“Why do you keep drawing birds, regardless of what the statement is?”Austin asked Mabel.“A bird eating pizza … A bird milking a cow.”
“Because I am very good at drawing birds,” Mabel said matter-of-factly.
I caught Naomi’s eyes and smiled.
“Speaking of the ones with feathers, our friend Oakley the osprey is doing much better,” Tom piped up.“He may be ready to be released soon.”
“I’ll be over tomorrow to check on him,” Mabel said.
Tom simply nodded.
Gabrielle joined us, but didn’t sit down.Like a mother hen, she was clucking around, making sure all her little chicks were taken care of.She stood beside Maverick, and he covertly rubbed her butt.“Nay, are you staying at your place tonight, or would you like me to put a blowup mattress in my office?”
“You could also sleep in the carriage house, and Sam and I can go sleep at Tom’s,” Danica offered.“If you’re not ready to go home.”
Naomi shook her head.“It’s my home.I love my home.We’re sleeping there tonight.”
We all smiled at each other.Mabel and I weren’t going to let Kyla breaking into our house deter us from going back either.But tonight it just felt right to stay at the vineyard.We’d all been through so much; it made sense to be together as a village.
I smiled to myself at that thought.
My daughter and I had arrived on this island a little over a month ago, not knowing a soul but eager for a fresh start.What we found was so much greater than that.
We found a village.
They chose us.They welcomed us in without judgement or prejudice.They accepted my daughter’s quirks—embraced them, in fact—and didn’t make us feel like the outsiders that we were.
Perhaps it was because they all had all been outsiders as well at one point.They had scars from deep cuts and scrapes of their own, triggers and struggles just like us.They understood our desire for a new beginning and rather than shun us; they helped us find what we came here searching for.
“Did everyone eat enough at the funfair, or should I make some nachos?”Gabrielle asked.
“Nachos,” Damon and Austin both said in unison.
“Sit down, babe,” Maverick said, standing up.“I’ll do it.You’ve been buzzing around here since we got back.Just take a breath.”
Gabrielle swallowed and zeroed in on Naomi, but I could tell that the matriarch of the family was just barely holding it together.A muscle ticked at the corner of her jaw as she squeezed her molars together tight, and her eyes welled up with tears.
Naomi pried herself off the floor and went to her cousin, wrapping her arms around her from behind.“I’m okay, Gabs.It’s all okay.”
Gabrielle nodded, but didn’t say anything.She just clutched Naomi’s arms where they wrapped around her chest and leaned into her.“I know.I know.”
I turned to Mabel, who was drawing a pigeon and something else.A toe and a bottle of nail polish maybe?“How are you doing, kiddo?You okay?”
She finished her picture, then set it down and faced me.“She never wanted me.Did she?”
I didn’t say anything right away.What could I say?
“It’s okay,” Mabel said after a beat.“I know it’s supposed to hurt, that my mother never wanted me.That even though we thought she’d find us to get me back, that was never the case.She only wanted you.But it doesn’t.It’s … a relief actually.”
“Really?”
Her nod was stiff, so I wasn’t entirely convinced.
“I hate her.So why would I want her in my life?And she clearly hates me because I ruined her life—”
“You didn’t—”
“I did, Dad.I ruined the life she wanted.”
