right,” Samara said. “Like I said, telling lies is never acceptable, no matter the reason.”

  “Ewww,” Dakota said from the other side of the kitchen. “What are you going to do, Mom? People are going to start asking you questions. You’ll be bombarded.”

  Her mother stuck her hand on her hip. “I’m not doing a damn thing. This is Zuma’s problem. She makes her choices. She deals with the consequences.”

  Zuma pulled her head up, her eyes hollow with dread. “Right. Free choice parenting. Thanks for the support, Mom.”

  “Sooo, what are you going to do, Zuma?” Dakota said, her voice eager.

  “I guess I’m going to marry Jack,” she said, her voice dead.

  “You’re going to what?!” Finley said, slamming his palm down on the counter between them.

  Zuma brought her gaze slowly to meet his, and never before had she looked so dazed to him. “I have to. I can’t go back on it now, not if Eva is making it so public.”

  “You could call her right now and tell her the engagement is off,” Finley said, surprised by how his heart was suddenly racing in his chest.

  “I can’t though. How would it look if I broke off the engagement after finding out he was paralyzed? Everyone would think I was awful,” Zuma said, already having considering all her options.

  “Since when do you care what other people think?” Finley asked.

  “Well, I don’t care what people think of the things I actually do, but to have them judge me for something I’d never do, that’s a different story. People will think I’m a heartless bitch,” Zuma said with a shiver.

  “But you and Jack can’t be together. It’s against Vagabond Circus rules,” Finley said, frantic to find a way out of this for Zuma.

  “And Jack won’t be in the circus anymore. He’s paralyzed,” Zuma said, shaking her head. “There’s no reason we can’t be married.”

  “You see what a small lie has done?” Samara said, her tone matter-of-fact. “It can’t be so easily undone as you thought.”

  Zuma nodded and then looked back at Finley. “But hey, it’s just a marriage for show, so don’t worry.”

  “Mmm. Mmm. Mmm,” Dakota said, like she’d just tasted something delicious. “Oh, Finley, you get to be Zuma’s secret lover. How romantic.”

  He huffed. “Yeah, just what I always wanted,” he said, a bitter humor in his voice.

  Chapter Sixty-Nine

  After Titus’s speech at the memorial service, most had red puffy eyes and glistening faces. Most, but not Padmal. She sat crossed-armed and looking bored beside a sobbing Oliver. He had his head down, hands gripping his Mohawk. The girl wouldn’t have even attended the ceremony if it wasn’t for Oliver. He’d asked her to attend for his sake. But the truth was the boy knew that Padmal would create a circus full of enemies if she wasn’t there to show her respect. The only members of Vagabond Circus not there were the acrobats, and their whereabouts were still a mystery to most. And Oliver knew that Padmal didn’t really care about creating enemies. She cared what other people thought about her like a dying
man cares how much money is in his bank account. However, Oliver felt that Padmal’s animosity was finally starting to create a wedge between them. Being angry at the ringmaster for irrational reasons when he was alive was one thing. But now Dave was dead and the girl had yet to show an ounce of compassion for the people who grieved him or to show the slightest bit of respect to a man who had lived a great life. He was the owner and ringmaster of the most fantastic show in the world. Oliver thought that deserved some credit, even if begrudgingly. However, Padmal had no indication of softening toward the dead man.

  After the ceremony Padmal disappeared to her trailer without a word to anyone. Most had stayed in the big top to exchange hugs and memories.

  An hour after the ceremony Haady and Nabhi returned to the trailer they shared with their sister. She was lying on her bed, thumbing through a magazine. The trailer, like most at Vagabond Circus, only had one bedroom and Padmal had insisted it go to her, since she was the girl. The brothers didn’t argue and had slept without complaint on the sofa and trundle bed for all these years. Haady and Nabhi ducked into the trailer, always careful not to bang their skinny heads on the short trailer door frame.

  Following behind his brother, Nabhi headed to the back of the trailer. The bedroom was big enough only for a bed and a few belongings. One brother sat on the corner of the bed and the other leaned in the door frame. Padmal looked up when Haady jostled her as he sat on the far side of her king-sized bed.

  “Excuse me,” she said, firing an angry expression at him and then Nabhi. “I didn’t say you could come into my personal space,” she said.

  Nabhi tightened his lips together, pinching his words away. Haady and Nabhi had not ever had a personal space. He didn’t even know what this luxury was like, but their sister knew. Soon she would request her own trailer and then they could be rid of her… mostly.

  “We need to talk,” Haady said, looking more composed than his brother. He always handled Padmal better. Always more patient with her bratty attitude. He joked it was because he was more mature by a few minutes.

  “I’m listening,” Padmal said, smacking the gum in her mouth, her eyes on an outfit in the magazine.

  “You know how Titus said Dave gave everyone what they needed rather than wanted?” Haady said.

  “Get to the boring point,” Padmal said, turning the page.

  “Did you even stop to consider how this applied to you? How Dave gave you what you needed all these years?” Haady said.

  The girl flipped her head up, centering her cinnamon-colored eyes on Haady. “Honestly I didn’t. I only heard half of what that skinny dude said.”

  “Titus,” Nabhi said, gripping the door frame tighter. “Titus is his name and you know that and should have zero beef with him.”

  “The way I see it is he was Dave’s lousy sidekick and deserves less respect than the dead fat man,” she said and smiled when Nabhi’s eyes narrowed at her. “Are we done here?” she said to Haady.

  “No, we aren’t. We,” he said, motioning to Nabhi and himself, “think we’ve figure out what Dave gave you that you needed.”

  “A miserable existence and cramped living quarters,” she said in response.

  Haady shook his head. “He gave you a life you would have missed out on.”

  “I’m not following you,” she said, flipping another page in the magazine.

  “You wanted him to leave you in the orphanage so our mother would be able to come back there and adopt you, right?” Haady said.

  She rolled her eyes and blew a bubble with her gum. “What are we playing? The obvious game? Of course that’s what I wanted. And I didn’t want to be forced to work for some power crazy mad man.”

  “He never forced you to work for him,” Nabhi said. “You’re imagining that, along with your other dreams of grandeur.”

  “Nab,” Haady said, holding a steadying hand out to his brother, who reluctantly nodded back at him, surrendering his compliance.

  “Padmal, Dave could have left you at the orphanage,” Haady said in a calm voice. “He could have listened to your request to be returned there after he adopted you. He could have acquiesced to your demands, but he didn’t. Instead he gave you not what you wanted, but what you needed.”

  “Where is this going?” Padmal said, her voice rising into almost a yell.

  “My point is, you would have rotted away and gone crazy waiting in that orphanage. Dave gave you a life even though you didn’t want it because he knew,” Haady said.

  “Knew? Knew what?” she said, sitting up.

  “Knew that you’d waste your life waiting for a woman who would never show up,” Haady said, pulling a folded piece of paper out of the inside pocket of his suit jacket. “Titus gave this to us after the ceremony. Apparently it was in our file that Dave was given when he adopted us.”

  Padmal grabbed it with a greedy look on her face. Her expression dropped to one of disbelief when she unfolded the paper. Her eyes raced over its contents, finally stopping on the title at the top:

  Certificate of Death.

  The paper was an impressive forgery the brothers had created which stated that Komal Sharma had died one year after the triplets were born.

  “I don’t believe it,” Padmal said, dropping the paper to her lap, but her voice wasn’t suspicious as Nabhi had feared. His sister’s voice was one of shock. Her lost eyes focused forward, not seeing. “Dead. My mother is dead,” the girl said.

  “I know,” Haady said, real sympathy in his words.

  “She was never going to come back for me because she couldn’t,” Padmal said, holding the piece of paper to her chest now.

  “I know,” Haady repeated. “I’m sorry.”

  Nabhi blew out a breath, unsure why his brother was apologizing to someone who didn’t deserve it.

  “And Dave,” she said, her tone shifting.

  “Yeah, he gave you a life. One you would have wasted,” Haady said.

  “Yeah,” she said, the old spite returning to her voice, plowing over the grief the girl truly felt for her deceased mother. “And Dave made me suffer with my dreams when he knew. Knew our mother was dead and could have saved me the torture of pining for her.”

  Haady’s eyes widened in disbelief and Nabhi turned, putting his forehead against the trailer wall. Neither brother saw things going this way.

  “If anything I hate Dave more for this than for making us do child labor. He knew our mother was dead and that is unforgivable,” she said and bolted to a standing position before stomping out of the trailer, leaving her brothers to wonder how their deceitful trick had backfired.

  And in truth their mother wasn’t dead. What none of them knew was she had returned to the orphanage a year after they’d been adopted, but not to adopt her daughter. She could only afford one child and her heart told her it should be her firstborn, Haady. If he was still there at the orphanage where she had left him eight years prior then she’d break her own rule and separate the triplets. But thanks to Ian’s vision, Dave knew this and adopted all of the orphans. And now only Ian knew that if Padmal had remained at the orphanage with her brothers then she would have been devastated when Haady, and not she, was adopted by their mother. Dave knew this and he gave Padmal what she needed. He kept her heart whole and the triplets together.

  Chapter Seventy

  For the second time in two days Finley stepped out of Zuma’s steamy bathroom wearing Matteo’s too large clothes. Finley was tall but much leaner than Zuma’s father. He took his clothes straight to the hamper, his concerned eyes on Zuma. She sat crossed-legged on her bed, her brow furrowed, her eyes on the phone in her hands.

  “What is it?” he said, walking back to her, his hands now empty.

  “No one at Vagabond Circus is answering their phone,” she said, looking up at him, scrunching up her mouth in frustration. “I know I should have called earlier because Titus wanted to know how the surgery went. And now I can’t get him to answer his phone.”

  “I’m sure he
’s busy, Zuma,” Finley said, taking a seat on the bed next to her. It felt so strange to be able to do that without earning a look of disapproval from her. So quickly things had changed with Zuma. But they had since the beginning. The evolutionary cycles of their relationship continued to shift. “They just had the memorial, right? I’m sure he’s just grieving,” Finley said.

  She nodded her head and sucked in her bottom lip. “It just doesn’t feel right to leave a message for him or Fanny or Jaz telling them Jack is paralyzed.”

  “None of them are answering their phones?” Finley asked, his voice now sounding concerned.

  She shrugged. “Like you said, they are all grieving.”

  “As you should be,” he said, reaching out and pausing his hovering hand above the phone in her hand. When she didn’t move he grabbed the phone from her hand and slid it onto the bedside table. “Don’t worry about this anymore tonight. Tomorrow we will be back at Vagabond Circus and Jack will have Fanny’s care. You’ve been overwhelmed with Jack all day, but now I would recommend you focus on you. It’s an important thing to do when you lose someone.”

  Her eyes slid up to Finley’s. “You sound like you’re speaking from experience. Did you lose someone?”

  “Not anyone I really cared about,” he said.

  She continued to stare at him, staying silent, waiting for him to elaborate. This is when you share, she said over the telepathic link he was apparently allowing in that moment.