Another Way | Adopted by Gerard Way (Book Three)

1

Evelyn stood in the kitchen, scrubbing at the counter tops. She'd just finished sweeping the floor, doing the dishes, and washing, drying, and folding every bit of laundry in the house. She had to keep herself busy for at least another thirty minutes and was running out of things to clean. Emerald hated it when she got like that, all high strung. And she barely listened when she told her to stop.

"Love, your OCD is showing," Emerald said, coming up behind her and snaking her arms around her waist.

"Very funny, Em," Evelyn said, not taking her eyes off the already spotless counter, only scrubbing harder as if to prove a point.

"No, it's not funny," Emerald said, taking the cloth from Evelyn's hands and tossing it into the sink. "What are you so anxious about? It's just your dad. The house doesn't have to be sparkling for him."

"I know, I'm just stressed," Evelyn said. She went over to the sink, and for a moment Emerald thought she was going to take the cloth back and carry on scrubbing, but she simply washed her hands, then hopped up on the counter, leaning against the white-painted cupboards. "And so fucking tired."

"Oh, me too," Emerald agreed. "Do you think your dad could get a hotel? I haven't even made up his bed yet."

"He can make up his own bed," Evelyn said, only half joking.

Emerald snickered and shook her head. "I'll go do it now."

"Hold on." Evelyn paused to listen to the otherwise empty house. "Where did Harley get to? I haven't seen her since lunch time."

"I don't know, she grabbed her skateboard and left. She'll be back soon."

They were never worried about wherever their adopted child ran off to during the day— at night was a different story, but that only happened a couple times. During the day she was usually riding her old skateboard around town, or hanging out with friends that her parents never met, only heard about. She was very independent for a 14 year old— almost too independent— and didn't mind being alone; she never minded being an only child.

"She better be home soon, 'cause Dad's on his way from the airport and he's so excited to see her."

"I'm sure she will be. She's excited to see him too." Emerald pecked her wife on the lips, and then on the nose for good measure, then went up to finish preparing the guest bedroom.

They hadn't seen Gerard and Lindsey, or any of the others, for nearly a year since their last big family reunion the summer prior. It was more difficult for everyone to meet up these days, and quite a special occasion, because they lived on opposite sides of the country. Evelyn and Emerald stayed on the East Coast after college and bought themselves a humble little house outside New York City, perfect for a family of three, once they both got their careers going. Everyone else, even Frank, eventually made their ways to California.

Evelyn missed them all every day, but she had a job to do in New York, writing for the New York Times. After obtaining her degree, her career in journalism was successful, to say the least. And Emerald was in love with her job as a speech therapist, working for a school board, interacting with kids everyday, and she had the perk of getting the summer off. They couldn't leave. And besides, Harley desperately didn't want to. She said there was something so pretentious sounding about living in Los Angeles, like the sheer act of doing so made you forget your roots and made you act better than you were. Those were her words.

Evelyn looked around the pristine kitchen, running her fingers through her long hair. She hadn't cut or dyed it in years, save a few trims. The room was spotless. The granite counter tops shone, the hardwood floors shone, the windows shone, and her forehead shone with sweat. She had to go get a quick shower before Gerard arrived, so she hopped off the counter and made her way upstairs to the on-suite bathroom. The door to the guest bedroom was open, so she peeked inside on the way. Emerald had music on as she made the bed, her favourite band, The Beatles. She was currently working on fluffing the pillows and danced around a little along to the music as she did so. Evelyn smiled to herself and tried to keep her nerves at bay by thinking about her wife, and thinking about getting to spend time with her dad very soon, and all the good things that had happened recently instead of dwelling on the same thing she'd been worrying about for weeks now. What would this summer bring for Harley? She worried about her, as mothers do, but she knew she would be in good hands.