The Return

Chapter Fifty Two

Holly

Thursday June 3rd 2021.

"Did you hear?" Heaven asked from the kitchen table. She poured milk into her cereal bowl.

"Hear what?" Holly joined her by the table. She pressed the back of her hand to her lips stifling a yawn.

Heaven powered up her phone and tapped her fingers over the screen. She slid it to Holly.

It was a news story. The reporter was Nina Baldwin on Channel Five's Wednesday Morning News. She held a microphone to her lips.

The story was headlined as the most anticipated death of the decade.

"Reporting live from right outside Lincoln Lane Prep on West Jackson Boulevard, the neighbourhood High School that saw the death of one of their own, and nearly lost three more."

The live report caught students flocking in and out of the school's doors. It caught skateboarders riding down the railings. And it caught a couple kissing by the benches upfront. Because that was what Lincoln Lane was supposed to be. A school that was safe. A school that wasn't plagued by a dead girl.

"It has been three years since the incident and her killers have been brought to justice. The Chicago P.D. has put out a statement acknowledging the high school students who risked their lives and delved into the case and tracked down Scarlett's killer."

The screen faded into black where pictures of Holly, Heaven, Kyle, Cody, and Rowan were displayed. And of course, they used Holly's library card picture. She hated that picture.

"The former lead detective on the Leighton case, Detective Douglas Giovanni has clarified on behalf of his precinct that he doesn't recommend the unethical behavior of these kids, especially since his own daughter was caught in the crosshairs, but is pleased with the results."

Nina pressed a hand on her left ear.

"More to come on this matter, this has been Nina Baldwin on Channel Five's Wednesday Morning News."

Holly passed the phone back to Heaven who was shoveling spoonsful of cereal into her mouth.

"We did it." Holly sat back in her seat; a small smile pressed on her lips. She still couldn't believe it. A week and three days since the incident in Malcolm Kent's living room and she was alive. Not unscathed, but alive. Mental trauma was only the half of what she sustained from that afternoon. In the ER, her stomach was pumped with naloxone. Five out of the ten days since it happened were spent running tests. MRIs, CT scans, Vaughn spared no cost in Holly's stay at St. Connelly hospital. Georgia signed her up for a rehabilitation center in Manhattan. She would get to see Iris again.

She felt like doing a happy dance. She couldn't see Jenna-Sue Leighton's face, but Holly knew they got closure for the woman who pointed a gun at them. "I wish Malcolm turned himself in like Lucas and Farida." She wasn't pleased with the fact that Malcolm took his own life.

She should have seen it coming. After fleeing his own home, leaving Lucas and Farida to face the authorities, he was declared wanted and at large in the state of Illinois.

Rowan and Kyle pushed for the newspaper to be published and for the article to be leaked. Barely out of the female ward, Holly drafted the article recounting everything she confessed on Farida's Tiktok Live, and E-mailed it to Kyle.

It was published the day after her discharge.

The story was already all over Twitter trending below Donald Trump's latest scandal since leaving office and above the new variant. Less popular than the former president and more popular than the omicron variant.

Malcolm died a fitting death. Locked away in a neighbor's shed he forced all the pills he intended to use on Holly down his throat. His body was uncovered the following morning when the neighbor put in the 9-1-1 call.

Heaven pushed her plate aside. She glanced at her watch and stood from the table. She was getting bigger and Holly saw the ultrasound pictures, they weren't that clear, but, it was really happening. In less than six months. "There's one last thing I wanted to show you,"

"What now?" Heaven led the way to the back door.

The yard was full of people.

And flowers.

And balloons.

And a white carpet running down to the gazebo.

Vaughn Steinfeld was in a pressed deep blue suit with Principal Jenkins officiating. Really?

On the front row, the chroniclers sat with two empty chairs. Cody was on his phone in a pale blue suit. To his right was Rowan in a summer pink dress. Kyle was Mr. Tall, Dark, and Handsome in a black tux. Behind them were Aunt Ruth, Vivek, Grandma Lottie, and Grandpa Hendricks—Vaughn Steinfeld's parents. On the other row sat Chisom, Obinna, and Ngozi, Heaven and Holly's cousins.

There were other faces Holly couldn't place and she could bet those were from Georgia putting in a word about her wedding to Hill & Hart and Winston & Stark.

Her eyes stung with unshed tears. It was breathtaking. She nibbled on her bottom lip. She felt a stab of guilt and jealousy. Georgia wrapped everything up without her. She settled things with the caterers and called the photographers. She even got in touch with Robin Sawyer to DJ the event.

Softly, but surely, and as if on cue, the classic here comes the bride music hummed through the speakers. Guests in their best evening wear rose to their feet.

"Are you going to do this or are you going to keep her waiting?" Heaven asked nudging Holly out of her reverie. She stiffened. Three months ago, the thought of walking her mother down the aisle repulsed her. Now, it was the one thing she wanted to do the most. She couldn't pass up the opportunity to make things right. She looked down at her rumpled mismatched pajamas. She couldn't go out there like that. "Stall for me." She had the perfect dress in the back of her closet.

She barreled up the stairs. The sage green satin dress slipped on like it was made for Holly. It was. Georgia tagged it as an early birthday present when they were dress shopping. Lacing up a pair of sandals and oiling her two-week-old braids, Holly stopped by her dresser. Tucked in the corner by her full-length mirror was the box Erin Marsh slipped her the day she ended things with Iris. Crouching she picked it up and grazed her fingers over it. It was as good a time as any to open it.

It was a recycled toybox that she could tell he wrapped by himself. He was never that good at wrapping gifts. She ripped it open. Inside was a collection of pictures he took during her time at Bard Roosevelt High. The first was a picture of both of them ditching class for the first time. The second was a selfie of them at the trampoline park down the street from school. He cherished every minute they spent together. Warmth filled her chest.

She shoved the box beneath her bed.

Outside, beneath the morning sun, she hadn't noticed it before, but Heaven was in a similar sage green dress. The necklines were different and Heaven's was much looser to hide her bump.

Like a princess, Georgia materialized from the front yard in a slip-on beige-white lace dress that was sweeping the floor. It was the same dress as the last time. The same dress as the first time. The same dress from the pictures Holly told herself she would never look at ever again.

They were overwriting the old memories.

Holly linked their arms at the crook. "You look beautiful, Mom, I can't believe you're doing this,"

"We're doing this, Honey, we're making this family whole again."

Heaven took Georgia's other hand. "It has been too bloody long."

"Ready?" Holly wasn't sure if she was asking more for herself.

Georgia's eyes sparkled with excitement and genuine happiness for the first time in a long time. "More than,"

They walked up to Vaughn Steinfeld and handed their mother over to the man who promised not to take her heart and chuck it in a blender.