Page 33 of Finding Wonderland

“Yup.”

“Get your stuff.”

As Walker ran off to get her coat, Vera stepped into the house. She looked around the large rooms for signs of their mother. Vera knew Bellamy was home; the Jaguar in the driveway confirmed that. But her mother was nowhere to be seen.

Fine by me.

“Got it.” Walker had a backpack in one hand and a jacket in the other. She held her coat out to Vera, who helped her put it on.

As she was zipping the coat up, Bellamy seemed to appear out of nowhere.

“Hey, Mom.”

“Vera,” she greeted, although it felt far from welcoming. “Are you keeping her the whole weekend?”

She’s not a dog, Vera wanted to snap. But she refrained. Getting into an argument with Bellamy Forsyth was useless. She was always right, even when she was wrong. And Vera had also decided years ago she wouldn’t talk bad about their mother in front of Walker. Vera didn’t have that rule in place for Lena, and Vera often wondered if she tainted the middle Forsyth daughter toward their mother.

“I can.”

“Good.”

Biting her tongue, Vera smiled down at Walker as she tucked her blonde hair behind her ear.

“You ready?”

“Ready!”

There were no hugs or kisses or even goodbyes as Vera and Walker left. The door slammed behind them with a thud, but it no longer caused either of them to react. Vera’s heart hurt, but not for herself. She was old enough to know her mother wasn’t made to be a mother. But Walker didn’t understand that.

Bellamy was made to be a businesswoman. She was born to sit in on board meetings and buy real estate like it was a bag of chips. And she had done that with no regard to the children she’d left neglected in her path. Neither Vera, Lena, nor Walker were close to their mother. They each had different fathers that weren’t in the picture either, so they truly only had each other. Vera was thankful that Lena had her friends and Walker had the Carlson family that had taken her in under their wing.

Vera vowed that whenever she had kids, she would be the opposite mom to them as her mom had been to her. She would never put work first and would always be there to tuck them in at night. Her kids would always know she loved them and they mattered, no matter what. Just like she wanted the same thing for Walker.

Scooping Walker into her arms, Vera twirled her around and kissed her cheek.

“I love you, Walker. Always know that.”

“I do,” she giggled again. “I love you too, sis.”

Putting Walker on her hip, she opened the back door to the SUV and buckled her in. They drove to the Pizza Parlour as they chatted about Walker’s week at school and her best friends, Maddie and Emily.

“You remember Mason?” Vera looked into the rearview mirror at Walker, who nodded. “Well, she and her mommy are going to meet us for pizza and a sleepover tonight. Won’t that be fun?”

Walker’s eyes lit up. “Yeah! I like Mason. She’s not afraid of bugs.”

“Well, that’s good to know,” Vera chuckled to herself. As she parked the car at the pizza place, she waved at Isla and Mason, who were waiting by the front door. “Oh, good. They’re already here.”

Helping Walker out of the SUV, Vera held her hand as they walked over to the restaurant. Mason's eyes lit up when she saw Walker, which let Vera know she made the right call to bring her little sister along.

“Hey.”

“Hey, yourself.” Isla briefly hugged Vera before pointing at Walker. “She’s a mini you. Where did she come from?”

“She’s my sister.”

“Ahh,” Isla laughed. “For a moment I thought you had a secret kid.”

“I might as well.” Vera tried to keep her tone upbeat so as to not signal to Isla she was annoyed by her sister’s presence. It was the furthest thing from the truth. “Let’s just say the Forsyth kids could have benefited from having a mom like you.”

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