My Family’s Joke. My Final Goodbye

“Have you signed the agreement?”

I stood at the far end of the porch, listening to my supervisor on the phone. The confirmation was still open on my screen.

“Yes.”

“Then we’ll stick to the schedule. Your flight leaves in three days, at two thirty. The ticket is in your email. Our contact there will pick you up.”

Three days. For a moment, it didn’t feel real.

Through the window, I could still hear Freya laughing. She sounded so bright and sure of herself. Nothing like me. I barely spoke around other people.

Three months ago, the Herbal Research Institute had been offered one place on a fifteen-year assignment with the Silver Moon Pack in the north. My supervisor had recommended me.

I’d kept putting off my answer.

I was afraid of being too far from home to come back when my family needed me.

“Anything bulky you need shipped ahead?” my supervisor asked.

“No. Just one suitcase.”

After we hung up, I sat on the porch bench.

My heart was racing. My chest ached. It took a long time before I could breathe normally again.

Fifteen years of painful memories came back to me.

What was an eight-year-old supposed to know?

My sister had said I was adopted. Our parents had confirmed it. Of course I’d believed them.

After that, whenever they fussed over her, I reminded myself that she was their real daughter. I couldn’t expect the same.

When they forgot my birthday, I didn’t dare remind them.

I already had a home. How could I ask for more?

The door opened.

My aunt stepped outside with an empty wine bottle. She stopped when she saw me.

“Tessa? Why didn’t you come in?”

I stood. “I had a work call.”

She took my arm and led me inside.

“Come on. Your mom made Freya’s favorite lamb chops. We’re just about to sing Happy Birthday.”

My sister’s name was Freya. Mom had spent months choosing it while she was pregnant.

Mom had named her Freya in the hope that the Moon Goddess would always love and protect her.

As for Tessa, my parents said someone at the orphanage had picked it at random. They hadn’t bothered changing it when they adopted me.

Mom had laughed when she told me.

“A name’s a name. At least we weren’t as heartless as your birth parents. They couldn’t even be bothered to give you one.”

Of course. What kind of parents could be that cruel? Cruel enough to let their own daughter believe she’d been adopted.

Blue ribbons hung across the living room. Moon-shaped candleholders stood on the mantel. A birthday banner with Freya’s name had been added to the festival decorations.

My birthday was five days earlier.

No one had mentioned it.

Freya was curled up on the couch, playing a game. She lifted her chin when I walked in.

“So you did remember to come home. I thought you’d spend another festival with the nerds at that institute.”

“I got some time off.”

“Oh. I put a few things in your room, by the way. You’ll have to move them.”

I opened the door to my little bedroom.

Coats she no longer wore covered the bed. Open bottles of perfume and half-used skincare products crowded the desk.

Everything she didn’t need right now had ended up in my room.

I moved the clothes aside until there was just enough space to lie down.

It was only for three nights.

“Tessa, give me a hand,” Mom called from the kitchen.

I took off my coat and accepted the roasting pan she held out.

Every time I came home, someone put me to work before I’d even sat down. I was used to being ordered around like the maid.

There were eight of us, but only seven chairs at the table.

I fetched a folding chair from the storage room and squeezed in at the corner nearest the kitchen.

“That’s a good spot for you, Tessa,” Mom said. “You can bring more bread over when we run out.”

Freya was opening her presents.

My aunt had given her a pale silver evening dress. The other had bought perfume. Our parents had chosen a gold necklace with a moonstone pendant. Her initial was engraved on the back.

“Mom, I love you! This must have cost a fortune.” Freya cradled it in her palm, her eyes shining.

“Don’t worry about the price. As long as you like it.” Dad smiled as he fastened it around her neck.

The receipt was tucked beneath the box.

Thirty-six hundred dollars.

I’d sent them thirty-two hundred just last month.

“What did you get Freya, Tessa?” my aunt asked.

Everyone turned to me.

I took out an envelope with a gift card inside.

“There’s five hundred dollars on it. You can pick something you like.”

Freya pursed her lips and tossed it onto the table.

“Thanks.”

Mom frowned and lowered her voice.

“Freya has always looked after you, and all you got her was five hundred dollars?”

My knife stopped at the edge of my plate.

Looked after me?

That was the funniest thing I’d heard since coming home.

She’d told me I was an orphan when I was too young to know better. I’d spent fifteen years living in fear because of her.

Was that what Mom called looking after me?

I lowered my eyes and ate a piece of lamb. I didn’t argue.

It didn’t matter anymore. This would be my last Moonlight Festival in this house.

The laughter went on around me. It felt like a family sitcom everyone had rehearsed for years.

Everyone knew their part. Everyone knew their lines.

Mine was to bring the food, pour the wine, and clean up afterward.

I only had one line.

“Okay.”