Page 110 of The Treasure House

But it wasn’t Roger and Alan.

The windows in the door were completely fogged over, so I had no advance warning. I opened the door to the swirling snowy night and my heart stopped.

“Surprise, Angel Face!” Tina cried, launching herself at me and covering me in kisses.

Twenty-Five

I couldn’t believe my eyes.

The Tina I knew had been rail thin, her riot of hair framing a hollowed face; this Tina had a round face and straightened hair dyed blond. She wore a leopard print beanie and a puffer coat with a faux fur trim. She hugged me so tight I couldn’t breathe, then pulled away and took a good look at me.

“Angel,” she said, putting her hands on my cheeks. She wasn’t wearing mittens, and her hands were ice-cold.

“Mom.” I was in shock. “What… how?”

Tina laughed, the same husky laugh I remembered from my childhood. “I told you she’d be surprised,” she called over her shoulder, her words appearing as dragon breath in the night air.

My stomach sank when I saw she had someone with her. It was a beefy man, in his fifties or sixties, with a salt and pepper goatee. He wore a sheepskin coat and work boots and he was smoking a cigarette, flicking ash into the snowdrift next to the stairs. The Christmas lights threw candy colors across his face.

“Angel, this is Tate. I told you about him in my letters—my special friend from Hazelton. And Tate, this is my angel baby. Zoe.”

“Heya Zoe,” Tate said gruffly.

I was sweating, even though the December air was arctic. “How… I mean… how?” My mind was racing so fast I couldn’t grab hold of a thought. Tina. Here. How?

“I got paroled,” she said gleefully. “Good behavior!”

“But… why didn’t you tell me?” And then it hit. “Wait, if you’re on parole, you’re not allowed to leave the state.”

Tina flapped a hand at me. “It’s Christmas,” she said, laughing again. “Who’s going to hold it against me, wanting to see my baby girl for Christmas?”

“Uh, the parole board?”

“She always was a worrier,” Tina told Tate.

He stubbed his cigarette out on my porch rail and tossed it into the snow. “Is she going to ask us in? I’m freezing my nuts off out here.”

I didn’t want to ask them in. My stomach was in a cold, hard knot. And then I heard a small voice behind me.

“Mom?”

Oh God. Flo.

It was like watching a car crash in slow motion. Flo stepped out into the hall, carrying one of her lanky kittens, her head cocked. “Mom? Who’s at the door?”

“Mom?” Tina all but exploded. “Did she call you Mom?”

Flo looked back and forth between me and Tina, unsettled. “Mom? Who’s that?”

“Oh my God, Angel, don’t tell me I’m a grandma!” Tina grabbed at Tate’s arm. “Tate! I’m a grandma!”

My head was swimming. I felt like I might faint, even though I’d never fainted before in my life.

“Mom?” Flo sounded a little panicked. She crept closer to me. “Mom, what’s she talking about?”

The commotion had drawn people from the parlor. Suni and Jake appeared first, the others close behind.

“It’s okay, honey,” I said, drawing Flo close.