Emily's Choice

by Heather McCoubrey

  Grace may not be her biological mother, but she was her mother as far as Emily was concerned. And Emily sorely needed her mother right now.

  “Not really, no,” Emily said through her tears. She turned her back to the gate and stared unseeing out the window. She told Mama G the sordid details.

  “You’re going to Hope’s then?”

  Emily heard her father in the background and listened as Grace explained the situation to him. It was rare for her father to swear, and Emily was a little taken aback at what she heard through the phone line.

  “Are you sure of what you saw?” her father growled.

  “Yes, Daddy, I’m sure.” Emily said, clearing her throat. She could imagine him stomping down to his den to pick up the phone in there and Mama G rolling her eyes at his intrusion on their phone conversation.

  “He’s gonna wish he’d never been born,” Clint threatened.

  “Daddy!” Emily yelled. “Don’t hurt him.”

  “You’ll do no such thing,” Grace said shrilly. “Get off the line before you upset her more.”

  Emily heard her father mutter, “He’ll be lucky to be alive when I’m done with him,” before the line clicked, indicating her father had hung up his phone. Her heart stopped for a second, before she realized she was angry and what did she care what punishment her father meted out to Jason on her behalf.

  “Oh, darling girl, I’m so sorry this happened to you,” Mama G soothed after Clint had hung up the phone.

  Emily nodded and leaned her forehead on the cool glass. “Me, too. We had our whole lives ahead of us, Mama G. What am I going to do now?”

  “You’re gonna go to Boston, get your emotions straightened out, your head on right, and make a plan. You call me whenever you need me. We’re all here for you, darling.”

  “I love you, Mama G. So much. I’m so sorry I didn’t listen to you,” Emily said sadly.

  “What do you mean?”

  “When you said it was bad luck for Jason and me to see each other before the wedding. That wasn’t just an old wives’ tale.” Emily paused to wipe her nose. “I’d better get going. I need to use the restroom, and we’ll be boarding again soon. I’ll call or text when we land in Boston.”

  “All right, darling girl. Be safe. We love you both.”

  “I will. Love you.”

  Chapter Three

  The plane ride seemed to take forever, which gave Emily plenty of time to think. Not that she wanted to, though. Her thoughts weren’t of the happy variety. No happy childhood memories, no hopes for her new life in Boston, no exciting dreams for the tiny miracle in her womb. Memories of Lila’s initial arrival in Mosquero and all her dirty tricks raced through her mind like an old-time newsreel. She needed a distraction, anything, from the memories swirling in her mind. Unfortunately, Hope being a frequent flyer meant she had no trouble sleeping on the plane. As soon as they’d boarded in Denver, she’d passed out. Emily wished she could be so lucky, but sleep wouldn’t come to her, even though she was desperately exhausted.

  No, it seemed she was destined to relive one of the most awful moments in her life. The first time her trust in Jason had been tested.

  Lila had come to live with them the summer before Emily and Hope entered eleventh grade. Lila’s life had been turned upside down by a stalker. He was her ex-boyfriend and apparently hadn’t taken the breakup well. His name was Edward, and he was from a family as well-off as Lila’s own. He called her, texted her, stopped by, and followed her around school. It got to the point where Lila was afraid to leave her house. The police’s hands were tied though because he never made any threats to Lila and had never harmed her. Lila begged her family to leave town for a while, to let Edward forget about her and so Lila could feel safe again. Her mother had been all for the idea, having wanting to spend some time at their home in France and getting tired of life in Boston. Winter was coming and she did not want to spend another cold, snowy, bleak winter there. She wanted sun, warmth, and the Mediterranean.

  Lila’s father, on the other hand, had many business dealings in the works and couldn’t get away. Besides, he’d said, Edward knows about the house in France, surely he’d be able to find you there. So a plan had been hatched for Lila to go spend some time with her aunt in Mosquero. The original plan had been for Lila to stay for six months and then go with her parents to France. The second part of the plan never happened. Instead, Lila had conned, manipulated, and cajoled her way into being able to stay for the entire school year.

  Emily sighed, leaned her head back against the seat, closed her eyes, and let her mind take over. You couldn’t stop a freight train and she was done trying.

  Initially, Emily had been excited for Lila’s arrival. She was curious about Mama G’s family and wanted to meet Hope’s cousin. She thought they’d be similar people, their fathers being brothers and all, but she couldn’t have been more wrong. Where Hope was kind, loyal, and helpful, Lila was cold, rude, and lazy. Lila had hidden it well when she was in front of Mama G or Clint. To them she was everything she needed them to think she was. But as soon as their backs were turned, Lila’s inner bitch appeared.

  She made life difficult and reveled in it. The first few weeks weren’t bad, and Emily chalked up Lila’s odd behavior as nerves and apprehension and the change and growing pains of living with people you didn’t know well (or at all). Misunderstandings and miscommunications seemed to be the norm for those first few weeks. Emily thought they’d never get their differences figured out. Not having to ever share a room before, Clint had surrendered his office temporarily so Lila could have her own space. Hope and Emily had shared a room since Mama G and Clint had gotten married. Their room was barely big enough to fit them both and putting Lila in there would have made the room burst at the seams. Tyler was due to leave for college at the end of the summer, and once he was gone, Lila would be given his room. Tyler was spending the summer packing up his room and spending as much time with friends and family as he could before he left. He was going to college in Albuquerque, so he was staying in the dorms and would only be back for breaks and holidays.

  When school started, Emily and Hope showed Lila around school and introduced her to their friends. They tried to include her in much of what they did, but Lila made it difficult. She complained, shied away, and grew testy when they would stop to chat with their friends. Eventually, they left Lila out most of the time and went about their normal lives, tired of her nagging and general crappy attitude with whatever they were doing. By Halloween, Lila had made her own friends and seemed, if not happy, content. Emily hoped this meant they would start getting along, but she was wrong.

  Emily and Jason had been a steady couple since the beginning of their sophomore year but had been “together” since seventh grade. Everyone knew they were an item. Everyone. And since she’d been living with them for some time, Emily just assumed Lila knew, too. So it came as a major surprise to her when Lila began spending time with Jason and flirting with him every chance she got. When Jason would come pick Emily up for a date, Lila would greet him at the door and chat and flirt with him the entire time Emily was getting ready to leave. After a month of this, Emily made sure she was ready and met Jason out on the porch.

  Lila was in the same grade and had a couple of classes with Jason. After their class, she would loop her arm through his and have him walk her to her next class. Sometimes, she’d even get him to hold her books for her. She’d smile up at him and coo at whatever he was saying. Rumors started to swirl through the school that Jason was hot for the “new” girl and that his and Emily’s relationship had burnt itself out. When those rumors first found Emily’s ears, her face had turned pink and tears had sprung to her eyes. She’d been in the toilet stall and some girls were talking at the sinks. Emily kept herself hidden in the stall until the girls left, and then she’d slowly come out and skipped the rest of her classes that day. She’d gone home, cried betrayed tears, and then promptly gone to Jason’s house and waited for him.


  He’d gently taken her face in his hands, kissed her mouth ever so sweetly, and assured her that his heart only beat for Emily. He was being nice to Lila because she was her cousin, but he felt nothing for her and certainly didn’t want to date her. He knew her type and he wasn’t interested. End of story.

  Happy and relieved, she had returned home and tried to put it to rest. Rumors continued to swirl through the school, though, and it became harder and harder for Emily to blow them off. Jason had stopped walking Lila to class and tried to avoid her at all costs. But she was tricky and found ways to insinuate herself. She would “miss” the bus and ask him for a ride home. He was too much of a gentleman to refuse. She would “forget” what their homework assignment was and need to run over to his house to get it. Stupid little excuses that began to add up to a lot of time spent in his company and more fuel for the school gossipmongers.

  Two weeks before the Valentine’s Ball, Hope and Emily went to Santa Fe with Clint. He had supplies to pick up, and they were in need of dresses for the ball.

  They had spent a lovely afternoon in Santa Fe, enjoyed the one-on-one time with each other and then with Clint. He’d even treated them to a nice dinner, and they had felt a sweet bubble of love and happiness. That bubble popped when they got back home.

  Mama G was waiting for them when they got home. She was wearing her scowl, her movements were jerky, and she had no interest in seeing their dresses. Clint, sensing trouble, hightailed it out the door and straight to the barn.

  Emily and Hope tried to escape to their room with their dresses, but Mama G told them not to leave. Lila, hidden in the shadows of the living room, betrayed her excitement with the smirk she wore on her face.

  “I am disappointed in both of you,” Mama G began.

  Emily and Hope both let their jaws drop. Disappointed? What had they done?

  “Why, Mom?” Hope asked tentatively.

  Lila made a small movement in the corner and Grace sent her away. She waited until Lila had disappeared up the stairs before she answered Hope.

  “Lila and I had a long talk today. She has confided in me how alone and left out she’s been feeling. You haven’t made her feel welcome. And to top it all off, you conspired with Clint to leave her here today and went dress shopping without her!”

  “That’s not true!” Emily said indignantly. “We offered, but she said she had many dresses at home that she could have her mother send. She said she wouldn’t be caught dead in something she could get here!”

  “It’s true, Mom,” Hope confirmed. “We asked her again before we left, but she was adamant.”

  Mama G nodded. “Well, maybe it was a misunderstanding. But that still doesn’t excuse the way you’ve let her down. She’s family and she should come first!”

  “What do you mean?” Emily asked.

  “She’s alone at school. She has no friends. No one to sit with at lunch. You don’t talk to her on the bus. You don’t involve her in your extra-curricular stuff. She’s miserable.”

  Emily couldn’t help it, she growled in frustration. Who was Lila trying to kid? What was she hoping to gain? Surely she knew getting them in trouble wasn’t going to make the situation any better?

  “Mama G, we tried,” Emily said, anger barely concealed. “She sneered at our attempts. We showed her around town, around school, we introduced her to all our friends. We’ve invited her to parties, to our after-school stuff, to sit with us at lunch. We’ve tried. She doesn’t like us. Everything is “backwoods,” as she calls it. Nothing is good enough.” Emily ran her hands through her hair in frustration and shot a look at Hope, who nodded in agreement.

  “We did, Mom. She makes fun of what we do and where we go. I don’t know what else we can do.” Hope sat down on the couch and stared at her mother.

  “Mama G?” Emily asked, glancing at her stepmother.

  Grace was standing in front of them, a thoughtful look on her face. She stared off into space for a moment and then shook her head. She motioned Emily to sit down next to Hope on the couch.

  “Listen, girls,” she began, kneeling in front of them and taking their hands in her own. “You two have been sisters and best friends since Clint and I got married. You’ve been glued to each other’s sides, inseparable. And that has made me so happy. I’m glad you are close to each other, and I hope you stay that way forever. I know it can be hard to loosen the bond a bit to let someone else in, but I need you to do that. No,” she said, shaking her head, “let me finish.” She took a deep breath and continued. “It’s about perception, girls. You perceive that you’ve included her in everything and she perceives you’ve left her out. Her perception is the one that matters because she’s the one who is hurting. Does that make sense? Her perception is one of hurt, loneliness, and a form of betrayal. You’re her family, and you’re letting her down. Do you understand?”

  Emily and Hope nodded.

  “You may have been doing your best and she may have been rebuffing your efforts. But she’s here and she’s not going anywhere. You have to keep trying.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” they said in unison.

  Grace leaned forward. “I know she can be difficult,” she said in a hushed whisper. “She is my niece, after all, and even though I haven’t seen her in years, I do know what she’s like. Come to me if there’s trouble, but don’t ignore her. And keep trying.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Emily said, eyes wide in surprise.

  “Go upstairs and try to make amends, please.”

  Both girls rose and slowly walked out of the room and up the stairs. Neither said a word, knowing Grace would most likely hear their whispered words. And who knew where Lila was hiding. Emily didn’t think she was hanging out in her room, not caring about the conversation being had downstairs. The last thing they needed was for Lila to overhear and have her be even more offended than she already was.

  They went straight to Lila’s room and knocked on her door.

  “I’m not in there,” Lila said, smirking when they spun around. “Did you really think I would go to my room like a good country girl and miss the chance to see you get a dressing down?”

  “So you did it on purpose?” Emily asked, glaring at Lila.

  Lila laughed and opened her mouth to say something but Hope stepped between them, raising her hands for quiet.

  “Em,” Hope started. “Calm down. Remember what Mom said.”

  “Yes, Em, do what Hope says. Wouldn’t want you to get into more trouble.” Lila laughed. Then she turned flashing eyes on Hope. “Protective of her, aren’t you?”

  Hope ignored Lila’s words and turned pleading eyes on Emily. Emily shook her head, angry eyes boring into Lila’s.

  “I know, Em,” Hope soothed. “Unfair, but it is what it is.”

  Emily sighed and started counting. It never really worked for her, even though she tried it every time she got angry. She was still angry when she got to ten, but at least she didn’t feel the need to punch Lila in the face anymore. Not that she didn’t deserve it, but Hope was right. They had to make peace and keep trying. Not matter how bad Lila got under her skin.

  Taking a deep, cleansing breath, Emily took a step closer to Lila. “I’m sorry for making you feel left out and alone. I will do better. Perhaps if you could tell me what you enjoy doing, we could save ourselves a lot of trouble.”

  Lila scoffed. “There is nothing to do here. No theater, no dance clubs, no museums, no culture. This is about the most uncultured place on the Earth. And anyways, why would I want to hang out with you, Miss Perfect? You’re always shoving in my face your perfect life, and I’m sick of it. Sick of you, sick of your perfect relationship, sick of your perfect friends and your perfect grades, your perfect horses and your perfect riding. You make me sick!” Lila spat at Emily, her eyes glassy with the force of her emotions.

  Emily’s face turned beet red. The urge to punch Lila was back but so was the urge to cry. She’d never had anyone speak to her that way before, and she had no idea what t
o do with it. She turned to her stepsister. “Hope,” she pleaded, though unsure what she was begging for.

  “Go,” Hope nodded toward their bedroom.

  Emily turned and ran to their bedroom, closing the door behind her. It took every ounce of her willpower to keep from slamming the door. She didn’t need Mama G back up here interfering and wondering what she’d done to provoke Lila now. How could she and Dad be so oblivious to Lila’s behavior?

  She could hear Hope talking to Lila and knew they were on their way to the bedroom because their voices were getting louder. Emily stood by the door and opened it a crack so she could better hear what Hope was saying to her nasty cousin.

  “What is your problem, Lila?” Hope asked angrily.

  “My problem?” she asked incredulously. “She’s been rude and mean to me since I got here. She’s always flaunting her friends and her boyfriend.”

  “She doesn’t, Lila! She was so excited to have you here. She was excited to meet you, and she only wants to share her life with you. To make you feel welcome. And you’ve done nothing but make her feel like a country bumpkin by making fun of her and blowing her off all the time.”

  “God, listen to you!” Lila sneered. “You stick up for her without batting an eye. It’s like a reflex. Someone picks on poor perfect Emily and you’re right there to take up the charge.” Lila jabbed a finger in Hope’s shoulder. “She likes to show off and brag about herself. But she’s about to find out just how imperfect her life really is!”

  Lila shoved past Hope and pushed the door to their bedroom open.

  “What are you talking about, Lila?” Hope asked, charging after her and almost colliding with Lila who was stopped just inside the door, face-to-face with Emily.

  “Eavesdropping, perfect Emily?” Lila asked, a nasty grin on her face. “That hardly seems like a good idea. You’re likely to hear something you don’t like. Then again,” Lila said, pulling a piece of fuzz off her shirt, “you probably don’t know any better.”