The following afternoon, just past 5 PM, Martin stood before the imposing gates of the Mioro residence. The house was large, modern, and cold-looking under the gray sky. He wore the same soft, placid smile he’d had since the night before. He rang the bell.

  After a moment, Ava herself opened the door. Her eyes widened in genuine astonishment. “Oh my goodness,” she said, a slow, mocking smile spreading across her face. “He actually came. I only put that invitation in your locker for the heck of it. But since you’re here… why don’t you be my guest of honor?” Her tone was sweetly venomous.

  “I’d be delighted,” Martin replied, his smile unwavering.

  She stepped aside, ushering him into the opulent foyer. “Everyone’s upstairs. Making final touches.” She led him up a sweeping staircase, toward the sounds of girlish laughter and pop music.

  Back at the Cologna house, a different kind of waiting was unfolding. Sadie emerged from her room for the first time that day, her face puffy but calm. She found Loria in the living room, nervously folding and refolding a blanket.

  “Sadie,” Loria said, a rush of relief in her voice. “You’re downstairs. Thank goodness.”

  Sadie walked over and, to Loria’s shock, sat on the couch right next to her, closer than she had in over a year. “Has Martin left for the party?” Sadie asked quietly.

  “Yes. He went a little while ago.”

  Sadie nodded. She inched even closer, her small shoulder almost touching Loria’s arm. “Do you… want to wait the day out with me?”

  Loria blinked, utterly thrown. “What?”

  “I’ve noticed you’ve been really on edge,” Sadie said, her voice small but clear. “And after how I’ve treated you… this must all be extra hard. So, we should wait together.”

  This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

  Loria’s eyes filled with tears. “Sweetheart, I’m glad you’re worried, but it’s okay. You’re going through so much yourself, finding out about Martin…”

  “I’m okay,” Sadie insisted. “And that’s why I’m telling you not to worry so much. I believe… after today, everything is going to be okay. We just have to wait. So, will you wait with me?”

  The simple faith in her words, so reminiscent of Martin’s strange calm the night before, broke something in Loria. She looked down. “Sadie… I’m so sorry we didn’t tell you. About Martin.”

  “It’s okay,” Sadie said quickly. “If anyone should be sorry, it’s me.” She took a deep breath, the words she’d held back for a year finally tumbling out. “When Dad and Mum split up, and you came… it happened so fast. I didn’t know how to… to let you be my stepmum. So I was just… mean. I’m sorry. Can you… give me another chance?”

  “No, no, no, no,” Loria said, waving her hands, her tears falling freely now. “It’s okay. I get it. I really do. Having a new mum thrust on you… having to call her ‘Mum’… that’s huge. I’d have struggled too.”

  Sadie looked up at her, her own eyes glistening. “What should I call you, then?”

  Loria wiped her cheeks, giving a wobbly smile. “You can call me whatever feels right to you. All that matters is what you mean by it.”

  Sadie was silent for a long moment, then she leaned her head tentatively against Loria’s arm. “Then… Ma? Would you like to wait the day out with me?”

  Loria choked out a watery laugh, wrapping an arm around the girl. “You sound just like your brother. Yes. I would like that very much.”

  They sat in comfortable silence for a while. “What should we do while we wait?” Sadie asked.

  “We could watch TV?” Loria suggested.

  Sadie sat up straight, putting on a haughty expression. “No. I am a woman of prestige. I only read newspapers.”

  Loria laughed, a real one this time. “Do you actually like reading them?”

  “Not at all,” Sadie confessed, the act dropping. “I just wanted you and Dad to think I was mature enough to get a phone.”

  “Well,” Loria grinned, “that plan has failed spectacularly.” She reached for the remote and turned on the television for background noise, the quiet hope that had blossomed between them a fragile shield against the day’s anxiety.

  Sadie, remembering her proclaimed ‘prestige,’ went to the front door to fetch the newspaper from the porch. She was surprised to find two—the morning edition and an evening special. The light was fading. She picked up the top one and carried it inside, forgetting to close the door behind her. She walked slowly back toward the living room light, her eyes scanning the front page.

  Her steps slowed. Then stopped. She raised her head, her eyes wide, and looked at Loria.

  Loria had turned from the TV, her face illuminated by the screen, her expression one of stunned, disbelieving joy. The news anchor’s voice, clear and triumphant, filled the room: “—breaking news out of the capital. A team of international scientists, in collaboration with Woodblock researchers, has announced a major breakthrough: a viable vaccine for Blood Wax Disease.”

  Sadie looked down at the newspaper in her hands. The headline screamed the same truth in bold black print: VACCINE FOUND: HOPE FOR WOODBLOCK AT LAST.

  The shock on Sadie’s face melted. It twitched into a disbelieving chuckle. Then the chuckle burst into pure, unrestrained, joyful laughter. The sound mixed with the news anchor’s voice and Loria’s silent, happy tears, filling the house with a hope so sudden and so profound it felt like the air itself had changed.

  They had been waiting for an ending. What arrived, against all odds, was a beginning.