Impostor Syndrome

Chapter 16: Mother and Daughter

"You and your sister get your emergency bags ready to go. Do you think you can slip out if he gets there before I do?"

There was a pause and she could almost see the girls looking at each other. "Yeah," Della said.

"Okay, because if he's already on his way, I can't take the car, so I can't take all your things. I'll come by plane and then we'll go to Liss's. Okay?"

"Yeah."

There was a pause and Anne was about to say good-bye, but Della said, "Mom?"

"Yes, honey?"

"Thank you."

Tears came to Anne's eyes. "Thank me when I get to you, okay? I love you both. See you in a couple hours."

"Love you too, Mom."

"Love you," Addie said, and Anne ended the call.

She called Jen, then.

"Hello?" Jen asked, as sleepily as Anne had been a minute earlier.

"Sorry to keep doing this," Anne said. "He's on his way to get the kids, I'm going to try to fly out to them, but I don't have time to get all my shit out of here and can't take it with me to the airport. Do you think you and Mel could come meet me as I check out?"

"Uhh...yeah, let me get her up. She sleeps like the dead."

"I promise I'll pay you back for all of this."

"You've helped me out before. This is just what we do."

"Still, I owe you."

"Just get the wee ones safe. I'll text you when we're there."

Anne packed her non-emergency belongings back into her suitcase. The only things she needed for this journey were in her emergency pack that she'd begun in her her thirties and had also encouraged the girls to do so. The emergency pack contained water, first aid, hand-sanitizer, protein bars, peanut butter, dry nuts, a couple of canned goods, a water-proof tarp, small frying pan and pot, lighter, matches, flint, pocket knife, tether, tape, cash, collapsible bucket, bear spray, flashlight, bug spray, sunscreen, compass, a dry change of clothes, a new pair of steel-toed shoes, and a number of other small things meant to get one by if they had to live in the woods for an extended period. Anne felt that time was coming.

Legal or not, her loyalty was to her daughters, and if she had to hide them in the woods until they reached the age of majority she'd bloody do it. It might mean she went to prison afterward, but at least they'd have the ability to move far away from their father.

She brought her suitcase down and met Jen and Mel at the door, checked out, gave them the suitcase, and hurriedly booked and got into a Subre for the airport. Viktoria, since Anne's youth, had encouraged her to keep her bank account separate from whomever she might partner with, having known too many women who'd suffered as a result of men's poor financial decisions or outright clearing the account after a breakup or divorce. Viktoria had been partnered with Grampa for over 50 years before they'd eventually gone together. They'd never married, not wanting to support the institution of it, and they'd never shared a bank account. Anne had paid heed and Will hadn't objected, and it was her money she'd be using to take the late night flight, the cost of which was half a year's rent where she'd used to live before she and Will had bought their house.

It was a long time since she'd been on a plane. Will liked driving and their vacation time was mostly spent visiting family. They'd once visited Ireland for Anne's family history but other than that when they did travel to vacation somewhere, it had been to explore the vastness of their own country. Their honeymoon had been spent up north because Anne had wanted to see the aurora.