The Variables

She didn’t reply.

“Well, what I really came to say,” Huck continued, still holding on to her hand, “is that I think Teddy should stay in someone else’s care until you have recovered from the trauma of the System failure.”

“I’m not traumatized,” Blair said. She could feel her hand begin to quiver against his, her face turn hot. She flipped her blonde hair over her shoulder and waited.

“You still have blood on your clothes.”

“You said Teddy could stay in my care. He’s mine.” Mine. Mine. Not mine, she thought.

“It’s decided, Blair. Allison was more than helpful and she has agreed to watch Teddy for just a little while more—”

“No,” Blair said. “No!” She stood up and crossed her arms. “You know that the only thing I care about is that child.”

“I need your full focus on our plan—”

“The plan is over, Dad! This is it...we are here, on Kymberlin. There is nothing else to plan. This is the plan. Is that so hard for you? Do you always need something else to build, something else to do?”

“My control is in jeopardy. Do you understand? I need you to build support...lobby...”

“Dad,” Blair said in a steady voice. “Go to bed. Come talk to me when you’ve thought this through. You’re being...ridiculous. I have done nothing but stand by your side and support every single move you have ever made. I have loved you, feared you, worked for you for my entire life. And if you take away the one thing that I have ever asked for in return—”

“The boy does not belong to you,” Huck said simply. “He belongs to me. He is an orphan of the Islands and he is mine.”

Blair couldn’t contain her sadness and rage, she let out a primal scream at her father and reached out at the closest item within her reach: a vase that had traveled with her from place to place: it was a blue and green mosaic always boasting a single flower of the season. She grabbed it along the neck and threw it to the side, where it shattered against the wooden floor of her new kitchen, sending the glass scattering.

“I hope that had significance to you,” Blair said through her tears and she moved to the stairs. “Did you buy that for me? On one of your trips?”

“I don’t care about things,” Huck said without moving. He stared at his daughter thoughtfully. Then he rose and walked to the door, opened it wide, and allowed two guards to slide into the house.

“No,” Blair said and she scrambled up the steps. “You won’t take him away from me. I love that boy! Do not take him away from me!” The guards moved with quick steps, unflinching as they gained on her. She tore up to the top level and barricaded Teddy’s door as they approached. “Don’t,” she whispered, aware of how her blubbering must have appeared. Her mind went to thoughts of Teddy’s empty bed, his abandoned toys, and then her thoughts shifted to Darla on the shore. “Don’t take him. Please...you don’t understand. I need him. You can’t take him from me.”

“Ms. Truman,” one of the men said slowly. “Please move or we will have to take you away by force.”

“Call my brother,” she said hoarsely. “Can’t you call my brother?”

From behind the men, her father had climbed the stairs. She saw, for the first time since he had arrived, a true flash of anger.

“Gordy has no power over this decision. You and your brother can gang up against me all you wish, but you will lose,” Huck said, his voice shaking—his unraveling visible and tangible.

“Why do you want to hurt me?” Blair asked, pushing her hands against the doorframe until her arms ached from the pressure. “Why have you changed your mind? The boy is not a pawn in your game, Father. He is a child...who needs me.”

“Take her away from the door,” Huck said without answering.

The guards were able to move Blair easily, but as soon as she had been pulled from the door, she stopped fighting. The last thing Teddy needed to see was her sobbing and wracked self, kicking and screaming as he was carried away. She walked to her father and stood before him, recognizing the puffiness of the flesh underneath his eyes.

“As if I needed more proof that you never loved me,” Blair said, wiping her tears. Then she slipped into the shadows of the hallway and crossed her arms, and watched as the guards cradled the sleeping Teddy and carried him down the stairs, tucked up in the quilt off her bed.

When Blair could no longer see him, she took a long look at her father and then walked into the child’s room, shut the door behind her, crawled onto his bed, curled up into a ball, and cried herself to sleep.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

It was an unacceptable answer. Maxine stood in their kitchen and shook her head. Then she looked at Scott, her eyes full of tears. Lucy paced from one end of the kitchen to the other, her arms crossed and her jaw clenched. Galen sat on the steps that led up to the loft, and the twins were huddled near the window. Harper was asleep. Ethan was at the kitchen island, his head in his hands. There they all were, together, to endure the grim news.

“He can’t do that,” Maxine said. “Not without a vote.”

“He can do whatever he wants,” Scott answered. “He’s Huck. This is his world...I’ve never had any power, Maxine. He’s needed me and, honestly, now he doesn’t. And frankly, I’ve brought him the most trouble...Ethan and Lucy’s arrivals and...Grant...”

“We’re trouble?” Ethan took offense.

“I don’t see it that way, but—”

“Where is Grant?” Lucy asked again over the ensuing argument. “You don’t understand...you left him there. You didn’t secure his safety and then you left him there?” Maxine shot her a warning look, but Lucy ignored it.

“Gordy was adamant that Grant be spared,” Scott said matter-of-factly. “His life is not in danger.”

“Then where is he?” Lucy asked again.

“I don’t know,” Scott said to his daughter. “I don’t know.”

“Find him.”

“I have no authority to find him. My clearance level has been reset.”

Maxine shook her head again. “What does that mean, Scott? What does that mean?”

“No more meetings,” he answered calmly. “It’s not the end of the world.”

Everyone turned and looked at him slowly.

Ethan let out a small, a

“Claude still has his clearance level intact. I’ll go get him,” Ethan a

“No one leaves this house,” Maxine a

“I knew about the immunity,” Scott said.

Lucy stopped pacing and turned to look at her father. Her mother narrowed her eyes. She took a threatening step toward Scott and Lucy held her breath as she watched her raise a crooked finger.