“You have a lot. So much that you don’t see.” The teasing tone in my mother’s voice grew stern. “I need to get abuela into bed, so we can have this argument again later in the week. I love you. Dios te bendiga.”
I smiled and shook my head. She ended all my calls from jail with “God bless you,” just like she’d tell me every night before I went to sleep as a kid.
“I love you too, Ma.” I ended the call and bounced the phone on my bed. It landed with a buzz against the mattress.
Victoria: Invisibility. That’s what the friend should have.
Anthony: Are you serious? Not time travel, not speed, not immortality. That’s what you pick?
Victoria: Being unseen can get you everywhere. Sue Storm could slip in and out, before anyone could stop her. The best way to win a fight is to never let them see you coming.
Anthony: And then you back it up with a Fantastic Four reference. You worry me, Falco.
Victoria: But I got you thinking, didn’t I?
She always got me thinking. Thinking about her, and how beautiful and smart she was. And how I enjoyed myself so much when I spent time with her, I almost forgot who I was.
But then, I’d head home at the end of the day and remember. I was slipping too far into a fantasy world, and I dreaded the fall out when she found out I was the bad guy instead of the hero.
4
Victoria
“Tori, get uppppp!” My little brother bounced on my bed with that angelic toddler laughter that’s adorable in daylight, but at six a.m., not so much.
Once my sleepy eyes could focus, I found him straddling my legs with a huge grin on his face. His dark eyes danced as the almost black curls on his head flopped over his forehead each time he jumped. The resemblance to his father was spooky, right down to the way you could never get mad at either one, even if they were being a gigantic pain in the ass at the time.
“Bruce, you do know that Christmas is not for like a month, right?” I squeezed his Batman pajama covered thigh and his little body shook with a loud giggle. How Drew convinced Mom to name her only son after Bruce Wayne, I’d never know. My six-year-old sister, DeDe, was named half after Princess Diana and half after Wonder Woman. She lived up to both namesakes every time she stomped around the house as if she owned it.
Because my mother was always so busy at her restaurant during the holidays, our tree went up the week before Thanksgiving. The kids loved celebrating all month long, but by the time Christmas Day came around the sight of the tree, the lights, and even poor Alfred, our Elf on the Shelf, made me want to vomit.
“We have to find the elf,” he whispered. “DeDe found him yesterday, and she said that means she gets more presents.” His mouth collapsed into a frown. “It’s not fair, he hides from me extra, I think.” When his chin fell right above the yellow Batman symbol on his chest, I knew an extra hour of sleep wasn’t in the cards for me this morning
“All right, Bruce.” I lifted him off of my legs and crawled out from under my covers, feeling in the morning twilight for my slippers.
We crept out of my room, looking floor to ceiling for Alfred the elf. I prayed my parents didn’t get ambitious last night. When it was Drew’s turn, you’d find it entwined with our kitchen chandelier or draped in some odd way over something you wouldn’t expect. With Mom, who hated that damn thing and always forgot to hide it until the last minute, Alfred would be in the large canister with her wooden spoons, out in plain sight.
“Look,” I said to my brother in a loud whisper. “There he is!” I pointed to our tree, where the elf was wrapped around a piece of garland, almost as if he was being choked. That had my mother’s name written all over it.
“Yes!” He screamed as he jumped up and down. “Thank you, Tori!” He jumped up and yanked my neck so hard I thought he was about to rip it off. I was rewarded with a sloppy, wet, kiss on my cheek before he tore down the hallway to brag to our sister that he’d found it first. I smiled and shook my head. Despite the early hour and the loss of sleep, I was happy that Bruce won this round.
“What are you doing up?” Drew asked as he came into the kitchen through the back door. Every morning like clockwork, before the sun and God were even up, he would run five miles. My mother and I were sometimes exhausted just looking at him.
“Bruce needed to find Alfred before DeDe did.” I trudged over to the coffee pot. “I hope she doesn’t turn into one of those bossy mean girls in school.” I poured the steaming elixir into my cup, remembering all the girls in school who pushed you around because they thought they could. And nine times out of ten with me, they always could.
“Ah, it’s typical brother and sister stuff. She’s a little…rambunctious maybe.” He peered at me from the kitchen table with a crooked grin. “And they both love their big sister.”
“Oh, I know that, it’s why I never get a moment’s peace around here.” I grabbed a granola bar and sat down next to Drew.
“When you weren’t much older than they are, you and I would spend Saturdays scouring comic book stores while your mom was at the restaurant, and she’d be furious at the big pile we’d come home with, remember?” He lifted a brow at me over his coffee cup. “And now you’re a college woman and aspiring writer.”
His smile faded before he leaned over to squeeze my arm. “I miss the days when I was your favorite person to hang out with, but that’s how life is. I guess I’m enjoying the trouble those two always cause because I know it doesn’t last.”
Drew had always been more than just my stepdad. I went from having no father to having two in less than a year.
“I still love hanging out with you. I just had to curb my comic habit a bit.” I grinned. “You’re right. And I do love that she’s got fire.”
“She’s got your mom in her, that’s for sure. So, tell me, what are your plans this break? Besides working at the shop too much.” He lifted a brow before rearing back in the chair.
“I’m not working too much, Drew. Dad is busy this time of year, and he needs me.”
Drew cocked his head from side to side.
“I’m sure he does, but he would let you take a Saturday off to come with us, today. Isn’t there something you want to ask Santa for?” Drew chuckled. “We’re seeing him nice and early, so he has time to let the elves know.”
“Like DeDe is going to let anyone get a word in edgewise.” I darted my eyes around the room, hoping Drew would drop it. Dad would let me take anytime off that I wanted, but I couldn’t go. Seeing Santa at Macy’s was one of those things I’d longed for as a kid but knew better than to ask for because Mom never had the time. Seeing my mother sad always broke my heart, and the memory of it still did.
Bruce and DeDe had a version of my mother that I hadn’t when I was their ages. One with a solid income, an adoring husband, and time. I knew my mother well enough to know if I went with them today, she’d let the guilt over what I’d missed out on take away from the joy she should have. Instead of reveling at what she could do for her kids now, she’d lament over how she couldn’t do them with me.