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“I suppose that’ll be fine.” Sandra sighed heavily, clearly put out by the request.
“Thanks, Mom.” Miranda slid Rebel into her mother’s lap and left the house. She was going to miss dinner, but it was a small price to pay to help take care of someone’s loved one.
It was close to midnight when Miranda finally got back to her parents. She was dead on her feet. Her mother had been right. One body had turned into three, and she’d started the process with them to ease up the workload on her morning crew. They had a busy week with services and an influx of bodies.
The lights were still on when she knocked on the door. She had hoped, somewhere on the drive back, that her parents would have put Rebel to bed and she could get another six hours of blessed sleep. But the screams coming from the other side of the door told her otherwise.
“You could have called.”
“I did call, Mom.” Miranda pushed her way into the house, following the sounds of Rebel’s cries to the living room.
The place was a disaster. Clothes were strewn everywhere. Books, magazines, the few toys that had been in the diaper bag.
“What happened?”
“We had a night.” Sandra brushed her hand through her hair.
“Where’s Dad?”
“Asleep. Where else?” She put her hands on her hips.
Miranda scooped Rebel up and bounced her lightly on her hip, trying to calm her down, but she knew from experience in the last two weeks that nothing was going to calm Rebel down this late at night. She was overtired, exhausted, and probably overstimulated.
“I’ll take it from here.” She wanted to cry. She couldn’t leave Rebel with anyone, could she? It was hard enough at daycare, but somehow Rebel managed to sneak around that building too. She got in trouble routinely because she couldn’t behave and listen.
Miranda started to pick up the living room with Rebel in her arms. She could barely look her mother in the eye. This had been a disaster. She had to figure out something better, but it wasn’t like she could bring Rebel with her to pick up dead bodies. How did single parents do it? She wasn’t a parent. She was single, but she wasn’t a parent. Tori would probably have the entire situation under control.
When Miranda looked up, her mother was gone. No doubt off to bed like when Tierney was a kid. Plopping down onto the couch, Miranda held Rebel against her and rubbed a hand up and down her back. Why had they been decent parents with her and awful with Tierney? They weren’t the greatest with her, but they’d been strict with expectations. Then sixteen years later Tierney had come along and it was like they had forgotten everything. And the same with Rebel.
She buried her face in Rebel’s knotted hair. They really were going to have to work those out soon. Miranda pulled over the diaper bag, finding it empty and all the diapers and wipes used. Because of course her parents wouldn’t know how to change a diaper in an efficient way. Frustrated, she put Rebel down and let her scream her loudest wail. She cleaned up as swiftly as possible, putting everything back.
It took a total of two minutes before she grabbed Rebel and left. Getting Rebel into the car seat was a battle in and of itself, but she won. She pulled out of the driveway and just drove. She wasn’t ready to go home—not yet. And the car ride calmed Rebel into a quiet coo.
She couldn’t leave Rebel with them again. That much was clear. They couldn’t handle it. Well, they could. They’d done it with her growing up. But they were choosing not to, which was worse. What was she going to do? Every text, call, email that she’d sent Tierney had been ignored. She hadn’t heard anything since her new boyfriend had picked her up at the airport. For all Miranda knew, Tierney was dead in a ditch in Mexico and no one would ever find her.
She could never do that to her family. Her sensibilities wouldn’t allow it, but beyond that, she’d seen it happen time and time again. The druggie who was found stabbed in the street trying to get her next hit. The prostitute who was raped before being strangled. The woman who fell in love with the wrong guy.
“Please, Tierney, don’t be her.”
Tears ran down Miranda’s face when she pulled up to her house. She wiped the tears from her cheeks. She would find Tierney in the morning, or at least start working on that process. She wouldn’t let her sister become another victim, and she wouldn’t let Rebel be one either. She didn’t want the family, the kids, but she would do it for her niece. Because who else would if not her?
five
“Hey Aili.” Tori stopped in Aili’s office doorway, hands on the frame either side of her, leaning a little forward on her toes.
“Hey, what’s up?” Aili turned from her computer and smiled up at Tori.
“I have two huge bags of clothes that Harley has already grown out of and wondered if you knew who might appreciate some hand-me-downs? I can bring them to Goodwill, but I’d rather give them to someone who can use them.”
“What are you feeding that girl?” Aili smirked playfully.
“Oh blood of virgins and goat sacrifices. You know the usual.” Tori winked.
Aili let out a bark of laughter. “Excellent. So what were you asking?”
“If you know any of the parents of kids smaller than Harley who might appreciate some hand-me-downs?”
“Well.” The smile on Aili’s face dimmed a little. “You aren’t going to like this suggestion, but I do think Miranda would benefit from having some extra clothes for Rebel. She doesn’t have many.”
