Chapter 4
“Pen?”
He reached for the key he always kept handy, not surprised to find her front and back door locked. If his daughter had just returned home after being missing for three years, he would have barricaded himself inside.
“Penny,” FP called, making an effort to keep his voice low. “Pen?”
“What?” Came her usual, irritated reply.
She sat at the kitchen table, a cup of coffee in her hands. The circles under her eyes were darker somehow than they had been before.
“Hey,” he said, shutting the door behind him and pocketing the key.
“There’s coffee,” she offered, pointing to the half-filled pot on the counter. “Help yourself. You know where the mugs are.”
He didn’t need the caffeine after the three cups he’d already drank at home, but it made the awkward silence a little easier.
“She told me what happened.”
“Yeah?” FP asked, sliding into the chair across from her. “Do you wanna talk about it? Or...”
He wouldn’t have blamed her for not saying a word, for needing time. Hell, maybe even some therapy. He’d only gotten her to go once, and even then he’d dragged her into the office kicking and screaming.
Losing her daughter had nearly destroyed Penny, and no amount of spilling her guts to a stranger would ever be able to fix that.
But Betty could.
It was a lot to put on her shoulders, of course. She was only five years old. Five years old, and she had seen too much. Lived through too much.
Maybe they were all a little fucked up.
His dad was an abusive bastard. His wife was a flake who ignored their children at every possible turn. He was a recovering alcoholic who had never raised a hand to his son, but it had taken every ounce of anger not to react the way Forsythe the first had when Jughead was fucking around.
He wasn’t his father.
Penny wasn’t her father or her mother, despite the face that the first Elizabeth Peabody had done the best she could with what she had.
Betty had no trace of Hal within her. She was her mother, through and through.
“Hal told her I didn’t want her anymore.”
“What?”
If she’d said anything before that, he had missed it, too caught up in his own thoughts.
Hal Blossom was fucking lucky he was behind bars. Not that the bastard deserved any protection.
“What the fuck?” FP growled.
Penny’s gaze snapped to his. “Keep your fucking voice down.”
“Where is he?”
“You know where he is, dumbass,” she snorted. “In jail, where his ass belongs.”
“If I ever get my hands on him...”
“You’ll have to wait your turn,” Penny tossed back. “That fucker is mine. I don’t know when, I don’t know how, but I will make that asshole pay.”
“...Mommy?”
***
“Fuck,” her mommy grumbled.
Betty felt shy for only a moment, casting a nervous glance from her mother, to FP, and then back to her mommy. With a deep breath, she padded across the tiled floor in bare feet, holding her arms out.
Her mommy conceded, swinging her up into the air and settling her onto her lap. Betty curled into her, resting her head against her chest.
“Did you get any sleep, little butterfly?”
“Un huh,” Betty stifled a yawn, giving herself away. She hadn’t slept at all, but neither had mommy. Oh well, they could both play pretend. “Hi, FP.”
Feep. She used to call him Feep.
“Hi, sweetheart,” FP sounded like he could cry. “We sure have missed you around here.”
“I missed you too,” she whispered.
It felt so good to finally say it. Anything from her old life while living with Daddy and mommy... Hal and Alice, had to be kept hush-hush. Asking for her mommy, her real mommy, had left her locked in her room for days with only one meal to eat a day. If she spoke of Jughead, Toni, Jellybean or anyone else she’d loved, people she missed, she was hit, shoved or kicked in front of Chic and Polly, sitting wide-eyed at the table.
They would always comfort her after, but there was nothing they could do.
“I’m tired, mommy.”
“I know you are, baby,” her mommy sighed. “I am too.”
“You could have some coffee,” FP teased.
***
Betty began to laugh.
It was the most amazing sound she’d ever heard.
The shit-eating grin on FP’s face had her wondering if he was thinking the same. He reached out to tousle her hair, still tied into those stupid, too tight braids that Hal always wanted, insisting a lady would never have her hair in her face. Betty was known amongst the Southside for her hair being all wonky. Every day she’d sent her off to preschool with a ponytail, pigtails or a braid, and every afternoon her daughter had been returned to her with a wild mess of curls.
For her, the messy hair had always signified Betty’s attempts at having fun, another thing Hal had taken away from her.
With her nostrils flaring, Penny yanked at the elastics holding the two braids in place, snapping them off. Betty gave no indication that the pull had hurt her, and even turned her head to smile slightly as she combed her fingers through her blonde tresses, finally freeing her blonde curls.
“Those braids hurt, mommy.”
“You don’t ever have to wear another braid in your life if you don’t want to, my little butterfly,” Penny vowed.
Betty’s arms came to wrap around her chest in a squeeze.
“I love you the most, mommy,” she whispered.
***
“But mommy, I want to see Betty.”
She cast a longing glance out the window, where she could just make out the little yellow house where her best friend had once lived. For being right across the street, it felt like it was a million miles away.
“Honey…”
Her mommy sighed, moving around the table to wrap Toni up in her arms.
“Sweetheart, Penny and Betty... they’ve been through a lot, love. And it might be a little while before...”
Toni heard a buzzing sound, and mommy reached for her cell phone.
She’s six now. She can read.
Do you wanna bring Toni over? Betty is asking about her.
It was a message from Penny.
Betty wanted to see her.
A grin spread across her face. Her best friend was back.
Everything would be okay now.
***
She was nervous.
She didn’t know why. This was Toni. Her best friend. Her slightly older sister.
She thought about their dance classes, trying to forget Hal’s snide comments about how it was the only respectable thing Penny had ever done for her. She remembered on the night of her first solo, Toni had snuck back into the dressing room to eat four donuts.
Toni was always the best. Always.
When she had asked mommy if Toni could come over, the biggest smile had spread across her face, and she’d whipped out her phone to send a message to Ms. Pammy.
She couldn’t wait to see them.
But still, she hesitated, hanging back by the table as mommy went to answer the door. FP had headed home, offering to come back later with Jughead and Jellybean.
“Hi.”
“Hey hon,” Pammy sounded exactly the same. “How are you doing?”
“Betty!”
Toni whipped past her mother like a tiny brown haired hurricane. Reaching Betty, she pulled her into a suffocating hug, jumping up and down. Betty wrapped her arms around her middle as tightly as she could.
“Hi T,” she whispered.
***
“Where were you?”
Her arms tightened around Angela.
She didn’t know how to answer that.
“Um...”
“Mama said Hal took you,” Toni stated.
Betty could only nod.
“I hate him,” her best friend whispered.
Her eyes began to water as Toni’s arms wrapped around her again. She had never hated anyone. Not until Hal.
“I hate him too,” Betty declared. “I hate him so much.”
***
I hate him so much.
Me too, kiddo, Penny thought, putting her cup of coffee down. Me too.
She had never encouraged Betty to hate Hal, or to hate anyone for that matter, even if she did. Her brilliant little girl had figured out her own feelings pretty early on in life.
“So...”
“Don’t be awkward about it, Pam,” Penny warned. “Not with me, or my kid. You’re family. You’ve always been family.”
Pamela still forced a smile. “What now, Pen?”
“Now...”
She glanced to the living room, where her daughter was playing Ring around the Rosie with her best friend. She was still wearing that god awful dress she’d had on. Her hair, free from the braids, needed to be brushed. She needed more sleep. More food. More love.
But everything was okay now.
Or, it would be.
Now that they were together again.
“We’ll figure it out,” she said simply, as Betty ran for her, clinging to her leg. She brushed a hand down the length of her tangled curls before lifting her daughter into her arms. Peppering kisses across the little girl’s cheeks, she was relieved to be met with breathless giggles, a sound that haunted her late at night. “We’ll figure everything out.”