"Mama, why did you bring here? We should go outside and sit with Father and Adam..." lody began, glancing over her shoulder toward the hallway they had just walked through. Her voice was edged with irritation, her steps unwilling as she moved towards the room. She wanted to sit beside Adam. Tonight was her chance. She was going to force him to keep touching her and she was going to keep touching him. To pretend of course.
In fact, she had even planned for her mother to insist that they sleep here overnight so that she would get a chance to sleep in the sa bed. But before she could say more or tell her mother to do what she wanted, she was pulled into a sudden hug. Her mother’s arms wrapped around her tightly, almost crushing, her voice trembling as she spoke.
"lody! My child! I don’t know... I don’t know what to do. I’m so happy, and yet I’m so worried." Her voice cracked at the end and lody stiffened slightly before easing into the hug. Sothing wasn’t right. She could feel it.
"Mama... what happened?" she asked cautiously, her brows pulling together as she tried to make sense of her mother’s reaction. "Why are you saying that? Did sothing happen to Father?"
"No, no, not your father," her mother said quickly, stepping back just enough to look into lody’s face. "It’s your sister. l... I got a phone call. lanie... she’s been found."
lody froze.
"You have no idea," her mother continued, voice breaking again. "You were right. All this ti, you were right. Whoever took her-when they realized she wasn’t you, they just let her go. They didn’t harm her. She’s in a hospital now. Can you believe it? She’s safe. She’s alive. My lanie is finally coming back to us."
The words hit lody like a punch. She stared at her mother, unable to speak, her thoughts suddenly spiraling. This wasn’t possible.
No. This couldn’t be happening. Cadence would never let lanie go. Not willingly. Not unless sothing had gone terribly wrong. It didn’t matter if lanie had tried to prove who she was. It didn’t matter if she had scread or cried or begged. Once Cadence decided soone was his... he wouldn’t let go. He wouldn’t just send her away. Especially when he firmly believed that she was lody.
It didn’t matter how logical it sounded- Cadence didn’t operate on logic.
Her mother took her silence for sothing else. "You’re shocked. I knew it, you would be shocked," she said, holding lody’s hands now. "l, I know this has been hard on you. I know you were only trying to protect yourself. I’ll talk to lanie when she returns, okay? I’ll ask her to forgive you. I’ll tell her how scared you were... how you thought there was no other way to protect yourself and you didn’t think that other person would harm her."
lody barely heard her. Her ears were ringing. Her body felt like it had turned to stone. No.. She couldn’t let lanie return. She’d barely held Adam’s hand until now...
"She’ll be here in a couple of days," her mother continued, her tone softening and becoming more hopeful. "Dr. Jung said she’s still recovering. She’s been in and out of consciousness these past few days, which is why he didn’t know who she was earlier. He says she’s in a confused ntal state too, so we should be gentle with her when she cos ho."
"Dr. Jung?" lody’s voice ca out low and sharp, snapping her out of her daze.
Her mother nodded. "Hmm? Yes, the doctor who’s bringing her back. He’s the one who contacted ."
lody clenched her jaw. Dr. Jung. Of course. How could she have forgotten about him?
Her stomach twisted. The sa doctor she had used months ago when she had needed an escape plan. The sa man who had helped her slip through the cracks.And now he was bringing lanie back?
lody bit the inside of her cheek. This wasn’t good. Not at all. lanie couldn’t return. That possibility couldn’t be allowed to take root. If she ca back everything would unravel. Everything she had planned would fall apart. There had to be so way to stop this. There had to be a way to keep lanie away.
She glanced at her mother, trying to speak, to form the right words, to get her mother to help her. She could tell her mother about the contract. Maybe they could convince lanie to stay away from Adam.. But that was a far fetched possibility...
"I know," her mother said softly, her eyes filled with sothing between pity and regret. "I know you’re scared. You’re worried your ti with Adam is coming to an end. So soon, too soon."
lody’s lips parted, but no words ca. Her throat felt tight.
Her mother continued, "lody... my daughter... I know what it feels like to love soone who doesn’t love you back. I know the ache of pretending things are okay when deep down, you know you’re just borrowing ti. So I’m going to tell you again, sothing I’ve told myself in the past- cherish these last few days. Make peace with the ti you’ve been able to steal. Don’t waste it with guilt or fear."
Her mother’s thumb brushed a tear lody hadn’t realized had escaped.
"Once lanie is back," she added gently, "once all of this is settled, I’ll send you away for a little while. Sowhere quiet. Sowhere safe. Sowhere you can begin to heal your broken heart."
lody blinked. Heal? Was that what they thought she needed? To be packed away like so delicate thing—so cracked porcelain girl who couldn’t handle reality? lanie hadn’t even returned yet, and already her mother was making plans to push her aside. Just like that? No.
Her hands curled into fists at her sides. She would not be discarded again...
Her mother leaned forward and pressed a kiss to her forehead, mistaking her silence for sadness. "Shh... don’t be upset. This was always going to happen. It was inevitable. Short of lanie dying... you knew, didn’t you? You always knew your ti here had an expiration date."
lody stilled at the words. Short of lanie dying. She said it so casually. As if it was just an expression. An impossible what-if. But it wasn’t impossible.
lody’s mind had already started shifting, turning, calculating. Dr. Jung had said lanie was weak. Disoriented. In and out of consciousness. She hadn’t even regained her full mory. She hadn’t been brought back yet.
Which ant... there was still ti. Enough to make sure lanie never ca back.
If lanie died now, it wouldn’t look suspicious. Her body had been through stress, trauma-there would be excuses. There would be grief, but not questions. People would weep, mourn, and move on thinking lody was dead.
She exhaled slowly, her face unreadable as she pulled away from her mother’s hands and gave her a tremulous smile.
"Okay, Mama," she whispered. "I’ll try to make the most of the ti I have."
But her thoughts were already elsewhere as she started to return to the hallway. Unaware of the fact that behind her, Marianne Thomas was also smiling triumphantly, having accomplished her own mission.
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