Page 40 of Steadfast

“The two of you are a little scary,” I mumbled, kissing the top of Saoirse’s head. “Go get packed, yeah? We need to hurry.”

Saoirse left the room, but Cian stayed as I started pulling clothes out of my dresser. I didn’t have a lot of them, but I had to be strategic because I only had so much room in the car.

“You gonna try to bail before Richie gets back?” Cian asked.

I looked at him in surprise.

“You guys weren’t exactly quiet.”

“He’s got responsibilities here, bud,” I said, stuffing a pair of sandals in my bag. “He can’t uproot everything to follow us to another state.”

“Don’t you think he should choose?”

“He’s a good guy,” I replied, pausing to look at him. “Do you think his conscience would let us drive across the state by ourselves? His life is here. It’s not fair to let him go, okay?”

“Okay,” he said slowly. “I’m packed. Want me to get Ronan’s shit together?”

“Yeah, thanks.”

He started across the bedroom.

“Wait!” I tossed him my full bag. “Take that downstairs and grab the file of important papers out of Mom’s closet, yeah?”

“The blue one?”

“That’s the one. Make sure it has everyone’s birth certificates and social security cards. Leave Mom’s in the closet but bring Dad’s.”

“Got it.”

When I got back to Ailing and Saoirse’s room, Aisling had fallen asleep.

“Don’t forget her Barbies and Funky Frog,” Saoirse said as she stuffed clothes into her bag. “Can I bring books?” She was close to tears, staring at her bookshelf.

For as long as she’d been in love with reading, we hadn’t had a whole lot of extra cash. Every year I brought her to the library’s end-of-the-year sale and every garage sale we saw that had books for sale. She’d spent hours upon hours searching forspecific books and assembling her collection. Sometimes it took her a year or more to find the book she wanted.

“Five,” I choked out. “Your favorites, yeah? We might come back at some point.”

I packed up Aisling’s clothes and stuffed her Barbies in around them. “Don’t forget an extra pair of shoes and a jacket, Sersh,” I reminded her as I carried Aisling’s bag over to Saoirse’s bed. “I’m going to run down and find Ronan and start packing up.”

“Are we telling them?” Saoirse asked quietly, glancing at Aisling.

“Not yet. For now, it’s just a surprise trip to see Aunt Ashley.”

“Got it,” she muttered.

I hurried downstairs to find that Cian had already started loading the car.

“Ronan just came out here. I sent him back inside,” he informed me, leaning back out of the back seat. “Papers are in the trunk in my schoolbag, and I put our keepsake boxes in there too. Put the small coolers on the floorboards for now, so we have dinner.”

“What about the birthday card that was on the table?”

“What card?”

“There was a card on the table with Aunt Ashley’s address.”

“I didn’t see a card,” Cian argued.

“Okay, just—” I gestured toward the trunk. “Look through the boxes and find one with her address so we know where we’re going. Okay? Did you pack Ronan’s bag?”

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