Wild Swans - Jessica Spotswood Page 0,80
mean, gone?” Iz asks.
We file into the kitchen and Granddad hands her the note. She reads it and slumps into a chair.
“Where did she go? When is she coming back?” Iz asks.
Granddad and I exchange looks. “We don’t know.”
“What if she doesn’t come back? What if she leaves us here forever, like she did with you?” Iz turns to me, her voice rising. “What if Dad doesn’t want me either? What will happen to me? Where will I live?”
Granddad sits down next to her. Puts a hand on her shoulder. His hands are big and wrinkled, his knuckles swollen from arthritis. “You will always have a home here, Isobel. We’re your family.”
“I want to talk to her. I want to know where she is. When she’s coming back.” Isobel dials her mother’s number and puts the phone to her ear. Her leg jiggles frantically. “It goes right to voice mail. She probably sees that it’s me. She probably sees that it’s me and she isn’t answering her fucking phone! What kind of mama—?” Her voice breaks.
“We’re here, Iz. You aren’t alone,” I promise her.
“I’m going to call Rick,” Granddad says. “Can you give me his number, Isobel? You can talk to him after I’ve had a chance to explain what’s happened.”
“Here, use my phone.” Iz hands it back to him. “He’s under ‘Dad.’”
Gracie and Iz are going away. That’s all I can think. If Rick is half the man his daughters think he is, he’ll cancel everything and be here in a few hours to take them home.
I only had ten days with them.
It’s not fair. We’re sisters. We should get to grow up together.
I fight against another surge of anger at Erica. I was supposed to have this summer with them, at least.
“Ivy, after you call in sick at the library, will you call down to the Sutton and tell Saundra that Isobel won’t be able to make it?” Granddad asks.
“Tell her I’m not coming back,” Iz says.
“Let’s wait and see what your father has to say. He might not be able to come get you right away.”
Isobel glares. “Even if I’m stuck here, I’m not going back to that stupid theater camp.”
“Isobel, honey, let’s wait until we have more information. I already paid for the whole month,” Granddad says.
Iz gives him a look that is pure Erica. “Then that’s your own fault for wasting your money. I told you I didn’t want to go. You didn’t listen to me. Nobody ever listens to me except Dad.”
Granddad frowns. “I know you’re upset with your mother right now, and I understand that, but you need to speak to me with respect.”
“There’s room to be upset with both of you.” Iz straightens the leg of her purple-plaid pajama pants, and I fall a little more in love with my new sister. Sure, she can be a brat, but she’s brave enough to say what she thinks, to tell the truth, and in this family, that’s worth a hell of a lot.
“She’s right,” I say, and they both turn to stare at me. “Well, she is. She told you no and you didn’t listen. This is going to be hard enough, and if you don’t let us handle it the way we need to—within reason, I mean—it’s going to be harder. Iz shouldn’t have to go to theater camp. And I’m not going to lie to people about what happened. You can play it off like Erica was always planning a short visit, but I’m not going to spin some pretty lie. I don’t think it’s okay for you to ask me to, any more than it was okay for Erica to ask me to lie about being their sister.”
I think Granddad will argue with me, but he doesn’t. “You’re right,” he says. “I’m sorry. You tell people whatever you want.”
He takes Isobel’s phone and goes to his study to call Rick. I sit at the table with Iz while she stares at Erica’s note, trying to make sense of it.
“You bitched her out yesterday, didn’t you?” Isobel asks. She looks so young now, without her makeup, with her tousled-every-which-way hair and pajamas.
“I told her you and Gracie deserve a better mother.” I say the words slowly, carefully. Isobel is searching for someone to blame, and it would be easy for her to pin Erica’s leaving on me.
Iz smiles sadly. “I always thought a bad mother was better than none at all.”
“I don’t know.” I have given this a lot of thought