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.So beautiful.She looked like Angela’s mini-me.Guilt trickled through me like cold rain.I’d almost gotten in the way of Maxim and Exara.I’d almost left her homeless.No way could such a fragile-looking kid survive in those mold-choked lower levels with the crazies roaming around.I shook her hand.“Nice to meet you, Rainy.You have pretty eyes.”She giggled as she balanced on one foot, the other scraping the carpet with a yellow shoe.Her nebulizer hummed behind her in a low drone.I wanted to hug her so bad, but I knew little kids were freaked out by strangers, so I let go of her hand and kept my arms by my sides.“Are you having fun?”Maxim’s sister stared at me with big, blinking eyes.“Rainy doesn’t like to talk.” Pell answered for her.“She has to take the breathing piece out of her mouth.“Oh, I see.” I winked at her as I stood up.“Thanks for coming to the party.”Pell turned on Pixie Swap on the wallscreen and Rainy jumped up and down.“Next one who wins gets the first piece of cake.” Pell shouted as the pixies twirled on their lily pads.The two girls began another round.“I hope you don’t mind we combined your birthdays together.” Len approached me from the other side of the couch, offering me a party hat.I took the hat, feeling the cheap plastic bend under my fingers.“’Course not.” In fact, I wished they hadn’t celebrated mine at all.Rainy and Pell reminded me of Timmy and how I had missed so many of his birthdays.My heart felt like a paper in a shredder.Except, they didn’t have paper any more.Valex came over with a present the size of my miniscreen, wrapped in purple nylon and tied with a shimmery bow.“We got you something.”I’d never had a chance to ask Pell what it was.“You didn’t have to.” At three hundred and twenty, I was too old for birthday parties.Still, I strapped the hat on and played along.“We wanted to.” Len put her arm around Valex as he held out the present.I had to take it.Anything else would be rude.“Thank you.” “Open it.” Valex encouraged me with a smile.I ran my hands over the smooth wrapping, feeling a hard binding underneath.At least it wasn’t another ugly tunic.Carefully, I untied the bow.The wrapping slipped off onto the floor, revealing a thick, hardcover leather book with golden binding, like something you’d find in a medieval castle.It was the first book I’d held in my hands since being frozen.All my homework and reading was done on my miniscreen.The realness of the cover and the weight of it in my arms felt so good.“I didn’t think they had books anymore.”“Open the cover.” Len nudged me with a gentle hand.The book opened to a title page that read Streetwater Family Tree.I flipped through pages of pictures and names dating back to the eighteen-hundreds.Gertrude Streetwater had worked in the mills on the Merrimack River and her son, Milford, had started a shoe-repair business.There was a chapter on my family, and my finger brushed over a picture of my mom as mayor, cutting the ribbon in front of a new building with Dad standing by her side.Other pictures showed my dad at his massive mahogany desk, Timmy accepting his high-school diploma, and a newly established law firm with the title Streetwater and Son.Through the pictures I met Timmy’s wife and his two children, a boy with reddish-blond hair and a girl with straight straw-blonde hair like mine.My breath caught in my throat as I read the inscription underneath her baby picture.Timmy had named her Jennifer May after me.The book filled a small part of the giant hole of oblivion inside me, making me feel partially whole again.“This is wonderful.” My voice cracked, and I forced myself not to cry.It would upset Pell, and I didn’t want to ruin her birthday.“It was Len’s idea.” Valex put his arm around his wife and they looked into each other’s eyes, proud of their choice.Len gave me a sympathetic smile.“We knew we couldn’t buy you what you really wanted, so we opted for the closest thing to it.”Valex reached out and flipped a chunk of pages.“It’s an old family heirloom.Turn to page four hundred sixty-seven.We’ve made our own additions.”My fingers shook slightly as I found the page.Valex and Len stood on the roof of a building underneath an arbor, the wind trailing Len’s veil behind her white dress.“This is your wedding photo?”Len nodded.“We wanted you to see how connected to us you are, and that we’re not strangers but an offshoot of your immediate family.”“We’re more than that.” Valex interrupted.“We are your immediate family now.” A month ago, he would have sounded pushy, but after spending time with them, I kinda liked the idea.Standing in front of Valex and Len, holding that family tree album, I realized what they really wanted was my love and happiness.“Thank you.” I placed the album on the couch and rushed toward them.Wrapping my arms around both of them, I squeezed hard.It was the first time I felt like we were a real family.Valex pulled away with watery eyes.“Ready to watch the entire twentieth year of National Geographic?”I pulled back, “You didn’t!”Len laughed, wiping her eyes.“We did.It took hours of searching the archives.”Releasing them, I glanced at a dancing pixie on the screen.“Maybe after their next round.I wouldn’t want to interrupt.”“Of course.” Len moved toward the kitchen.“I’ll get the knife and plates for cake.”Valex moved to help her, but I grabbed his arm.“Hey.”“Yeah?” He stood with his usual casual ease, like the world was everything it should be.Before, his sunny ambivalence had annoyed me, but now I liked how he worked with what he had, taking my dad’s law firm into the next century.His carefree nature came from Timmy.How could I be angry with him for who he was? “I know I haven’t been the perfect daughter.”Valex waved my concerns away.“Come on Jenny, that’s not true.You’ve been a great sister to Pell.Look at her; she loves you.”“That was easy.She’s such a bright little girl.” I smiled and waved at her from across the room.But I didn’t want to talk about Pell.I hardened my resolve.It wasn’t easy for me to bring up heavy topics, but I might not have another chance like this.“I mean to you and Len.I was so set on not wanting you to replace my parents.”He placed his hand on my shoulder.“That’s only natural.We know we can never replace what you had.Len and I just want the best for you.We’re here if you need us.But you’re a strong young lady, and it seems you don’t need us much at all.You’re doing just fine on your own.”Was I? I felt like I’d stumbled my way through this strange future.His confidence in me gave me hope.Len called to him from the kitchen, and Valex squeezed my shoulder.“I have full faith that you will find your way in this world.” He walked to the kitchen, and I stood in place in awe of his conviction.Taking a seat on the couch, I opened the album and flipped back to the pages dedicated to my mom and dad.Their wedding picture, one I remembered hanging over the fireplace, was on the first page.They looked so young and brave in that frozen moment, ready to conquer the world.Mom leaned on Dad’s arm like he was her pillar.Dad wore a white tuxedo, a pink rose in his breast pocket.I often wondered who took the picture and what they were thinking at the time.My chest tightened.Underneath their names was written John and Lisa Streetwater, born nineteen-sixty and nineteen-sixty-three.Died two-thousand-seventeen.My stomach clutched as I fought for breath.Sweat broke out over my head and I felt feverish all at once.They died in the same year.Five years after I was frozen.CHAPTER TWENTY-SIXVisitorWaves of sickening unease spread through my gut as Valex cut the cake [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]