“Patience,” I told her, even though I didn’t have any of my own.
“Screw patience, Liam, I want vengeance.” She turned to me.
I thought for a moment.
“Then vengeance you will have.” Fedel’s eyes met mine in the rearview mirror. “Starting with Liling’s brother, Ruò Jiàn.”
She paused, glancing at me. “You have him?”
“In a box made in China, ironically.”
MELODY
She tried to give me flowers? She nearly killed me and she tried to give me flowers? Not any flowers, but the flower most commonly associated with funeral services? It was as if she was spitting in my face. It took everything in me not to strangle her. In that one moment, I thought of at least two dozen ways to kill her while staring at her beady black eyes.
Ahh. I winched at the pain in my chest. My stitches had only been taken out the day before and I still felt the ache. Trying to hide it from my face, I leaned back in the chair and closed my eyes.
“Mel…Mel?”
When I opened my eyes, the car had stopped right outside the house. He cupped the side of my face as I blinked twice, then three times before sitting up.
“That was fast.”
“We were in traffic for forty minutes,” he replied. “Come on, you’re tired.”
“I’m fine—”
“You were in pain earlier, don’t argue.”
“Ruò Jiàn—”
“You’re arguing?” His eyebrow rose. “Trust me, you won’t miss anything. Now come.”
Effortlessly he lifted me out of the car. I didn’t know if it was the painkillers or just my own exhaustion that made me give in, but I allowed him to carry me back into the house. Every time I closed my eyes I felt like I skipped through time; one moment we were at the door, the next he was setting me on the bed. Sitting up by myself, I took off the stupid hat he’d made me wear and threw it to the side as he took off my heels.
“Mommy!” I heard their little feet before I actually saw them.
“Dona!” I laughed when she bounced onto the bed.
“You guys, be careful!” Liam panicked, his eyes shooting not only to Dona, but to all of them: Wyatt, Ethan, Helen, Sedric, and Nari all surrounded me, cl
imbing onto the bed, making themselves completely comfortable.
“Hi, Aunty. You not sick now?” Sedric asked, tilting his head to the side with a lollipop in his mouth.
“No, I’m not sick now.” I placed my hand on his head.
“Dona and I made you this.” Helen slid a beaded bracelet onto my hand before I even got a chance to move. “It’s good luck.”
“Thank you. I’ll always wear it.” It was a mixture of pink, blue, and green beads with my name spelled out in the middle…well, it actually said Melodi, but it was close enough.
“Welcome back,” Nari said softly. She didn’t climb on the bed, instead standing off to the side next to Ethan, both of them being the more mature ones.
“Come on little ones, Aunty Melody needs to rest.” Evelyn came in, walked over to me, and gave me a hug, kissing the side of my head. I was so shocked that I just stared at her before looking to Liam, but he just took a picture with his cellphone before winking at me.
“Nana, I want to stay,” Wyatt said, sliding in under the covers to the left of me and curling up into a ball.
“Me too!” Dona raised her hand.