Page 15 of Unshakable

True to her word, Toulaand all three girls waited impatiently for Beatrix to arrive. Alease sat properly on the porch swing, while Chloe and Delphine explored the vegetable garden around the side of the house, distracted for the moment, Chloe’s giggles growing more distant as time passed.

Toula’s antennae had been up since sunrise, picking up on every little emotional signal in the neighborhood. Hoping for some kind of warning if Henri lost track of his new best friend or whether a blindingly handsome stranger had been seen.

Instead, Toula learned Chloe didn’t want to see her mother, only swayed with tales of the horses on Helen’s farm. Toula couldn’t handle a breakdown with Chloe today. For once, she wanted everyone to have fun.

Toula felt Beatrix’s energy as soon as she neared, not yet to the driveway. Her particular brand of emotion felt pent up, focused, and driven, even on a day off from the worry of school, tests, and papers.

Toula clapped her hands to get the girls’ attention. “She’s almost here. Go and get washed up, you two.”

Chloe and her shadow disappeared into the house to wash their hands, dirty from the garden. They both feared their mother to a certain extent. At her age, Chloe didn’t understand her mother and recently, began not to care whether they bickered or not.

Beatrix didn’t care, either, which only made things worse.

They stood like little soldiers with smiling faces as the prodigal daughter arrived, full of self-importance and anxiety about what to do with these greedy children today.

She greeted each of them, youngest to oldest, with a terse embrace and quick kiss on the forehead. Delphine hugged her the exact same way, while Chloe swatted her hands away. When she got to Alease, the girl clung to her.

Beatrix shook loose and hugged her mother with stiff arms. “I’m surprised you’re all up and ready for the day.”

“Well,” Toula shared a smile, “Helen invited us all out to ride horses and see the farm. Sound good?”

Her daughter’s relief was palpable. “Perfect, the girls love her place. Everyone ready to go?”

Toula herded the children into the car before sliding into the passenger seat beside her daughter. The trip to the other side of town and beyond took the better part of ninety minutes. To their credit, the girls entertained themselves, more or less, and jumped from the car the moment they arrived.

“They’re behaving well,” Beatrix muttered under her breath, as if they normally did not. The distain for her own children rolled off her in waves.

Toula summoned a smile, despite choking on her daughter’s distasteful emotions. “They all love animals, and we haven’t been out this way in a long time. How are your studies going?”

“Tough and rewarding. I’m on the right track with my research. If everything goes well, I should finish by the spring, then go into dissertation defense.”

All Beatrix ever wanted was to be able to pull apart and understand the scientific ‘why’ behind people. She knew full well their family’s oddities and felt forcefully certain she would one day figure out what had gone so wrong inside the bodies of her ancestors.

As if all of life came down to the DNA strand.

Still, as Toula trailed behind the rest of the family to meet Helen at the barn, she wondered what might be found in such a study.

Her family, her lineage, wasn’t angelic or demonic or anything out of the ordinary, as far as she knew. No doctor or dentist had ever furrowed their brow over her physicality or test results.

“Toula!” Helen shouted and waved her aunt in for a hug. Helen, a vivacious homebody, inherited her mother’s love of horses and the acreage required to enjoy their company. If Toula squinted, the daughter looked just like the sister she missed so much. “The girls are getting so big!”

Toula allowed herself to fall into the small talk and watched the interaction between her daughter and granddaughters. As usual, Alease took the lead and monopolized her mother’s time. Toula didn’t blame her. As the oldest, she needed the attention more, remembered a time when her mother was not a full-time student.

And the littles didn’t seem to mind. Preoccupied with the horses and, looking out for her younger sister, Chloe’s fleeting smiles heartened Toula.

The thought of the sweet, vulnerable soul being targeted by such a vile being steeled her resolve. Had she really done all she could to ensure the safety of these young ones?

No, and no would be the answer into eternity no matter the prayers, the allies, and the precautions. She would never be able to do enough.

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