Page 40 of Sunset on the Solstice

“Honey, this has to stop,” Rebecca said.

Lily winced. “We want you to come back to Nantucket with us. For a visit.”

Shelby sniffed. “That’s out of the question, obviously. We live here. Jared’s at work.”

“We know Jared’s at work,” Rebecca said. “That’s why we’re here. We want to take you while he’s gone, because we know he wouldn’t let you come otherwise.”

Shelby lowered her gaze. “He isn’t like that,” she said in a meek voice.

“Shelby, he is,” Lily said, reaching for her sister’s hand. Shelby flinched but let it happen. “He’s always been manipulative. He’s always been controlling. I imagine it’s only gotten worse since you moved out here. And I hate that we haven’t come and pulled you out of here earlier, but we’re here now. We can’t sit by and watch it happen. Think of your babies. Look…” Lily turned to look at Chad and Billy, splashing one another in the stream while Penelope and Evie cackled. “They need to have family around. And look.” Lily pulled out her phone and showed Shelby photographs of her daughters, Arianne and Natalia. Shelby’s face went pale. She clutched the phone, gazing at her nieces, as though she’d never imagined anything so beautiful.

“Oh, Lily,” Shelby said gently. “They’re gorgeous.”

“And they don’t know their Aunt Shelby,” Lily stammered, taking her phone back. “They’ve heard of you, and they know that you’re missing, and they know that makes me sad. But they can’t understand what you mean to me. They can’t understand how wonderful you are. And I think that sucks, Shelby. That just simply sucks.” Lily stomped her foot, looking more like a child than the twenty-eight-year-old she was.

But Rebecca knew that when it came to love like this, you couldn’t control how your body showed it. Rebecca felt as though she might fall to her knees at any moment and beg.

Shelby closed her eyes but remained quiet. It was Rebecca’s turn to say something, and Rebecca pleaded with her, telling her about her aging grandparents, about Nantucket Island and its gorgeous beaches, about how she’d been missed at every family party for nearly six years. She told her how much she wanted to know and love her babies. And she told her—her voice shaking—that she didn’t have to leave Jared for good. “We just want you to come back to Nantucket and think for a little while. We want you to ask yourself, is your marriage really healthy? Is this how you want your life to be?”

Shelby chewed her lower lip. Something like anger flickered behind her eyes, but she didn’t say anything.

The sun had shifted. Rebecca had the sense that they’d lost too much time, and Jared would be home any minute. Panic shot through her. She looked at Lily, ready to retreat and try again tomorrow. But Lily looked resolute. She wasn’t going to leave here without her sister.

Finally, Shelby took a staggered breath. “He won’t let me go. You’re right about that.”

At this admission, Shelby nearly collapsed. Rebecca and Lily stepped forward to steady her.

“When was the last time you ate something?” Lily demanded.

Shelby shook her head, suddenly weak. Together, they walked her back to the picnic basket, where they pulled out cookies and sandwiches and fruit and demanded that she eat. Shelby sat on the blanket and nibbled at a sandwich until her eyes cleared. Penelope came over and touched her mother’s shoulder, then kissed her ear. Rebecca’s heart nearly exploded.

When Shelby finished her sandwich and started in on a cookie, she raised her chin to look at Rebecca. “All right,” she breathed. “But it’s now or never.”

20

They had to act quickly. Their first mode of operation was to get Shelby and the kids to Vivian’s place, where they would get into Vivian’s car and head out to the vacation place in the town over. Rebecca wanted to get them as far away from where Jared could find them as soon as possible. Chad decided to go with them to help out with the kids, as he’d already bonded with them, proving himself a perfect future dad.

This left Rebecca and Lily to go into the main house, fetch things like Shelby’s purse, all her and the kids’ forms of identification, a few clothes, and some toys for the kids. Shelby gave them the key, but she said she always left the back door unlocked.

Rebecca and Lily hurried to the main house, mentally and physically preparing for an altercation with Jared. Shelby had told them that he wouldn’t be back from work for a long time, but they knew they couldn’t trust him. Rebecca felt that he could sense they were there, that something would trigger him and pull him back home before they were out. He was almost supernatural to her in that way.

Entering Shelby’s home was bizarrely heartbreaking. It was clear from the get-go that Jared had whittled Shelby’s sense of self down so much that there was barely any sign of her in the house. All of the decorations spoke of Jared. All the photographs on the walls were of Jared and the kids, with no Shelby. Rebecca’s eyes filled with tears, and Lily was in disbelief.

“We don’t have time to waste,” Rebecca reminded them both.

It wasn’t practical to take a suitcase, so they shoved everything they needed into the backpacks Shelby had told them about, which she kept in the upstairs hallway closet. They added IDs, clothes, some toys, and a few personal belongings of Shelby’s that Lily recognized from Shelby’s previous life—a photo album from high school, and a few diaries and journals. One of them, Rebecca saw, had been taped back together, as though someone had destroyed it. She didn’t have to work hard to imagine how that had happened.

They also made sure to grab three car seats for the kids, as they had the drive to the airport to consider. Vivian had promised to drive them slowly back to the rental house, but it was risky—and against the law. They couldn’t afford to make any mistakes.

All told, Rebecca and Lily were in that house for no longer than twenty minutes. It felt like so much longer. Throughout, Rebecca felt the curse of what her daughter had endured. “She can’t come back here,” she said to Lily as they scrambled through the back door, back toward the stream and toward Vivian’s house. “I won’t let her.”

Lily looked stricken. Together, they hurried back through the stream, splashing frantically. Once there, they put back on their shoes, then walked through the forest, back toward the SUV. All the while, Rebecca thought Jared would appear through the trees, chasing them. She wasn’t sure what he was capable of. Out here in the Wild West, maybe he even had a gun.

When Lily and Rebecca were in the SUV, Rebecca tried to breathe but found it difficult. She was on the verge of a panic attack. She knew. She and Lily swapped seats, with Lily in the driver’s seat and Rebecca in the passenger seat.

“It’s going to be okay, Mom,” Lily told her. “We’ve got her. She’s going to be all right.”

Back at the rental house, they found a scene that seemed almost normal. The kids were playing on the carpet, laughing along with Uncle Chad, and Shelby was upstairs in one of the bedrooms, resting.