Page 23 of Falling

“We looked everywhere for you and he was already at the altar before we could let him know you were gone,” my mom adds.

Normally, I’d feel terrible about any bride or groom being left at the altar. “I heard him talking about me…making fun of me.” I grit my teeth so hard it hurts. “He was planning to only be married to me for a year,” I say. “And unless my name was on the paperwork somewhere, he wasn’t planning on that property ever being mine.”

“What?” my mom says. “No, that can’t be right. I’m sure you misunderstood. You’re so sensitive, love. I’m sure he didn’t mean anything bad. Hecried.”

“I didn’t misunderstand him. He said I wasmeh, but that he wasn’t ready to give up having me in…uh, you don’t want to hear those details. And then he said the real prize at the end of the rainbow is the land. He was a much better actor than I knew. It wasall about the land. Did you even ask him what he’s doing with our emus?”

“We thought you’d be in charge of them,” Dad says quietly, his tone completely different than before. “You already were most of the time anyway. You know we’ve never been good at all this. Thomas—Pierre—and your grandparents were always so much better…youare so much better at it. We thought you’d be happy about this arrangement. I-I had no idea Junior was—” His voice breaks. “I’m so sorry, honey. I don’t know what to say.”

“Whatshouldwe do about the emus?” Mom asks.

I take a deep, cleansing breath, hoping that it will help, but the need to yell at my parents is still strong, so I just keep breathing.

“Ruby?” Mom says. “Do you think you can work something out with Junior about them?” She sniffles, and so help me, if she starts to cry, I really will lose it on her.

I’d like to tell the two of them to figure it out themselves since they did all this without discussing it with me, but that would most likely mean that they just wouldn’t do anything about it. And the thing about my parents is, despite their faults, they mean well. They thought they were doingsomething nice for me. The problem is, they don’t think things all the way through.

“I don’t know, Mom. I’m not going back to him, if that’s what you’re suggesting. But Junior has never been a fan of the emus, and I can’t imagine him keeping them for long. I suggest you try to find places for them as soon as you can.”

“But we’re leaving for our trip soon—” she starts.

“We’ll see if we can,” Dad cuts in. He chuckles nervously. “I don’t suppose there’d be a place for them in Landmark Mountain?”

“Gee, Dad. Let me see if I can steal back the twenty-four emus we no longer own, transport them across the state lines, and find fifty acres to let them take over…I’ll get right on that.”

“Ruby Sunshine, it’s not like you to sound so…harsh,” Mom says.

“Twenty-five,” Dad says.

“What?” Mom and I both say in unison.

“Twenty-fiveemus, not twenty-four.”

I dig deep into my inner well searching for calm. If there wasn’t snow on the ground, I’d go into a yoga pose right now, just to find some relief from this conversation.

“I took Dolly,” I say.

She lifts her head when I say her name and I smile at her through my blurry eyes. My parents are talking about how problematic it is that I took Dolly when technically we don’t own her anymore, the fact that they didn’t realize I had her speaking volumes, and I tune them out as I take in the majestic mountains surrounding Callum’s place. I happened to end up in a slice of heaven, and bringing any of my mess into this oasis feels wrong.

“I’ve gotta go,” I say abruptly.

“What? We just—” Mom stutters.

“Love you both.” I hang up before either of them can say anything else.

I don’t have the strength to be the parent in our relationship today.

A few minutes later, I walk back toward the barn. Standing still that long made me chilly. Callum isn’t where I last saw him, and I put Dolly in her stall and go into the house.

Laughter rings out and I pause in the doorway, wishing I could back out before I’m caught.

“Hello,” an older woman’s voice calls out.

I turn in her direction and recognize her and the others from Callum’s pictures. His grandma, sister, and sister-in-law.

“I’m Grinny, and this is my granddaughter, Scarlett,” Grinny says warmly. “And my beautiful granddaughter in love, Sofie.”

Scarlett smiles and waves from across the room. “Hi. Welcome!”

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