Page 56 of Beyond Oblivion

“I need you to know that what Trent and I have, the love we feel for each other is stronger than anything that comes our way. Every marriage has its obstacles, but for us, the love doesn’t change.”

She didn’t look convinced. “Mom told Dad how you’d been struggling with infertility, and how hard it was before they adopted my brother and me. She said they almost got a divorce. Why don’t you just adopt? Like, right now?Beforeyou get a divorce.”

“We’re not getting a divorce, Olive. It’s not even in our vocabulary. If we’re one of those couples who never have children, then that’s the way it’s supposed to be.”

Her brows knit together as she pressed her lips into a thin line. “Why don’t you want to adopt?”

Oh, shit.

“We’ve discussed it so many times. We’re just not there yet.”

“What do you mean you’re not there yet?”

Abort, abort, abort.This was going to blow up in my face no matter how I explained it.

“Maybe you should talk to your parents about it. They’d be able to explain better than I could.”

She rolled her eyes. “You mean they can explain what they want me to know.”

I swallowed, knowing she wouldn’t be satisfied with vague reassurances. “Well, yeah. It’s not my place to—”

“I don’t want to hear it fromthemwhy you and Trent don’t want to adopt.”

“Boo bear, it’s not that. Adoption is definitely on the table.”

“But it’s the last resort,” she said, clearly hurt.

I was desperate to shield her from the pain in her eyes. “We’d love to find a perfect, beautiful, entertainingly persistent baby girl just like your parents did. You’re just… there’s no one else like you. It’s just not that simple.”

“Abby was asking Papa Jim the other day when he thought you’d be ready to start the process. Is it the money? Because they said they’d pool together the funds when you were.”

I sat, stunned, my eyes threatening to gloss over. “Oh. That’s, um, wow. That’s really sweet of them. It’s definitely something we’ll have to talk about. But, O… you shouldn’t be eavesdropping. That conversation was meant to be private.”

“I wouldn’t have to if everyone wasn’t so secretive,” she said, offended. “I can tell when something’s wrong, you know. But no one will tell me what the heck is going on, so…” she sat up a bit taller, “I have to find out for myself. This is my family, too.”

“You’re not wrong. But instead of listening in on private conversations, I think it’s better to just ask, so we can discuss it like we’re doing now.”

“Okay, then tell me the truth.” She scooted closer to me, the dissention in her tone having faded. “You’re not waiting to adopt because I was always over here a lot, right? Was I annoying? Or because you think I didn’t want to be around my parents? Because Ilovemy parents. I love spending time with them. I really do. I just love you guys, too.”

“Oh, for God’s sake!” My voice broke as I scrambled off the couch to hug her. “No! Of course not, you’re the reason we know it’s a great idea! I honestly don’t know what Trent would do, what any of us would do, without you. We never thought you wereherebecause you didn’t want to bethere. If we had, Trenton would’ve been asking your parents why a long time ago.”

I was mortified she’d ever had those thoughts and was desperate to relieve her of them as quickly as I could. Trenton would’ve been heartbroken to hear those words come out of Olive’s mouth. Her world should’ve consisted of friends and school, maybe even a crush, a little stress about the talent show, or making student council. Nothing more than what was required to be a happy, carefree teenager, but Olive loved hard, hung on tight, and it shouldn’t have surprised me that she paid closer attention than we’d thought—or intended.

I squeezed her and blinked away any threatening tears, unwilling to let her see me cry. “And Trent and I… we’re absolutely okay. Better than okay. It’s not always easy. But at the end of the day, we have each other, forever. That means any challenges that may come up are temporary.”

Olive leaned away just enough to study me for a moment, trying to gauge if I really meant it. I wanted her to believe me—I wanted to believe it myself. Those questions infiltrated my days so often they felt like a part of me now.

“What about Madison? The other kids at school have been talking. Why didn’t you tell me it had gotten so bad?”

The truth was, I hadn’t wanted Olive to know the full extent of it. I didn’t know how to explain that Madison had been a quiet shadow in our lives for months, maybe years, her obsession with Trenton growing more dangerous by the day, or that her grief had morphed into something dark and unstable, that she’d become more erratic, more desperate to hurt us. But how could we miss that the latest town scandal would make its way to the high school? We should’ve discussed it with her before someone else did. Now that I recognized Olive was doing what all kids did—whether they were eight or eighteen—connecting the problems between adults to herself, sure it was somehow her fault, I worried she didn’t understand how Trenton’s relationship with Madison was different from his with her.

“What have you heard?”

She shrugged one shoulder. “That Trent was her older sister’s boyfriend, but she died in a car accident a long time ago. Then Maddie and Trent got close, and now she’s been sent away because she went crazy. Clara Simmons said Madison is pregnant and thinks the baby is Trent’s, but I told her it was bullshit. She’s been dating Avery’s brother since Christmas break, anyway. It’s probably his. It’s just been a few months, and Avery said he’s obsessed with her, that Maddie was his soulmate, and that Maddie was just as obsessed with him, telling him she wanted to get married and all kinds of crazy stuff. But now he’s heartbroken because she cut it off without an explanation, but she also won’t leave him alone.”

“Avery’s brother Aaron?” I asked.

“Yeah?”

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