The Question

It was completely unintentional, Jane knew, but nevertheless, Adrian's question hit her like a ton of bricks. Though it was a very simple question she herself had asked many, many times, she had only recently resigned herself to the fact she would very, very rarely know the answer to it.

"Where did Momma go?"

Adrian stuck his thumb in his mouth and blinked up at her expectantly. It took all the strength Jane had not to burst into tears. Maybe it was the fact that junior high sucked more than she ever thought possible. Maybe it was the fact that she had just failed another math test. Maybe it was just the fact that she hadn't seen or heard from her own mother since…since long enough ago that Jane couldn't really remember when. That's a good question, Adrian. That's a very good question.

Gathering herself, she smiled at her nephew the way Penny, then Wind, then Trent had smiled at her and asked, "Where's your sister?"

Not willing to relinquish his thumb, Adrian turned and pointed to the kitchen. As if on cue, there was a crash and sound of something spilling across the linoleum. Scooping up Adrian, Jane made her way toward the inevitable disaster. Since no wail had sounded, she figured it was only mess, not injury. Standing in the entry to the kitchen, Jane saw Courtney standing in the center of a growing lake of milk, little tan Os gently floating along to join the dust bunny colony under the fridge.

Courtney looked up, her large blue eyes rapidly filling. "I didn't mean to! I just wanted…wanted…" She started to hiccup as the tears spilled over.

Jane sat Adrian on one of the kitchen chairs. "It's okay, Court." She picked up the bowl that had fallen, one ironically, her mother had made. "See? You didn't even break the bowl."

Courtney scrubbed at her eyes in an attempt to wipe away the tears, continuing to hic and sniff as Jane picked up the overturned milk carton and placed it on the table. Grabbing the last few sheets off the roll of paper towels, Jane set up a dam between River Lait and the fridge and corralled Milk Lake into a more manageable area. While she searched for more absorbent materials to soak up the mess, Adrian hopped off the chair and crouched by the puddle. He got his sister to laugh when he poked at the Os floating around, making them spin crazily and bump into one another.

"I'm going to take a wild shot in the dark and guess you're hungry," Jane said as she dropped an old t-shirt she'd found by the door onto the puddle, ending the Floating O Water Spectacular. Looking in the cereal box, she decided there wasn't enough left to feed both of them. Not to mention she was hungry, too.

"Crap. Did Summer leave you any money or anything?" Jane couldn't imagine she would have thought of it. After all, she obviously thought nothing of leaving two little kids to fend for themselves, but there was always the hope.

Adrian had his thumb back in his mouth and only shrugged. Courtney replied, "She took the babies and said she had to go and you'd be home soon."

Guess I can't really expect her to act any better than Mom and Dad did with us. Every once in a while, Jane wondered if she should call Social Services and get Courtney and Adrian (and the baby twins) into real families, but she knew she'd probably end up somewhere else, too. And from what she'd heard, foster homes were no fun. She told herself it was better to be ignored in familiar territory where they knew how to fend for themselves than in some strange new place. Besides, who would poke Trent and make sure he was still alive now and then?

Inwardly, Jane sighed. Outwardly, she smiled and clapped her hands. "Okay! Who wants to play Treasure Hunt?"

The two squealed with glee. It was a game Jane had invented the first time the older siblings and parents had left the younger ones with an empty pantry. Courtney and Adrian were still young enough to think it was nothing but a fun game. Jane thanked whatever Fate was smiling that they hadn't played in a while. The three of them raced through the house, turning over cushions, looking in dusty corners and under furniture for whatever money they could find: beat up quarters, dingy nickels or the rarest and most coveted of treasures, crumpled dollar bills. When they were sure they'd checked in every drawer, shelf, paper pile, nook and cranny, Jane helped them count their findings. Thankfully, most of it was American currency this time.

"Adrian found four dollars and eleven cents, I found five dollars and eighty-five cents which makes Courtney the winner with ten dollars and twenty-eight cents!" Jane announced. Courtney got up and did a victory dance, hopping from foot to foot and shrieking her triumph.

"No fair! She found a ten dollar bill!" Adrian pouted.

For which you should be very, very thankful. Jane kept the thought to herself and shrugged. "That's how the game goes. You won, Court, so you get to pick a topping!"

"Sketti-Os!" Courtney demanded.

Jane raised an eyebrow. "I don't think they have that. Try again."

Courtney wiggled in indecision. "Ummmmm…peronis!"

Jane gathered the mish-mash of coins and bills and jumped up. "Pepperoni it is!"

After she had ordered the pizza, she turned to Courtney and Adrian. "So, what should we do till the pizza gets here?" Please God, keep Trent and the band away.

"Horsey rides!" Adrian shouted.

Sensing he was still miffed over losing Treasure Hunt, Jane obligingly got on her hands and knees, allowing Adrian to scramble onto her back. Once she was sure he had a fistful of her shirt to hang onto, she mock-reared with a poor imitation of a whinny.

"Go, horsey, go!"

Jane winced. "No kicking, remember? Be nice to the horsey."

"I wanna ride!" Courtney whined.

Jane was awkwardly scooting around the kitchen and living room floors, trying to avoid Dirty Shirt Mud Flats. "You're next, Court."

An exhausted Jane was relieved to hear the doorbell half an hour later. Moving papers off the coffee table so they could all sit and reach the pizza, Jane noticed a check fall to the floor. She grabbed it like a lifeline and stuffed it in her pocket. Penny had forgotten about it no doubt, but Jane would make sure either she or Summer took her to the bank tomorrow to deposit it and get some cash. Hopefully, they wouldn't have to play Treasure Hunt again this month.

There were two slices left and Jane waited for the kids to say they didn't want it before reaching for one.

Adrian bit his lip, looking up at Jane. "Should we save it for Momma?"

Courtney had reached for the other piece, but stopped. "Where did Momma go? Will she be hungry when she comes back?"

"I think she'd want you guys to eat it if you're hungry." Jane swallowed the lump in her throat. She knew better than to try to answer the question, anything she could come up with would probably be a lie. Like the answers Penny and Wind and Trent had given her. She watched as the two munched the last slices in silence.

Jane blinked the memory away, the delicious scent and dripping oil of hot, fresh pepperoni pizza bringing her back to the present. Dabbing at the small grease spot on her shirt, she patted her well-rounded belly. "I promise, on this sacred pepperoni pizza, you will always, always know the answer to that question."