Guest: Yes, my last two stories were much shorter than usual. This story will not be.
BoukenDutch: A couple people have mentioned "Not A Loud"...and I had no idea what they were talking about until your comment. I haven't heard of it, but it certainly seems to imply Lincoln might be adopted.
Dread55: The story is done. Written, I mean. All that's left to do is proofread and post.
Of all the days of the week, Rita Loud liked Friday the least. Fridays at the dentist's office were a nightmarish blur of patients all squeezing in for their chance in the chair before the weekend. By the end of the day, she was emotionally and mentally exhausted, and her butt hurt from sitting at the reception desk all day, since she usually didn't get to take a lunch like she did on other days...could barely even break to use the bathroom. It wasn't so bad when there was another receptionist on duty, but the last girl who had the job was a pill head who'd nod off at the desk, and they couldn't have that, so for the last three months, Rita had been alone. The only upside was the two dollar raise Dr. Jacobs gave her, and even that was barely enough of an upside to make up for the horrendous workload.
At roughly four 'o'clock that afternoon, she was scheduling a follow-up appointment for Mrs. Dandy (nice old lady...but her teeth were a disgusting tobacco brown, and just looking at her turned Rita's stomach) when her phone buzzed in her pocket.
"Alright," Rita said, handing Mrs. Dandy an appointment card, "November 7 at 2pm."
Mrs. Dandy smiled, revealing even more of her rotten teeth, "Thank you, dear. How is your family?"
"They're doing good," Rita said. "Lynn is captain of the football team this year and Lincoln's been working on his drawing more. He's very good." She unconsciously glanced at the sheet of computer paper taped to the edge of the counter: It was a drawing Lincoln did of her a couple weeks ago. It wasn't quite like looking in a mirror, but it was good, and she smiled every time she looked at it. He was going to be a very fine artist one day, and she was extremely proud of him.
"That's nice," Mrs. Dandy said. "My son drew when he was younger. All sorts of things. Rocket ships and spacemen and the like." The old woman laughed. "He's an investment banker in Arizona now."
"Oh, wow," Rita said. Mrs. Dandy had already told her this...multiple times...but Rita always played along. "He must be doing very well for himself."
"Very well," Mrs. Dandy replied with a nod, "in fact, I think he's a multi-millionaire. I've never asked, and he's never told me. I'm proud of him regardless."
"I know the feeling."
"You have a good day, dear."
"You too, Mrs. Dandy."
When the old woman was gone, Rita snuck in a bathroom break and then grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge in the dayroom. When she got back to the desk, Mrs. Henderson, who taught at the middle school, was waiting with her teenaged daughter...was it Cindi or Cynthia? Rita could never remember.
"Hi," Mrs. Henderson said happily.
"Hi," Rita replied, then looked at Cindi-or-Cynthia, "the braces are coming off today...?"
Cindi-or-Cynthia nodded shyly. She was a tall, gangly girl with lank black hair, eyes too big for her face, and a fresh smattering of acne across her too narrow cheeks.
"Finally," Mrs. Henderson said with a sigh of relief. "How much longer until Luan's come off?"
"A year, I think," Rita said after a moment of thought.
"She seems to have adjusted well," Mrs. Henderson replied, and glanced at her daughter. "This one, on the other hand, never did. It's been a nightmare."
"Well, the nightmare ends today," Rita said, signing them in. "You can have a seat."
"Thank you," Mrs. Henderson said, and she and Cindi-or-Cynthia sat in the waiting room.
She was shuffling a stack of papers when Dr. Jacobs came in. "Is my four 'o'clock here?" he asked. He was a tall man with a bald pate, dyed black hair on either side, and glasses.
Rita checked the list, then scanned the waiting room. "No."
Dr. Jacobs sighed. "Who's next then?"
Rita checked the list again. "Cynthia Henderson."
"Alright. Send her in."
Rita laid her hands on the desk and half stood. "Cynthia, honey?"
Cynthia looked up.
"You can go in now."
Rita sat down, and her phone buzzed again; she had completely forgotten it buzzed in the first place.
Her children knew not to text her while she was at work unless it was an emergency. She reached into her lab coat, pulled it out, and opened it. She had two texts from Lori. Probably something to do with the mall or needing money. Rita opened them and read, her heart leaping into her throat.
"Lincoln knows he's adopted."
Then:
"He's really upset."
Rita read and reread those two texts a dozen times, her chest throbbing and her vision blurring. Oh, no. She went to her contacts, found Lori's number and called it, holding the phone to her ear and drumming her fingers impatiently on the desk, her breathing ragged. No, no, no, no, no...
Lori answered on the fifth ring. "Hello?"
"What happened?" Rita demanded before Lori had even finished talking.
"Lisa," Lori said, stumbling over her words, "she's doing some stupid DNA thing and everyone was there and Lincoln's all messed up and I don't know what to do." She started to cry. "I don't know what to do, Mom."
Rita sighed, her own eyes misting. "J-Just wait for me. Give him space. I'll try to leave as soon as I can."
"Okay."
Rita hung up the phone; her fingers were trembling so badly that she dropped it on the desk. She hoped that this day would never come...she'd prayed that it never came...and here it was. Sudden rage flashed through her, and she swiped the phone off the desk; it slammed into a filing cabinet and dropped to the floor. She pushed away from the desk, got up, and went to examine room three, opening the door without knocking: Cynthia Henderson was sitting in the chair and Dr. Jacobs was standing over her with his hands behind his back. Mrs. Henderson was sitting across the room. They all looked at her when she entered.
"Dr., I hate to do this, but there's a crisis at home, and I need to go."
Dr. Jacobs' brow furrowed. "Is everything okay?"
Rita started to speak, but tears flooded her eyes and if she opened her mouth, they would burst forth, so she sucked her lips in and shook her head.
"Go on," Dr. Jacobs said, "I'll see you Monday...if you can make it."
She nodded and went back into the hall, closing the door behind her. On her way outside, she found Lynn Sr.'s number and called it. When he answered, she was crossing Main Street. "Hey, honey, what's up?"
"Where are you?" she asked. She glanced down the road and saw the city bus coming. She quickened her step.
"I'm at Bob's, we just finished patching up a few holes in the kitchen."
Bob Atkins was a contractor Lynn had known since high school. Occasionally he would bring Lynn in on renovation jobs (mainly those 'flip this house' projects) for extra cash.
Rita licked her lips and took a deep breath. "Lincoln...Lincoln knows."
Tense silence filled the line. "Knows?"
"That he's adopted."
For a moment Lynn didn't reply, and Rita could almost hear him grasping for words. "How?" he finally asked.
"Apparently something Lisa did having to do with DNA."
"Shit," Lynn muttered.
"Lori says he's upset. I'm on my way home now. How soon can you be there?"
"Uh...I don't know...ten minutes?"
"Okay," she said, "please...he needs us."
"I know," he said heavily, "I know."
As it happened, Rita got home before Lynn. Maybe it was her imagination, but the atmosphere when she walked through the front door was dark and oppressive; she caught her breath and shuddered. You could feel the sadness.
She threw her purse carelessly onto the end table and went up the stairs. At the top, she found Lynn, Lucy, and Lori clustered in front of Luna and Luan's door. Lori was the first to turn and see her; the girl's eyes were red and watery. "Thank God," she said, and Lynn turned. Her face was ashy and her brow was troubled. Lucy looked like she always did, save for the slight stoop of her shoulders.
"Where is he?" Rita asked as she came over.
"In there," Lori said.
Rita brushed past her and Lynn. Lincoln was sitting on the edge of Luna's bed, his head bowed and his fingers threaded through his hair. Luna was on one side and Luan was on the other, one patting his back and the other rubbing it. Leni sat at his feet and watched him with a worried expression. Lana and Lola were sitting cross-legged against Luan's bed, both looking lost.
When Rita saw her son's miserable posture, her heart shattered. She went to him and knelt, cupping his cheek in her hand. He looked up at her: His eyes shimmered with tears, hurt, and confusion. She broke down and pressed her forehead to his.
"I love you," she said simply, "I love you so much, Lincoln."
"I-I love you too," he replied dazedly. "I'm okay, I-I just...it was a-a shock."
Rita put her arms around his neck and hugged him close. "I know, honey," she said through her tears, "and I'm sorry you had to find out this way. I-I'm sorry you had to find out at all."
"We love you just the same, Linc," Luan said solemnly and rubbed deeper, as though she could transmit her love directly into him, "you've always been our brother and you'll always be our brother."
"The best little bro ever," Luna said, and leaned the side of her face against his back. "I thank God every day you're here."
"You're my Lincy," Leni said and patted his knee, "and, like, that's all that matters."
Lincoln took a deep breath. "I love you guys," he said. "I'm sorry for making such a scene. I should have handled it better."
"Nah, dude, you did great," Luna said, then didn't know how to continue. "It's a pretty heavy trip to lay on someone."
Rita held her son at arm's length and looked into his wounded eyes. "Lincoln...we love you just the same. Please don't ever for a minute think that we don't. You're one of the most precious things in the world to us."
Lincoln nodded slowly...then started to cry again, his shoulders shaking as high pitched sobs burst from his trembling lips. Rita drew him close and stroked the back of his head just like she did when he was a baby and was fussy.
Luna and Luan huddled closer, and Leni rested her head against his leg, her eyes red-rimmed and leaking. She wasn't very bright, she knew that, but she was smart enough to know how bad Lincy would hurt if he ever found out he was adopted, so over the past eleven years, she had taken great pains to keep from letting it slip. It almost happened a few times, once at his eighth birthday party; it came so close that she literally gasped, and when she was alone, she pulled her own hair until tears streamed down her face. She heard somewhere that mice can, like, be made to associate certain things with pain, and she wanted to associate almost letting it slip with pain so she wouldn't do it again...it must have worked, because that was the last time it happened.
Luna blinked back her own tears and stroked Lincoln's quivering back as their mother shhhhed him. She wanted a little brother so bad when she was young, and the day they brought him home was the happiest of her life...and still was, come to think of it. She remembered looking into the car seat with wide eyes at the small, pink thing snuggled in a mass of blankets, a tiny little tuft of white hair on top of its otherwise bald head. "That's ours?" she asked with wonder.
"Yep," Dad said proudly, "that's your brother Lincoln."
"We can keep him?" she looked up at Dad.
"Forever and ever," Dad confirmed.
"Wow." She knelt next to him, and in that moment he yawned and opened his eyes; they were brown and bright and beautiful.
"Now I need you to make me a promise," Dad said, putting his hand on Luna's shoulder. "I need you to be a good big sister to Lincoln."
"I will, daddy," Luna said, "I promise I'll be the best big sister ever."
"I know you will, sweetie...would you like to hold him?"
Luna's eyes got big. "Can I? Please? Please?"
She sat with her back against the couch while Dad unbuckled Lincoln and took him out; he curled up in a little ball and made a cute fussing noise. "Be very careful," Dad said and he sat Lincoln in her lap. Luna marveled at the tiny bundle. "I'm Luna," she said, "and I'm going to be your new big sister."
Mom and Dad laughed. Dad took a picture, Luna looking up and smiling widely, and it hung on the living room wall to this day.
"I love you," she whispered now and rubbed her brother's back.
On his other side, Luan did likewise, remembering how jealous she was when he came home. Everyone paid so much attention to him and none to her; she did not like little Lincoln. One night, she couldn't sleep, so she got up and went into her parents' room. Lincoln's bassinet was next to the bed, and Luan went over to it and glared at him. "I wish you never came here," she whispered.
He was lying on his back with his arms over his head, his mitten-covered hands balled into tiny fists. He snorted in his sleep and then cooed softly. He was kind of cute...but no, he was an attention hog.
Then he stirred and his eyes came open, fixing on hers. For a minute, neither moved, then he smiled and reached for her with a soft gurgle.
Luan loved him from that moment on.
By the door, Lori glanced away from the scene before her and took a deep breath. This was her fault...she should have known something like this would happen the moment Lisa started talking about taking DNA samples. It just didn't register. It might sound weird, but sometimes she almost completely forgot that Lincoln was adopted; he'd been a part of her life – and a major part – for such a long time that he was family. Period. It was always somewhere in the back of her mind, the way it was always in the back of her mind that the sky was blue, but it rarely ever came forward, and why would it?
She flashed back to the day Mom and Dad told her they were adopting him. She vividly remembered sitting in the back seat with her arms crossed sullenly. "I don't want a brother," she said.
"Aw, honey," Mom glanced into the rearview mirror, "just wait until you meet him. He's the cutest little thing ever."
"Why does he have to live with us?"
"Well," Dad said cautiously, "his mommy can't take care of him. She...wasn't very nice to him."
Lori blinked. "His mommy was mean to him?"
"Yes," Dad said.
"Why?" Lori asked, her heart suddenly clutching. The idea of a mommy being mean disturbed her to no end.
"She's sick, honey," Mom said, "so we're going to take care of him."
Lori still wasn't sure...then she saw him, a tiny thing with a wrinkled face and dark eyes, a little patch of white hair on top of his head. There was an ugly purple mark above his right eye. "What's that?" Lori asked.
"That's a bruise," Mom said, and Lori gasped.
"Did his mommy do it?" she asked, turning to her parents.
They exchanged a solemn look. "Yes," Mom finally said.
Lori turned back to Lincoln. "Poor baby." She reached out and stroked his head. "You're gonna live with us and we'll never hurt you..."
But they did...over a spot in the van or a slice of fucking pizza. How many fights had they all gotten into? How many times had Lincoln walked away from a sibling throwdown with cuts and scrapes and bruises just like the one his bitch of a mother left on his head? Too many, Lori realized now, and began to cry in earnest. "I'm a shit sister," she moaned, and turned away, melting into her father as he put his arms around her.
"Hey," he said softly, "no you're not. You're a great sister, honey."
"I'm awful," she wept.
"Shhhh," he said and stroked her hair. "No more. You've been everything we could have hoped for."
Lori buried her face into his chest and tried to catch her runaway emotions. She remembered all the times she'd yelled at him, or ignored him, or mistreated him, or used him...she didn't know if it was a good thing or a bad thing that she saw only her dorky little brother when she looked at him, and not the malnourished, bruise covered baby he once was.
She blinked her eyes and drew a deep, watery breath. "I'm okay," she muttered, even though she wasn't. She pulled away. "I just...need to be alone."
"You're sure you're okay?" Dad asked.
Lori nodded and wiped her eyes.
When she was gone, Lynn Sr. sighed and looked into Luna and Luan's room. Luna and Luan both rested their heads on Lincoln's back, Leni rested hers on his leg, and Rita held him tight, rocking him from side to side. The crying had stopped, and he was still. Lynn glanced away and fought back the tears filling his eyes. He knew that this day would likely come, and he had been dreading it for eleven years. He and Rita planned to tell Lincoln one day...when he was an adult...or maybe they wouldn't. He didn't have to know; would good would knowing do?
Except for...
They would probably tell him, but not now...he was a child...a sensitive child...and Lynn knew the types of things a sensitive child would feel if they found out they were adopted...he didn't want his son to go through that pain...not until he was older at least.
Heavy of heart, Lynn went into the room and knelt next to his wife, unsure of what to do, unsure of what he could do. He rested his hand on her back, then wrapped his free arm around Lincoln's neck. They were cheek-to-cheek.
"Do you know how proud I am that you're my son?" he asked. "I couldn't have asked for a better one. Your mother and I love you very much. Never doubt that."
"I-I love you too, d-d-dad."
Lynn pulled away and glanced around the room. Lola and Lana looked like they didn't know what to do with themselves, Lynn leaned against the wall and stared at her shoes, and Lucy stood off to one side with her hands behind her back. "I think we need to have a family meeting," he said.
Fifteen minutes later, all ten of the Loud children were jammed together on the couch. Mom and Dad sat on the coffee table, Mom holding Lilly in her arms. Lori stole a worried glance at Lincoln, who sat between Leni and Luna, both of whom were touching him, Luna his arm and Leni his leg. His eyes were red and puffy, but he was no longer crying. Lori longed to reach out and lay her hand on his shoulder or the top of his head, but Lucy, Lynn, Lola, Lana, and Lisa separated them, the latter with her head bowed and her arms crossed over her chest. When she came into the living room, Lori took grim satisfaction in the fact that her eyes were just as swollen as Lincoln's.
"I think it would be nice," Mom said, "if we started by sharing our favorite memory of Lincoln." She looked at Luan, who was sitting at the opposite end of the couch from Lori. Her eyes widened nervously. "I-I don't know," she stammered. "There are so many." She furrowed her brow in contemplation. "I-I cherish every memory I have of him." She smiled weakly but genuinely. "He's always there for me when I need him. I-I know I can always count on him."
Rita looked at Luna. "The same, really," she said. "I guess...I guess when we went to see Smooch and you and Clyde wound up in the mall jail for buying scalped tickets, so I dressed up like Mom and tried to bust you out but wound up right next to you because Bobby's an idiot." She legitimately laughed.
Rita's brows shot up. "You what?"
Luna smiled nervously and lifted her shoulders. "It all worked out in the end." She squeezed Lincoln's arm and glanced at him. "That was fun, right?"
Lincoln nodded, a ghost of a smile flitting across his face. "It was."
Rita looked at Leni, who brightened. "Totes when Lincy helped me learn to drive." She creased her brow and looked at Lori. "Then that one ruined it. All Lincy's hard work down the drain." She shook her head as Lori hugged herself tighter.
Lisa was next. She looked up, a stricken expression on her face. Instead of replying, she leaned forward and looked at her brother across Leni's lap. "Lincoln," she started, a note of desperation in her voice, "I am so sorry. I shouldn't have said anything...it just came out. I was thinking aloud. Please, I didn't mean it. I didn't mean to cause this. I didn't mean to hurt you." Here she started to cry; she pushed her fingers under her glasses. "Lincoln...I'm so, so sorry." Leni wrapped her free arm around the little girl and drew her close.
"It's okay," Lincoln said, "I know you didn't and I'm not upset."
"Yes, you are," Lisa moaned. "You-You c-cried. I never meant to do that to you, L-Lincoln. I love you. You're a tremendous brother and I'm sorry I hurt you."
Lincoln reached across Leni, hesitated, and took one of Lisa's hands in his own. "I'm sorry," Lisa hitched. "I had no idea. I-I-I know words fail at times like these, but you're my brother and I love you, genetics be damned."
Rita wiped a tear away from her eye and bounced Lilly faster, as if by doing so she could outrun the tempest brewing within her. "Lana?"
Lana grinned. "When you made me over as Lola. I was a better Lola than she was."
Lola blew a raspberry. "He did a good job," Lana said.
"I know he did...you, on the other hand..." she trailed off and looked at Lincoln. "My favorite memory is when we had that contest to see who could go the longest without doing their annoying thing and you beat me. I'm not used to losing, but if I absolutely had to go down in flames, I'm glad it was to you."
Lincoln couldn't help a washed out smile. She did freak over her make-up being all jacked up.
Lynn was next. She was almost as pale and shaken as Lincoln. "Uh...you're always there to play ball with me," she said without looking up. "And I know...it's not your favorite thing to do. That's pretty cool. I, uh, I appreciate it."
Rita glanced at Lucy. "When you took the blame for flushing that princess pony comic down the toilet for me." Everyone turned to look at her. "It was mine. Lincoln took the heat because I didn't want to get picked on. He missed his comic book convention and everything." Lucy looked at her brother. "No one's ever done anything like that for me...except you."
Lincoln was blushing. He wasn't used to having so much love heaped on him, and it was starting to make him a little uncomfortable.
Finally Rita looked at Lori, who was still hugging herself tightly. "Honey?"
She stared straight ahead for a moment, then ducked her head. "I keep thinking about when we went to see him before we brought him home...you, me, and Dad, and I said I didn't want a brother, then I saw him and I fell in love with him and I said 'you're gonna live with us and we'll never hurt you' but I have hurt him because I'm a terrible sister." She covered her face with her hand and fought to keep herself from breaking down. This isn't about me, she told herself.
"I'm going to be better," she vowed tearfully, "I promise." She looked at Lincoln, who couldn't bring himself to meet her eyes. "You deserve better."
Rita looked at her son. He was staring at the floor, his face flush. "We all love you, Lincoln. We want you to know that. Nothing has changed, We loved you yesterday, we love you today, and we'll love you tomorrow."
Lincoln wiped a tear from his cheek and nodded. "I love you guys, too."
"So," Lynn Sr. sighed, "I'm sure you have questions. Whatever you want to know, we'll tell you."
Lincoln took a deep breath and searched his mind but the fog was too dense, so he just shook his head. "Not right now."
Lynn Sr. reached out and patted Lincoln's leg. "Who wants pizza?"