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“Esther?”
“Yeah, it’s me.”
“Oh, Esther,” she said softly. “Noel said you were okay. She said it, but I didn’t believe it.”
“I’m okay,” I confirmed. “And Noel is with me.”
“Praise God,” she replied, letting out a huge breath. “Ephraim? Noel’s okay. She’s with Esther.”
“You can come pick her up if you want,” I interrupted, ignoring my brother’s voice in the background. “We’re at Otto’s parents’ house.”
“That’s—that’s your husband?” she asked tentatively.
“He is.”
“Okay. Okay, we can do that.”
Somehow, in the months that I’d been apart from her, I’d forgotten how very timid my mother was. I wondered for a moment if she’d always been that way or if she’d adapted after a lifetime of living with my dad.
“Esther?” my brother Ephraim barked through the phone. “Give me the address.”
“I was talking to Mom,” I replied, sitting forward on the couch. “Give her back the phone.”
“Mom gave the phone to me,” he replied importantly. “What’s the address so I can come get Noel.”
I looked at the people across the room from me, who’d quietly moved away to give me some privacy to call my mom. My hand fisted in my lap. I loved my brother, but I also remembered every single time he was chosen over me. Every time I got in trouble for something that was his fault. Every time that he was put on some crappy pedestal just because he was a boy and every time I had to defer to him even though he was only a couple of years older. I didn’t have to submit to him anymore.
“You’renot doing anything,” I replied firmly. “Noel isn’t going anywhere with you. IfMomwants to pick her up, thenMomcan come get her.”
“I’m already on my way,” he replied stubbornly. “What’s the address?”
I rattled off the address Heather had given me. “If you show up here without Mom, you’ll leave empty-handed,” I warned.
He hung up without responding.
“That seemed like it went well,” Otto said sarcastically from behind me.
“Ephraim’s trying to throw his weight around,” I replied, not even trying to hide my frustration.
“Sounded like you put your foot down.” He shrugged and gave my shoulders a squeeze. “It’s like you said. He shows up here without your mom, he’s outta luck.”
“Is Mom coming?” Noel asked listlessly, sitting down next to me.
“Hopefully.” I pulled her against me and squeezed. We’d decided not to tell Noel anything more than she already knew, and it was a very strange position to be in—sending her back home. I knew that my dad was gone and she would be safe, butNoel didn’t. The closer it came to when my mom would come get her, the more tense she became. “Ephraim got on the phone and started trying to boss me around.”
“He’s such a pain in the neck,” she sighed, laying her head on my shoulder. “He’s just like Dad.”
“Hopefully Caity will soften him a little,” I replied. Neither of us believed it, but she didn’t argue.
We sat like that until headlights came through the front window.
“Esther,” Otto called from the front door. “Looks like Noel’s ride is here.”
I hopped up and moved toward the door as Titus crouched down in front of Noel.
“Did he show up without her?”
“Look for yourself,” Otto murmured, opening the door wider.
