Chapter 3 - My Daughter Finally Told MeDarius left before sunrise.
His itinerary was ugly.
Two connections.
Hours of waiting.
Then ground transportation.
He didn't care.
“Bring her home,” I whispered.
He kissed my forehead.
“I will.”
After he left, I called Rose again.
This time, she answered immediately.
She was sitting near an airport security office with her backpack wrapped around her legs.
An employee had given her water.
Her phone battery was at eleven percent.
I wanted facts.
Rose gave me something worse.
The truth.
Max had mocked her from the moment their flight was rerouted.
When she expressed concern about the connection, he called her “Princess Panic.”
Kendra laughed.
Grandpa told her to stop reading scary things online.
Grandma said traveling would “toughen her up.”
Rose tried to ignore them.
Then, during the layover, Max asked where she kept her passport.
She refused to tell him.
Twenty minutes later, it disappeared.
She searched everywhere.
Her jacket.
Backpack.
Carry-on.
Bathroom.
Gate seating.
Again.
Again.
Again.
She begged the family not to board until they found it.
They told her she was holding everyone up.
Then boarding began.
Rose started crying.
“Mom,” she whispered through the phone, “Grandma told me I was embarrassing everyone.”
I pressed my fist against my mouth.
“Then Grandpa said airport staff would help me.”
“What did Kendra say?”
Rose became quiet.
“Aunt Kendra said if I couldn't manage one airport by myself, maybe I wasn't ready for college.”
My eyes burned.
“And Max?”
“He was laughing.”
I looked through the suite windows at the ocean.
Yesterday I had imagined all of us sitting beneath those palm trees together.
Rose drinking something ridiculous from a coconut.
My father complaining about sunscreen.
Mom taking photographs.
Kendra asking me to upgrade another dinner.
That imaginary vacation was dead.
“When did they find the passport?”
Rose hesitated.
“Before they boarded.”
My grip tightened around the phone.
“How do you know?”
“Savannah told me.”
My heart stopped.
“What?”
“She came back from the gate.”
That wasn't part of the story they had told me.
“Why?”
“She said she felt bad.”
Rose's voice trembled.
“She told me Max had hidden it.”
“Did she bring the passport?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“She said Aunt Kendra had it.”
A chill traveled down my spine.
Kendra had possessed Rose's passport.
And she had boarded the plane with it.
This wasn't merely a stupid prank anymore.
It was a deliberate choice.
“Rose, listen to me.”
“Okay.”
“None of this was your fault.”
She started crying.
Not loudly.
That somehow hurt more.
“I thought maybe I was being dramatic.”
“No.”
“They kept saying I was.”
“You were cautious.”
“I should've kept the passport somewhere else.”
“Rose.”
I waited until she answered.
“Yeah?”
“Max took it. Kendra kept it. They left. Those were their decisions.”
Silence.
Then she whispered:
“Are they mad at me?”
That question broke my heart.
She was the one abandoned.
And she was worried whether they were angry.
“No, baby.”
My voice hardened.
“They should be worried about whether you're ever going to forgive them.”
After the call, I opened the reservation portal again.
Then my phone rang.
Kendra.
I ignored it.
Again.
Ignore.
Then Mom.
Dad.
Kendra.
Mom.
Finally, a text appeared.
WHAT DID YOU DO?
I looked at it for several seconds.
Then another.
THE HOTEL SAYS OUR RESERVATIONS WERE CANCELED.
Another.
CALL ME NOW.
I didn't.
Because while they were discovering what it felt like to suddenly have no room in a foreign country, my daughter was still sitting alone beneath fluorescent airport lights.
For once, inconvenience had found the correct people.
Then a message arrived from Savannah.
Aunt Monica, there is something else you need to know.
I stared at the screen.
Three dots appeared.
Disappeared.
Appeared again.
Then she sent:
Max recorded Rose crying.
And Mom made him delete it before we reached the hotel.
My blood went cold.
May you like
But Savannah wasn't finished.
I saved a copy.
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