‘Exactly,’ she said. ‘There’s no heart to this girl, no soul. She’s only a few years older than your brother but acts like a Puritan schoolmarm. I have no doubt she’ll take everything unique about Hollis and suck it out of him. It’s horrifying.’
I looked out my open door, down the hall, where I could see Heidi sweeping out my father’s office, which had been converted into a second guest room. Thisbe was parked in her bouncy seat, watching her.
Since that bad night, things had been a little better. In the end, Mrs. Stock had stayed over, tending to Isby, and when I came down late the following morning, she had just left. I found Heidi in the kitchen, with the swaddled baby in her arms, looking more rested than she had in weeks.
‘That woman,’ she said in lieu of a hello, ‘is a miracle worker.’
‘Yeah?’
She nodded. ‘She was here for three hours this morning, and I already know about a hundred percent more than I did yesterday. Did you realize that swaddling helps a baby feel secure and fuss less?’
‘I did not,’ I said. ‘But it appears to be true.’
‘And she helped me raise the baby’s mattress, which will reduce her gas, and said I should buy a swing to help her sleep. Plus, she knew exactly what to do about my nipples being so sore!’
I winced. ‘Heidi. Please.’
‘Sorry, sorry.’ She waved her free hand at me. ‘But really. I’m so grateful to you for bringing her here. I mean, she’s even offered to come by again, if I need help, but I don’t know. Last night was just so strange. I don’t know what happened. I was just so tired…’
‘It’s fine,’ I said, as always wanting to avoid a big emotional moment. ‘I’m just glad you feel better.’
‘I do,’ she said, looking down at Isby again. ‘I really do.’
Since then, she had seemed to be in better spirits, and Isby was sleeping a bit more, which was good for everyone. Still, Mrs. Stock had dropped by a couple more times, although I always seemed to miss her. When she’d visited, though, I could always tell. Heidi just seemed happier.
Unlike my mother, who was still going on about Laura and how she was sucking out my brother’s joie de vivre, one myelinated cell at a time. ‘I don’t know,’ I said to her now. ‘He seems to really like her.’
‘Your brother likes everyone!
That’s always been his fatal flaw.’ Another dark sigh. ‘You’ll see when you meet her, Auden. She’s just…’
I glanced back out my window, just in time to see a silver Honda pulling into the driveway. ‘Here,’ I finished for her. ‘I better go.’
‘God help you,’ she muttered. ‘Call me later.’
I told her I would, then closed my phone and walked out into the hallway just as my dad was yelling up to Heidi that Hollis had arrived.
‘Ready to go meet your brother?’ she said to Thisbe, bending down to unbuckle her from her seat. Together, we walked to the top of the stairs just as my dad opened the front door.
I could see Hollis getting out of the car, and even though it had been more than two years that he’d been gone, he looked pretty much the same. A little skinnier, his hair somewhat shaggier. When Laura stepped out of the passenger side, she, too, looked awfully familiar, although at first I couldn’t figure out why. Then Heidi gasped.
‘Oh, my God,’ she said. ‘Laura looks just like your mother!’
She was right. Same long dark hair, same dark clothes, same pale, pale skin. Laura was a little shorter and curvier, but still, the resemblance was striking. The closer they got, the more it freaked me out.
‘There he is!’ my dad said, pulling Hollis in for a hug as he stepped over the threshold. ‘The world traveler returns!’
‘Look at you, proud papa!
Where’s that baby girl?’ Hollis said, grinning.
‘Right here,’ Heidi said, starting down the stairs. I made myself follow her, even as Laura came in the door, taking off her sunglasses and folding them. Her eyes were dark, too. ‘This is Thisbe.’
Hollis immediately reached for the baby, lifting her up high over his head. She looked down at him, as if trying to make up her mind whether to start crying or not. ‘Oh, boy,’ he said. ‘You’re gonna be trouble. I can just tell!’
My dad and Heidi laughed, but I kept my eyes on Laura, who was standing just off to the side, still holding her sunglasses, watching this scene with a somewhat clinical expression. After a moment of Hollis making googly faces at the baby, she very quietly – but pointedly – cleared her throat.
‘Oh, babe, sorry!’ Hollis handed Thisbe off to my dad, then reached an arm over Laura’s shoulders, pulling her in closer to everyone else. ‘Everyone, this is my fiancée, Laura.’
‘Fiancée?’ my dad said. ‘You didn’t mention that in your phone call. When did you…’
Laura smiled, showing no teeth. ‘We didn’t,’ she said. ‘Hollis is just…’
‘Confident,’ my brother finished for her. ‘And ready. Even if she isn’t.’
‘I keep telling Hollis that marriage is serious,’ Laura said. Her voice was very even and clear, like she was used to having the room’s attention. ‘You can’t just jump into it like an airplane.’