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“Hello, darlings,” Amber greeted, kneeling down. “I have heard so many things about you both. Are you not the most beautiful little girls?”
Lucy tucked herself behind me. I just stared at her.
Barely four weeks after that first introduction, Amber became our stepmom.
In the beginning, Amber packed our school lunches and told us bedtime stories in silly voices. She did Lucy’s hair in pretty styles every morning and helped me pull weeds from my little garden outside.
It felt as if her kindness might somehow repair what had broken in our home when Mom left, yet Amber’s friendliness had an expiration date.
By the time we turned nine, her attitude had twisted into something completely different.
“Could we buy those new shoes all the kids are wearing?” Lucy asked one morning.
“Be thankful for the things you own,” Amber snapped. “Your real mom left you behind. I am the one who stayed.”
“I apologize,” Lucy murmured.
“Do not apologize. Just show some gratitude.”
That response became the theme song of our childhood. We heard those words whenever we asked about school trips or new winter coats.
“Cash is tight, kids,” Amber would sigh. “You know your dad works so hard.”
So we made do with secondhand clothes, cheap meals, no birthday parties, and no holiday trips.
Meanwhile, Amber’s closet filled with expensive jackets. She bought a new cell phone every year and visited the salon roughly every four weeks.
“How come Amber gets new stuff while we get nothing?” I asked Lucy one night under the blankets.
“Quiet,” Lucy hushed me. “Do not make her angry. She could leave too.”
That became the fear that shaped us: the idea that mothers leave, and love had to be earned by always staying small, quiet, and grateful.
We believed we were the kind of children a mother would easily abandon. It had happened once before, and we were terrified it might happen again.
We had no idea that everything we believed about our mother’s disappearance was completely false.
The drive over to Amber’s house felt strange this Mother’s Day.
Lucy had texted me earlier: “I am unable to go. I tried to get off, but I am working back-to-back shifts. Please tell Amber I care for her deeply, and I will make it up to her very soon.”
“I will handle this for you,” I replied. “Do not stress! I will buy a large bouquet of flowers for both of us.”
I bought pink stargazer lilies on the way, since they were Amber’s favorite. The purchase cost $30 I could barely spare, but Amber had stayed with us — and that mattered. Plus, the gift needed to look nice enough so Lucy would not get any backlash.
The front door was unlocked when I arrived.
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