Chapter 3
The car ride home was eerie.
Quiet.
She cast continuous glances at her daughter when she thought Betty wasn’t looking. Once or twice she felt FP’s eyes on her, but her focus remained solely on her child.
Betty didn’t remember her.
It was a shot to the heart, worse, somehow, than the pain of actually losing her child. Was she cruel for expecting some big reunion? For hoping against hope that Elizabeth would run into her arms, screaming and crying about how much she had missed her?
Two years was a long time.
The bruises she was sporting turned her heart to ice.
This was her fault.
She’d let Hal hurt her daughter. Again.
She had promised Betty that she would protect her, but she had failed. Again.
I’m so sorry, baby, Penny thought. I’m so fucking sorry.
***
Mommy thought she hadn’t noticed, but Betty could see that she was crying.
FP, Jughead’s dad, she thought, ran a comforting hand up and down her arm, and Betty suddenly remembered every late night visit he’d ever paid to their little house just to pick up the pieces.
FP was good. Not like Hal.
Why was her mommy crying?
She shouldn’t have been crying.
After all, she was the one who didn’t want her anymore. Who didn’t love her. Her mommy had willingly given her up to Hal and Alice without a second thought.
So why was she crying?
Betty returned her gaze to the window, pretending to watch the raindrops splattered to the glass chase one another down the side of FP’s truck.
She would have known that little yellow house anywhere.
Her swing set was out in the side yard, along with her playhouse, a tricycle and her doll Angela’s carriage.
Mommy had kept everything.
She thought about the brick colonial in New York, her perfectly pink bedroom, complete with a canopy bed and all the frilly dresses she had never wanted. It was a house, but it had never been her home.
This was her home.
Or at least... it used to be.
But if her mommy really didn’t want her...
Then why was she here?
***
“Come on, honey,” Penny said softly, unbuckling her seat belt to pull her from the back of the truck.
Fuck, she thought. Wouldn’t she need a fucking booster seat or some shit like that now?
Fucking hell.
She had no idea what to do with a five-year-old.
“Betty.”
Her daughter remained stoic, staring straight ahead.
“Elizabeth-”
Betty’s gaze snapped to hers, eyes wide.
Penny sighed, scooping the little girl up like she was a newborn, made of glass. Much to her surprise, Betty’s arms wrapped around her neck in a vice grip, clinging to her for dear life.
What the hell?
She’d take it, she decided. this was the first time she was getting to hold her baby in two years, so she would take anything Elizabeth was willing to give.
“Oh, sweetheart...”
Betty stiffened and she clamped her mouth shut.
Right. No talking. Now wasn’t the time for talking, or terms of endearment. For now, she would gladly hold onto her daughter.
“I can stay...” FP started to offer, but Penny shook her head.
She and Betty needed this time together. They needed to be alone.
He gave her a short nod, understanding in his eyes. “If you need anything at all...”
“I know, FP,” Penny whispered, forcing a smile. “Thank you.”
***
Mommy held her like she might never let go.
Not that Betty was exactly willing to let go either.
FP drove off the second they were inside. The door shut behind them, and slowly she lifted her head from her mommy’s shoulder.
Everything... looked the same.
Her toys were exactly as she had left them, gathering dust in every corner of the small house. Her bedroom door had been left slightly ajar.
Just enough to let the light in, mommy had always told her.
Betty gave a little wiggle, and her mommy seemed to understand, carefully placing her on her feet.
She moved around like she had never been there before. A doll house. A tea set. A soccer ball and a toy computer. A coat she had started to outgrow the last time she had worn it. Shoes that wouldn’t fit her anymore.
With shaking hands, she pushed her bedroom door open and stepped inside.
Butterflies littered the walls. Some were old, some were new.
Angela was lying on her neatly made bed. The locket Jughead had given her so long ago lay on the bedside table.
Betty went for the doll first.
Penny got rid of all your stuff, Lizzie, she remembered Hal sneering, as she pleaded to go home for what must have been the millionth time.
She should have known...
Hal had lied.
A sob escaped the back of her throat as she heard her mommy step into the room behind her.
“Betty, honey?”
Finally, Betty dared to speak.
“You kept it,” she whispered.
Mommy looked like she was ready to cry too. Kneeling to her height, she curved a hand down the side of her face.
“Baby...”
“M-Mommy?” Betty rasped.
The look on her mommy’s face was breathtaking. For as long as she lived, Betty decided, she would never forget this moment.
“Mommy,” she said again.
Arms wrapped around her in a crushing hug.
***
Betty had finally called her mommy.
Penny let out a sob of her own as she pulled her in close, feeling the little girl’s arms wrap around her neck in another vice grip, almost like she was afraid to let go.
“I’m right here, baby,” she promised. “Mommy’s right here.”
***
Her little girl fell asleep not long after.
Penny carefully rose to her feet, carrying Elizabeth over to the toddler sized bed. She’d need a bigger one soon.
She would need a lot of new things. Clothes. Shoes. Underwear.
Whatever Betty wanted, she could have it.
Gently, she laid her daughter down on the mattress, pulling the covers up to her chin. A small smile spread across her face as Betty immediately reached for Angela, curling her arms around her.
Bending down, she kissed her forehead.
“Mommy loves you, sweetheart,” Penny whispered.
Stepping out into the hallway, she left the door open.
Just enough to let the light in.
***
Penny doesn’t want you anymore, Lizzie.
She never loved you.
Why would she love you?
***
“Mommy!”
***
“Betty?” Arms wrapped around her, shaking her awake. “Honey, it’s okay. I’m here. Mommy’s here.”
Her eyes opened.
She was safe. In her room. In her home. With her mommy.
She was safe.
Her mommy sat on the bed, pulling her down onto her lap. A hand smoothed her hair back, but when she winced, quick fingers gently began to undo the tight braids Alice had forced her curls into that morning.
Or was it yesterday morning?
She didn’t know anymore.
She didn’t care.
Because she was home.
And Hal was a liar.
“Are you okay, baby?”
Betty shook her head.
“Did you have a nightmare, my little butterfly?”
My little butterfly. That’s what mommy had always called her.
“Honey, what is it?” Her mommy asked, slowly rocking her back and forth. “Betty... baby... please talk to me.”
***
It was too big of a question to ask such a little girl.
But her little girl had always been wise beyond her years.
She remembered the night Betty had announced that Hal was not her father, that she only wanted to be a Peabody. Not a Blossom.
I only need you, mommy.
“Did daddy...” Penny swallowed the lump in her throat. “Did Hal hurt you again, baby?”
“He made me call him daddy again,” Betty whispered, sniffling. “And he made me call Alice mommy, but I didn’t want to! I swear, mommy!”
“Elizabeth...”
“You’re my mommy,” she cried. “But he told me that Alice was my mommy, and he said that... he said...”
If she ever saw Hal Blossom again, she would make him burn.
“Whatever it is, Elizabeth, I can promise you it’s not true,” she said bravely, pulling back to look at her daughter. “Just tell me, baby. Tell me and I’ll take care of it.”
Tearful green eyes met her own.
It was one of many traits she’d inherited from her grandmother. She looked nothing like the Blossom’s, thank God. A Peabody through and through. Her girl.
“He said you didn’t... want me anymore.”
Penny never knew a single sentence could break her.
“Honey, I...” Her mouth opened and closed. “Elizabeth Regan Peabody, that is not true. It’s a fucking lie!”
If Betty remembered all the times she’d cursed in front of her before, she didn’t show it. She flinched, and Penny sighed.
Hal was a dead man.
“Betty,” Penny waited until she was looking at her again. “You are my entire world, baby. I love you more than I have ever loved anyone, and that will never change. I’ve been looking for you every day for the last two years, little butterfly, and I would have kept looking until you were in my arms again. I love you, honey. I love you so damn much.”
Tiny arms slid around her neck, not as tightly as before, and in some bizarre fashion, she realized that Betty was no longer afraid. At least of her.
“I love you too, mommy,” she said softly.