Chapter 1 - Before dessert
The first thing I heard when I opened my daughter’s front door was my granddaughter screaming.
The second was Evan’s voice.
“Move faster, Emily. And bring more potatoes when you’re done.”
I stopped in the entryway with my overnight bag still hanging from my shoulder.
For a moment, I genuinely wondered whether I had entered the wrong house.
Emily stood at the kitchen sink with Lily strapped against her chest, one hand supporting the crying baby while the other scrubbed a mountain of greasy plates. Her pale-blue cardigan was stained with milk. Her hair looked as though it had not been washed in days.
At the dining table, Evan was eating roast beef.
His mother, Gloria, was drinking Cabernet from one of my crystal glasses.
Neither of them moved to help.
“Mom?”
Emily’s voice was so small that it frightened me.
I had driven three hours because she had stopped answering my calls. The daughter I remembered would challenge a CEO twice her age without blinking. She once changed a flat tire during a thunderstorm while laughing at me for holding an umbrella.
This woman lowered her eyes when her husband put down his fork.
“You should have called,” Gloria said.
“I did.”
Evan leaned back.
“Emily’s been overwhelmed since Lily was born. We’re trying to teach her some discipline.”
Then he pushed his dirty plate toward the edge of the table.
“Since you’re already standing there, Em.”
Emily flinched.
That was when I saw the purple mark disappearing beneath her sleeve.
I walked straight to her.
“Give me Lily.”
“I’m okay.”
“Emily.”
Her eyes met mine.
I gently lifted Lily from the carrier. Then, quietly enough that Evan and Gloria could not hear, I said one word.
“Bluebird?”
Emily and I had created that word when she was sixteen. It meant: I cannot safely explain what is happening. Believe me first. Ask questions later.
Her lower lip trembled.
Then she nodded.
Once.
That was enough.
I kissed Lily’s forehead and placed her safely into the stroller beside me.
Evan laughed.
“Margaret, please don’t encourage this drama.”
I reached into my handbag.
Gloria rolled her eyes. “Who are you calling?”
“Someone who handles family emergencies.”
Daniel Cho answered immediately.
“Margaret?”
“Activate Bluebird.”
Silence for half a second.
Then his voice changed.
“Everything?”
“Company cards. Property access. Cloud preservation. Vehicles. Send the team.”
“Already moving.”
I ended the call.
Evan actually laughed.
“Whatever tantrum this is, finish it after dinner.”
I sat beside Emily.
“Oh, I will.”
I looked directly at him.
“Before dessert.”
His smile remained.
For exactly forty-three seconds.
May you like
Then his phone began vibrating.
And the first thing Evan saw made the color drain from his face.
