HEALING THE SCARS

CHAPTER 55

PENELOPE

Ava finally comes downstairs. Her steps are hesitant, but the moment she enters the room, everything softens. Her red dress flows gracefully, her denim jacket a quiet rebellion against the formal air of the night. She looks stunning in that way people do when they're loved and don't quite know what to do with it.

Mabel lets out a breath I didn't know she'd been holding. I squeeze her hand.

"She came. Thank you," Mabel whispers.

"She was always going to," I murmur back.

The celebration unfolds in a blur of warm lights and laughter. People crowd around, plates of cake pass from hand to hand, and gift bags exchange owners. Dylan eventually joins us, lingering behind me, his hand resting gently at the small of my back. I can feel him there, tense, quiet, but not quite present.

He offers Ava a small box wrapped in black paper, and she gasps when she opens it. She hugs him tight. I hear the word Louis Vuitton float through the hum of conversation, but my eyes are on Dylan, not the gift. He smiles faintly, and for a flicker of a moment, he looks like himself again.

My gift is simple; a vlogging camera and vip passes to Disneyland. Ava squeals, her gratitude sincere before she moves on to the next. Joey and Mabel's final gift steals the moment. An envelope. A letter.

As Ava reads aloud, her voice trembling, the entire yard falls silent.

"We want you to be our daughter. Ava, will you let us adopt you?"

She breaks. Everyone does. Mabel and Joey catch her in a hug so tight I wonder if she can breathe. I look away to avoid crying. When I glance at Dylan, his expression is unreadable but I see him. He looks like something is breaking inside him too, but he won't let it show.

I catch sight of Andrew standing at the edge of the yard. He's holding a small box in his hand, something wrapped carefully in metallic paper with a silver bow. He just tosses and turns it with an angry look on his face that he quickly hides when he notices anyone look at him. Then, just as Ava opens Mabel and Joey's final gift, he tucks it back inside his jacket and disappears behind the patio door.

My heart sinks because I am sure that he just decided not to give her the gift. Later, as Dylan and I get ready to leave, Jason sound asleep upstairs, Andrew steps forward as though he intends to follow us.

"You should stay too," I tell him softly.

He looks at me, startled, eyes narrowing in something halfway between defiance and desperation. "Why?"

"Jason needs you here," I say. "When he wakes up and finds that Dylan and I aren't here..."

He hesitates, lips parting like he is holding back so much anger. "So you want me to babysit your son? What if I don't want to stay?" 

"You're not babysitting him. He is asleep and yoou guys will be back tomorrow anyway." I say and I feel my heart break because I remember how much Andrew doesn't like Jason and it tears me apart because I don't know what Jason ever did to him.

Joey steps between us. "You're staying," he says, his voice low but firm. "Don't make me say it twice."

Andrew clenches his jaw, "Whatever. I hate you guys." He says. He won't meet my eyes as he turns away and guilt eats at me seeing my young brother like that.

Dylan holds the door open for me, one hand resting lightly on my back as we walk to the car. Once we're on the road, he reaches for my hand and laces our fingers together on the console. His thumb draws slow, absent circles across my knuckles.