“Someone needs to keep an eye on things here. And who knows? You might find that Black Bear isn’t such a terrible place to live after all.”
Ha. The chances of that were the same as a snowflake in a furnace. I watched Irene make her way across the thin grass, certainty in her gait. She’d delivered her message and expected it to be heeded. But I’d had good reason to leave town, and that reason hadn’t changed.
• • •
A man strode into the hospital room. Tired green scrubs, receding hairline, tanned features.
Hello there
, he said.
I’m Dr. Swenson
.
I’d never seen him before in my life.
The nurse moved aside.
I’m concerned about the baby’s heartbeat
.
What did that mean? I tried to push myself up onto my elbows, but another wave rolled up my body and pressed me against the pillow. Julie wasn’t looking at me. She was frowning at the monitor.
The doctor seated himself behind my bent knees and disappeared from view.
How far along are you?
She’s thirty-seven weeks
, Julie told him.
Hmm
, he said.
What did that mean? That didn’t mean
anything
.
Julie was there, her hand on my shoulder.
It’s okay
.
But it wasn’t okay. I could see it on her face.
I want Mom
, I whimpered.
I know, sweetie
.
The labor nurse stood.
Time to push
.
Pain squeezed, left me floppy.
I can’t
.
Honey
, the nurse scolded,
the only way this baby’s coming out is if you push
.
Julie gripped my hand.
We’ll count
.
Counting didn’t work. The ceiling tiles swam above me. I rose toward them.
Dana?
Julie’s voice came from far away.
I looked for her, found her watching me.
One, two, three—
The number climbed. I grunted and bore down.
That’s it
, the doctor said.
The nurse whisked a paper sheet over my chest as the doctor lifted the baby out and up.
Congratulations
, I heard him say.
You have a daughter
.
A daughter who was now sleeping in her bedroom down the hall, thirty feet away.
For sixteen years, I’d dreamed about her, wondered. I’d moved as far away from her as I could to keep myself from rushing to take her back. How many times had I picked up the phone to call Julie, only to set it back down? Now, of course, it was too late. Julie was dead. Peyton had grown up as someone else’s daughter.
Turning, I found Frank standing behind me.
EIGHT
[PEYTON]
T
HE ABYSS LIES MILES BELOW THE OCEAN SURFACE . No sunlight penetrates. Temperatures hover just above freezing. The pressure’s profound. A person would be crushed to death long before they even reached this hidden zone
.
Interesting things happen to creatures that live here. They either go miniature or they get gigantic. No one’s sure why. Shrimp can be a quarter inch or afoot long; a squid that’s an inch in the upper part of the ocean will be forty feet long in the abyss. They have flexible skeletons or jelly bodies, reproduce at a slow rate, and may or may not have eyes. But the most intriguing quality of all is how they can go long periods of time without food or company
.
It’s got to be lonely down there in the deepest part of the world, but they don’t mind. They don’t know any different
.
Voices dragged her up through the layers of sleep, punched through the thin walls of her bedroom to where Peyton lay with her covers mounded around her. Sharp and angry, her dad and Dana going at it again in the kitchen.
“… drinking again,” Dana was saying.
“None of your business.”
Peyton halted in the hallway, her sweater half pulled on. Chances were, her dad would think it wasn’t her business, either.
“Irene said you’d been in AA. Maybe you should go to a meeting today.”
Was the whole town talking about her dad’s drinking? Peyton stalked into the kitchen. Her dad stood by the coffeemaker, Dana by the window. It was as though they hadn’t moved from the night before, as if they’d battled all night long. The room felt stale from their fighting.
“Don’t you guys ever give it a rest?” Stomping over
Ha. The chances of that were the same as a snowflake in a furnace. I watched Irene make her way across the thin grass, certainty in her gait. She’d delivered her message and expected it to be heeded. But I’d had good reason to leave town, and that reason hadn’t changed.
• • •
A man strode into the hospital room. Tired green scrubs, receding hairline, tanned features.
Hello there
, he said.
I’m Dr. Swenson
.
I’d never seen him before in my life.
The nurse moved aside.
I’m concerned about the baby’s heartbeat
.
What did that mean? I tried to push myself up onto my elbows, but another wave rolled up my body and pressed me against the pillow. Julie wasn’t looking at me. She was frowning at the monitor.
The doctor seated himself behind my bent knees and disappeared from view.
How far along are you?
She’s thirty-seven weeks
, Julie told him.
Hmm
, he said.
What did that mean? That didn’t mean
anything
.
Julie was there, her hand on my shoulder.
It’s okay
.
But it wasn’t okay. I could see it on her face.
I want Mom
, I whimpered.
I know, sweetie
.
The labor nurse stood.
Time to push
.
Pain squeezed, left me floppy.
I can’t
.
Honey
, the nurse scolded,
the only way this baby’s coming out is if you push
.
Julie gripped my hand.
We’ll count
.
Counting didn’t work. The ceiling tiles swam above me. I rose toward them.
Dana?
Julie’s voice came from far away.
I looked for her, found her watching me.
One, two, three—
The number climbed. I grunted and bore down.
That’s it
, the doctor said.
The nurse whisked a paper sheet over my chest as the doctor lifted the baby out and up.
Congratulations
, I heard him say.
You have a daughter
.
A daughter who was now sleeping in her bedroom down the hall, thirty feet away.
For sixteen years, I’d dreamed about her, wondered. I’d moved as far away from her as I could to keep myself from rushing to take her back. How many times had I picked up the phone to call Julie, only to set it back down? Now, of course, it was too late. Julie was dead. Peyton had grown up as someone else’s daughter.
Turning, I found Frank standing behind me.
EIGHT
[PEYTON]
T
HE ABYSS LIES MILES BELOW THE OCEAN SURFACE . No sunlight penetrates. Temperatures hover just above freezing. The pressure’s profound. A person would be crushed to death long before they even reached this hidden zone
.
Interesting things happen to creatures that live here. They either go miniature or they get gigantic. No one’s sure why. Shrimp can be a quarter inch or afoot long; a squid that’s an inch in the upper part of the ocean will be forty feet long in the abyss. They have flexible skeletons or jelly bodies, reproduce at a slow rate, and may or may not have eyes. But the most intriguing quality of all is how they can go long periods of time without food or company
.
It’s got to be lonely down there in the deepest part of the world, but they don’t mind. They don’t know any different
.
Voices dragged her up through the layers of sleep, punched through the thin walls of her bedroom to where Peyton lay with her covers mounded around her. Sharp and angry, her dad and Dana going at it again in the kitchen.
“… drinking again,” Dana was saying.
“None of your business.”
Peyton halted in the hallway, her sweater half pulled on. Chances were, her dad would think it wasn’t her business, either.
“Irene said you’d been in AA. Maybe you should go to a meeting today.”
Was the whole town talking about her dad’s drinking? Peyton stalked into the kitchen. Her dad stood by the coffeemaker, Dana by the window. It was as though they hadn’t moved from the night before, as if they’d battled all night long. The room felt stale from their fighting.
“Don’t you guys ever give it a rest?” Stomping over
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