How could she know? Why hadn’t she stopped me when I was doing it?
“Yes,” I said. There was, as I just had seen, nothing as terrible as lying to Mother.
“Because you felt sorry for Haylee even though she tried to get you into trouble?”
“Yes.”
“That’s good, Kaylee. You cared about her despite what she had done. We have to make sure she behaves the same way toward you, has compassion for you, too, understand?”
“Yes, Mother,” I said, happy I wasn’t being put into detention, too.
“You go and let her out now, and tell her that I was so pleased with how much you felt sorry for her that I decided to reduce her punishment. She’ll see that it is important to care more for you and that by caring for you, she’s really caring for herself. Go,” she said.
When I opened the pantry door, Haylee, who was curled on the floor, slowly raised herself like a cobra. She had dried streaks of tears along her cheeks, and her hair was quite messy because she had been running her fingers through it nervously, something I would do, too.
“What do you want?” she said, spitting her words at me.
“Mother said that because I felt sorry for you and tried to comfort you even though you blamed me for something I didn’t do, you can come out now,” I said. “She said you should think about it, especially about caring more for me like I cared more for you.” I tried to recite it accurately as Mother had dictated it.
Haylee stood there in the pantry, strangely defiant even though she was being released. She folded her arms across her chest.
“Didn’t you hear what I said? You can come out.”
“She tricked me,” she said. “That wasn’t fair. I shouldn’t have been put in detention alone.”
“It wasn’t a trick. Like she told you, it was a test. She’s only trying to help us help each other all the time, Haylee. Don’t you want her to let us go to school? She won’t if she doesn’t think we’re ready to protect each other. I just heard her tell Daddy that. You’ve told me so many times that you want to go to school, and I’ve told you the same thing. Don’t you see? We’ll never get there if we don’t listen.”
She nodded, lowered her head, and walked out. I closed the pantry door.
“You should go thank her,” I said.
“Thank her?”
“Thank her for helping you understand. She likes that.”
She narrowed her eyes in that angry and suspicious way again but then smiled. “Okay,” she said. “I will. I know just what to say. I’ll say what you would say.”
I followed her to the living room. Mother was sitting back on the settee, her arms spread over the top, waiting.
“Thank you, Mother,” Haylee said. “I’m sorry for what I did and what I said. I made a terrible mistake.” She looked at me. “Sorry, Kaylee.” She leaned over and kissed me on the cheek.
Mother’s face brightened, making her look younger and even more beautiful. “That’s very good. Perfect, Haylee. You understand now? You understand why you must always protect each other?”
“Yes, Mother,” Haylee said. “I appreciate what you did for us.”
Mother’s smile deepened because Haylee said “us” rather than “me.” Haylee glanced at me, looking pleased with herself.
“Go wash up. We’re going to a restaurant for dinner,” Mother said. “You two can order your favorite pasta with meatballs.”
“Okay,” Haylee said.
I smiled. Haylee didn’t know it, but Mother was going to make Daddy happy, too, and no matter what happened, I always liked it most when everyone in our family was happy.
“And maybe we’ll all go for frozen yogurt for dessert afterward, and you two can get your favorite, blueberry,” Mother added.
Wow, she is pleased with us, I thought.
“I think I want chocolate tonight,” Haylee said, swinging her eyes toward me.