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She stuck the gold key in the lock, but it didn’t fit. The silver one did, though, and Molly’s heart rate sped up as she lifted the lid of the safe. Inside were some papers, a few notebooks, and a bundle of envelopes. No gun. Her heart rate slowed, and she looked closer.
Right on top was Ella’s birth certificate. Ella Jane Wander, born ten years ago on October 23 in Akron, Ohio. Mother: Kristie Jane Castro. Father: Scott Nicholas Wander. Molly’s eyes lingered over Ella’s mother’s name. Kristie Castro, Scott’s first love, gone too soon.
She also found Scott’s birth certificate and read his parents’ names. Gary and Meredith. She remembered asking about his family when they’d first started dating, the cloud that had come over his expression. I don’t really have any family, he’d said. My parents died years ago.
Beneath his and Ella’s was another birth certificate. In fact, it was identical to Ella’s, and Molly blinked, confused—why would Ella have two birth certificates? Her confusion deepened as she looked closer. This one wasn’t for Ella. It was for a Gabriela Jane Casillas.
Late afternoon sun slanted through the shutters across the room, casting bars of light on the document as she lifted it. Gabriela had also been born ten years ago, like Ella, but on October 20 instead October 23. Mother: Kristina Jane Casillas. No father listed.
Molly held the two documents in her hand. Same watermark, same ink color. Different names. Slightly different dates. It didn’t make sense.
“Mommy?”
Molly turned to see Chloe standing in the doorway, her blond curls a halo around her face. “Hi, sweetie! Are you done playing?”
“Uh-huh. Can I get on my awesome party clothes now?”
Molly glanced at her watch—an hour until the party started. No time to look at the other contents of the safe, but she sifted through them quickly, just to see: a bundle of envelopes, held together by a rubber band; a leather-bound book that looked like some sort of ledger, full of columns of dates and dollar amounts; six notebooks full of Scott’s scrawling handwriting. Journals, maybe.
And in a small plastic bag, a gold chain necklace holding a delicate cross. It glinted as she lifted it to the light, shifting inside the plastic. There was a rose in the center of the cross, and the clasp on the chain was broken. The design seemed familiar, but she couldn’t place it.
“Whatcha doin’?” Chloe said, weaseling her head under Molly’s armpit.
“Just organizing, honey, I’m almost done.”
Chloe butted her head against Molly’s boob, making Molly wince. “Stop ordanizing. You shouldn’t ordanize when you have a party to get ready for.”
“You’re right,” Molly said. She stuffed the papers back into the safe, closed the lid, and secured it with the key. Then she placed it on the shelf in the closet. “Let’s get ready for your birthday party, sweetness, okay?”
After dropping the key back into Scott’s cigar box, Molly followed Chloe to her bedroom. She would talk to Scott when he returned. He would have an explanation for all of it.
thirteen
I don’t know if heaven is real, but if it is, I hope it’s a gigantic never-ending party. All of us hanging out together for eternity, with good food, music, and drinks. Doesn’t that sound wonderful?
@InvincibleMollySullivan
Liv sat in her car outside Molly’s tidy home with the bright yellow door. Anxiety fluttered in her chest like a horde of dark moths—and not just because she could imagine the noise and chaos inside. What if Oliver was right, and she had it all wrong?
But if there was the slightest chance Gabriela could be in that house, she had to try.
That thought propelled Liv out of her car. But even after knocking twice and ringing the doorbell, no one answered. With a deep breath, she turned the doorknob. It wasn’t locked.
When she walked inside, she barely had time to register the interior, which was familiar from Molly’s posts—cozy living room, multicolored throw pillows on the sofa and armchairs, balloons and streamers on the ceiling—before two giant dogs pounded across the hardwood floor toward her, tails wagging, one barking joyfully. Liv froze.
“Liv! I’m glad you’re here!” Molly hurried over, her lopsided dimple in full force. She gave a command to the German Shepherd, who sat instantly, and grabbed the collar of the yellow dog before it jumped on Liv. “This is Bitsy. She’s a sweetheart, just overexcited. Come in, come in!”
Molly looked genuinely glad to see her—but she probably made everyone feel that way. Her blond hair was pulled back in a sideways braid, wavy tendrils framing her face. Liv had seen Molly do a video tutorial about this hairstyle a few days ago. She wore an oversized T-shirt, knotted on one side, featuring a fluorescent multicolored unicorn rearing on its hind legs, glitter spewing from its horn. Ridiculously over-the-top, like everything she did, and probably setting off a new trend at this very moment.
“Sorry I’m late,” Liv said.
Molly waved her apology away. “No, this is perfect. We’re finishing a craft in the backyard, then we’ll open presents and do cupcakes and ice cream while the moms chat. I told you about the unicorn margaritas, right?”
Liv tried to shake the awkwardness from her limbs as she followed Molly out to the backyard, where throngs of little girls were gathered on the lawn. A group of moms sat in lawn chairs on the patio, and Molly introduced her. They blurred together in Liv’s mind, a mass of Ashleys and Melissas and Stephanies, all holding fluorescent pink drinks in plastic margarita glasses, the rims crusted with colored sprinkles.
“That’s a fun... um, craft,” one of the Ashleys said, nodding at the lawn.
Liv followed her gaze to where the girls were finger-painting giant canvases hung from the fence, swirling the colorful paint with their hands, giggling as they smeared as much paint on each other as the canvases. She couldn’t make out any of the faces well enough to recognize Gabriela, and she exhaled, impatient.
