Oh, they liked her. Loved her, even.
But Dahlia saw her and always remembered baby Ruby. Small, vulnerable and left to die on the coldest night of the year.
No one had ever wanted to know how she’d come to be there, not to the extent Dahlia had, even as a child.
But why, Mom? Why would someone leave her? Doesn’t it mean her mom didn’t want her?
She could still remember her mom’s expression getting fierce.
No, Dahlia. She was sent to me. I’m her mom. And I want her very much.
But Dahlia had burned for the whole story. Like she always did.
And everyone around her seemed to just want a fairy tale while she was desperate toknow.
But then, that was the McKee family way. Dahlia’s grandmother had died of cancer when Dahlia was ten, and no one had even told the girls she was sick.
No point dwelling, Andie had said.You can deal with crisis when it hits, but why spend time worrying while it’s waving in the distance?
Dahlia had disagreed. Then and now.
And wanted to know. What would always amaze her was that Ruby didn’t seem to want to know the truth of her origins for herself, that Ruby had adopted that McKee mindset so very deeply.
She seemed as committed to her myth as everyone else.
3
WEDDINGS—Lydia G. McKee and MacKenzie J. Spencer were married at the First Presbyterian Church of Pear Blossom on Saturday, 15 August, 2012. The Reverend Lawrence Michaels acted as officiant. The Bride is the daughter of Jedidiah and Andrea McKee, of Pear Blossom, OR. The Groom is the son of John and Martha Spencer, also of Pear Blossom. The bride’s officiants were her three sisters, Marianne Martin and Dahlia and Ruby McKee, all of Pear Blossom, the groom had one attendant, a best man, Chase Andrews.
LYDIA
As Lydia pulled up to her parents’ farmhouse, she felt like a rusted-out old sailing vessel. Hollow and desperately tired. And on top of that, Chase Andrews was playing the part of resolute barnacle that she couldn’t seem to scrape off.
Why couldn’t he be like everyone else?
The hordes that had rushed in to offer support right after Mac had died had taken more coordination than her doing it herself would have. The people she hadn’t spoken to since high school whowanted to be there for heranddo lunch, as if she needed to add lunch to her laundry list of necessities in the wake of her husband’s death.
They’d all vanished after a month.
Not Chase.
But then he’d always been there, hadn’t he? Since they were thirteen. A boy with skinny legs and dirt on his face, who had taught her and Mac every swear word in existence with a cocky expression he still wore half the time, even though his legs were no longer skinny.
He was still often covered in dirt.
But he was a farmer, in fairness.
Well, she’d managed to get away from him, at least. Though he was still at the farm doing chores she hadn’t asked him to do. He had his own land, after all, and she was not his responsibility. But he didn’t seem to want to hear it. No matter how many times she said it to him. He’d said that Mac wanted him there.
Mac was dead. Mac couldn’t wantanything. Not anymore.
She stared ahead for a minute, gripping the steering wheel, pushing her mind into a blank, shallow space. She didn’t need to think about Mac. She didn’t need to think about Chase, or his tendency to overstep and make her feel homicidal. Ruby was back in town. The kids were thrilled that their favorite aunt was home. She was their favorite aunt because she was the most scarce, obviously. Which made her mysterious and fascinating, and... Well, who was Lydia kidding? Ruby had that effect on everyone. Whether she was around all the time or not.
Ruby was a lot. A kind of a lot Lydia wasn’t sure she was prepared for, but...
Her kids really could use the distraction. So she was glad she was back, for that reason if for no other reason right at the moment.
Her daughter let out a shriek and burst out of the car, flinging herself toward the farmhouse, where Lydia suddenly realized Ruby was standing in the doorway.