Page 6 of Shattered Trinket
“Pft. It was common sense you’d come stay here when you got out of the hospital, crazy. You’re family now. And besides, this one is fromallof us! We’ve all been working really hard to perfect it before you came home. Come on.”
Ripley gets up, holding her hand out to me with a grin and I reluctantly take it, groaning as she pulls me up.
“Ma, I’m going to show Cozy her surprise. You comin’?” she hollers with a smirk as we head for the stairs.
I hear a gasp of outrage before Valley’s small, bare feet smack against the ground as she runs around the corner to catch up to us. She frowns at Ripley, who’s burst into a fit of giggles at my side, before rolling her eyes.
“You’re not showing her without me, you brat! I’ve been waiting for her to get here and see this for weeks.”
Valley takes the lead, and when we reach the top of the staircase, we move down to the third door on the right. Stopping in front of the closed door, Valley grabs my hands in hers, giving them a slight squeeze.
“We never want you to feel like this isn’t your home, because it is now, sweet girl. You’re home, exactly where you’re supposed to be, where you will always be cared for, loved, and welcome. You may not be my blood, but you will be my daughter just as Ripley and Ridleigh are. I will love you just as much as I haveloved them for their entire lives and always fight to keep you safe. You are not a guest in this home, Cozy, nor are you a prisoner,” she says, tears glistening in her eyes, and my throat constricts as tears threaten to fill mine for the third time today.
She opens the door and pushes it open, giving me space to walk in. Hesitantly, I cross the threshold, and when I’m fully inside, I freeze.
They… made me a room. A room that’s so obviously meant for me that even I can’t deny it. It’s now, as I turn in a circle, taking it all in, that I realize all the questions Valley and Ripley peppered me with during their visits at the hospital finally make sense.
The walls are painted to look like a sunset, while the ceiling is a deep blue like the night sky, stars covering the entirety. When I look closer, I notice there are actual constellations in the design, something that excites me.
I’ll be able to lie on my bed and look at the stars whenever I want to now, I think to myself.
“River did all the painting with some help from Nico. We didn’t want to mess anything up,” Ripley chuckles nervously behind me, but I’m still trying to process it all, so I can’t respond.
There’s an enormous bed centered against the back wall—a nightstand on each side—covered in a colorful, thick quilt in pinks and oranges. Fluffy pillows and cute plushies line the headboard, and the urge to fall into them and roll around is almost impossible to ignore, but before I can let myself do that, Ripley walks across the room to another door.
“This is your bathroom. Ma and I stocked it with anything and everything we thought you might like. And some things that we know we like.”
I glance in, noting a full bath and shower, with the shelves above the toilet that are nearly overflowing with bath bombs, lotions, face washes, and more. The floor is black and white tile,the walls a light blue with puffy white clouds, and the bathmat is shaped like a cloud to match.
Everything in this room is painted to match the sky at different times of the day, and it’s probably my favorite thing about the entire space. I spent so long locked in one room with no window to look out that I used to dream about the wide-open sky above me as I ran far away from my nightmare. The stars and clouds, the moon and sun, my beacons of hope.
“And over here is your closet. We got you a few things to start you out, but I thought maybe one day when you’re settled, we could go out for a girls’ day and do some shopping so you can pick things you want. I’ll even wrangle my friend Huntleigh into coming with us. I’ve talked to you about her, but she and Gabriel are my two best friends from the Omega Center, if you don’t remember. She never says no to a shopping trip,” Ripley says hopefully as she walks over to the last door to the right of the bed.
Valley joins her, a soft smile on her lips as she waves me over to the closet.
“There’s one more thing for you in here. It was Damien’s idea to build it for you,” she says as she walks inside ahead of me. “This used to be Ripley’s room, but we never got around to putting a nest in here when she moved back home.”
Valley’s voice is dry, though amused, as she glances over at her daughter who snorts.
“The bedroom is obviously meant to be a safe space for you, but this is a space that’sonlyfor you, unless you invite someone in. Nobody will come in here unless you say it’s okay. And if they try it, they’ll have me to contend with.”
On the back wall of the closet, there’s another door, though this one is smaller and looks like you’d need to take a step up to climb through. When she opens the door, she steps back with a nervous, yet expectant expression as I step forward.
When I stick my head in, soft lights automatically flick on, bathing the small yet spacious room in light. I gasp as my heart begins to ache at what I find.
They… They built me a nest.
They didn’t decorate it or put anything in it other than the foam flooring and paint the walls a soft green with watercolor flowers, but I’ve never had my own nest before, so just knowing I have one now is more than I could have ever imagined.
I can’t stop myself from turning around and throwing myself into Valley’s arms, sobbing into her shoulder as I hug her tight.
“Thank you,” I cry, my tears wetting her shirt as she wraps me in her arms.
“Oh, baby. No. You don’t have to thank us. You deserve this and so much more,” Valley whispers against my cheek, rocking me from side to side gently. “When you’re ready, we’ll go shopping for anything your heart desires to make this nest every bit your own, okay?”
I nod, not letting her go because this hug is everything I’ve needed for so long. This motherly hug that calms every anxiety I have about my unknown future and makes me feel loved.
Eventually, Ripley joins the cuddle pile, wrapping herself around my back, making me giggle through watery eyes. And that’s where Ripley’s pack and the dads find us twenty minutes later. Sitting together on my closet floor in one big group hug between the three of us.