Riley Paige had just sat down to dinner when her daughter said something that really startled her.
"Aren't we just the picture-perfect family?"
Riley stared at April, whose face reddened with embarrassment.
"Wow, did I just say that aloud?" April said sheepishly. "Was that corny or what?"
Riley laughed and looked around the table. Her ex-husband, Ryan, was sitting at the far end of the table from her. To her left, her fifteen-year-old daughter, April, was sitting next to their housekeeper, Gabriela. To her right was thirteen-year-old Jilly, a newcomer to the household.
April and Jilly had just made hamburgers for Sunday's dinner, giving Gabriela a break from cooking.
Ryan took a bite of his hamburger, then said, "Well, we are a family, aren't we? I mean, just look at us."
Riley didn't say anything.
A family, she thought. Is that what we are really?
The idea took her just a little bit by surprise. After all, she and Ryan had separated almost two years ago, and had been divorced for six months now. Although they were spending time together again, Riley had avoided giving much thought to where that might lead. She had put aside years of hurt and betrayal in order to enjoy a peaceful present.
Then there was April, whose adolescence had been anything but easy. Would her desire for togetherness last?
Riley felt even more uncertain about Jilly. She'd found Jilly in a truck stop in Phoenix, trying to sell her own body to truck drivers. Riley had rescued Jilly from a terrible life and an abusive father, and now she hoped to adopt her. But Jilly was still a troubled girl, and things were touch-and-go with her.
The one person at the table Riley felt surest about was Gabriela. The stout Guatemalan woman had been working for the family since long before the divorce. Gabriela had never been anything other than responsible, grounded, and loving.
"What do you think, Gabriela?" Riley asked.
Gabriela smiled.
"A family can be chosen, not just inherited," she said. "Blood isn't everything. Love is what matters."
Riley suddenly felt warm inside. She could always count on Gabriela to say what needed to be said. She gazed with a new sense of satisfaction at the people around her.
After being on leave from BAU for a month, she was enjoying just being here at home in her townhouse.
And enjoying my family, she thought.
Then April said something else that surprised her.
"Daddy, when are you going to move in with us?"
Ryan looked quite startled. As she often did, Riley wondered whether his newfound commitment was too good to last.
"That's kind of a big topic to take on right now," Ryan said.
"How come?" April asked her father. "You might as well live here. I mean, you and Mom are sleeping together again and you're here almost every day."
Riley felt her face redden. Shocked, Gabriela gave April a sharp poke with her elbow.
"?Chica! ?Silencio!" she said.
Jilly looked around with a grin.
"Hey, that's a great idea," she said. "Then I'd be sure to get good grades."
It was true-Ryan had been helping Jilly get up to speed at her new school, especially with social studies. He'd actually been very supportive of all of them in recent months.
Riley's eyes met Ryan's. She saw that he was blushing too.
As for herself, she didn't know what to say. She had to admit that she found the idea appealing. She'd grown comfortable with Ryan spending most of his nights here. Everything had fallen into place so easily-perhaps too easily. Maybe some of her comfort came from not having to make decisions about it.
She remembered what April had called everybody just now.
"A picture-perfect family."
They all certainly seemed like that at the moment. But Riley couldn't help feeling uneasy. Was all this perfection just an illusion? Like reading a good book or watching a pleasant movie?
Riley was all too aware that the world outside was full of monsters. She'd devoted her professional life to fighting them. But for the past month, she'd almost been able to pretend they didn't exist.
A smile slowly crossed Ryan's face.
"Hey, why don't we all move into my place?" he said. "There's plenty of room for all of us."
Riley stifled a gasp of alarm.
The last thing she wanted was to move back to the big suburban home that she had shared with Ryan for years. It was too full of unpleasant memories.
"I couldn't give this place up," she said. "I've gotten settled in so comfortably here."
April looked at her father eagerly.
"It's up to you, Daddy," she said. "Are you moving in with us or not?"
Riley watched Ryan's face. She could tell that he was struggling with his decision. She understood at least one reason why. He belonged to a law firm in DC, but fairly often worked at home. There wasn't room for him to do that here.
Finally Ryan said, "I'd have to keep the house. It could still be my local office."
April was almost bouncing from excitement.
"So are you saying yes?" she asked.
Ryan smiled silently for a moment.
"Yeah, I guess I am," he finally said.
April let out a squeal of delight. Jilly clapped her hands and giggled.
"Great!" Jilly said. "Please pass the ketchup-Dad."
Ryan, April, Gabriela, and Jilly all started chattering happily as they continued eating.
Riley told herself to enjoy this happy glow while she could. Sooner or later, she would be called upon to stop another monster. The thought sent a chill up her spine. Was some evil already lurking, waiting for her?
*
The next day, April's school had a shortened schedule to allow for teacher meetings, and Riley had given in to her daughter's pleas to let her cut the whole day. They decided to go shopping together while Jilly was still in school.
The rows of stores in the mall seemed endless to Riley, and many of the shops looked very much alike. Skinny mannequins in stylish clothes held impossible poses in every window. The figures they were passing right now were headless, adding to Riley's impression that they were all interchangeable. But April kept telling her what each store carried, and which styles she'd loved to wear. April apparently saw variety where Riley only saw sameness.
A teenage thing, I guess, Riley thought.
At least the mall wasn't crowded today.
April pointed to a sign outside a store named Towne Shoppe.
"Oh, look!" she said. "'AFFORDABLE LUXURY'! Let's go in for a look!"
Inside the store, April pounced on a rack of jeans and jackets, pulling out things to try on.
"I guess I could use some new jeans myself," Riley said.
April rolled her eyes.
"Oh, Mom, not mom jeans, please!"
"Well, I can't wear what you wear. I've got to be able move around without worrying that my clothes are going to burst or fly off. No wardrobe malfunctions for me, thank you."
April laughed. "A pair of slacks, you mean! Good luck finding anything like that here."
Riley looked around at the available jeans. They were all extremely skinny, low-waisted, and artificially ragged.
Riley sighed. She knew of a couple of stores elsewhere in the mall where she could buy something more her style. But she'd have to endure all kinds of teasing and nagging from April.
"I'll look for mine another time," Riley said.
April grabbed a bundle of jeans and went to the changing room. When she came out, she was wearing the kind of jeans that Riley loathed-skin-tight, ripped in places, with the navel fully in view.
Riley shook her head.
"You might want to try mom jeans yourself," she said. "They'd be a lot more comfortable. But then, being comfortable isn't your thing, is it?"
"Nope," April said, turning and looking at her jeans in a mirror. "I'm getting these. I'll go try on the others."
April returned to the changing room several times. She always came back with jeans that Riley hated but knew better than to forbid her from buying. It really wasn't worth a battle, and she knew she'd lose one way or another.
As April posed in the mirror, Riley realized that her daughter was almost as tall as she was, and the T-shirt she was wearing revealed a well-developed figure. With her dark hair and hazel eyes, April's resemblance to Riley was striking. Of course, April's hair didn't show the streaks of gray that had appeared in Riley's. But even so…
She's becoming a woman, Riley thought.
She couldn't help but feel uneasy about the idea.
Was April growing up too fast?
She'd certainly been through a lot just during the last year. She'd been taken captive twice. One of those times she'd been kept in the dark by a sadist with a blowtorch. She'd also had to fight off a killer in their own home. Worst of all, an abusive boyfriend had drugged her and tried to sell her for sex.
Riley knew that it was all too much for a fifteen-year-old to have had to deal with. She felt guilty that her own work had put April and other people she loved in mortal danger.
And now here April was, looking remarkably mature despite her efforts to look and act like a normal teenager. April seemed to be over the worst of her PTSD. But what kinds of fears and anxieties still troubled her deep down? Would she ever really get over them?
Riley paid for April's new clothes and wandered out onto the mall balcony. The confidence in April's walk made Riley feel less worried. Things were getting better, after all. She knew that right then Ryan was moving some of his own things into her townhouse. And both April and Jilly were doing well in school.
Riley was about to suggest that they find a place to eat when April's phone buzzed. April abruptly walked away to take the call. Riley felt a flash of dismay. Sometimes that cell phone seemed to be a living thing that demanded all of April's attention.
"Hey, what's up?" April asked the caller.
Suddenly April's knees wobbled, and she sat down on a bench. Her face went pale, and her happy expression collapsed into pain. Tears began to roll down her face. Alarmed, Riley rushed over to her and sat down beside her.
"Oh my God!" April exclaimed. "How could-why-I can't-"
Riley felt a jolt of alarm.
What had happened?
Was someone hurt or in danger?
Was it Jilly, Ryan, Gabriela?
No, someone would surely have called Riley with such news, not April.
"I'm so, so sorry," April said over and over again.
Finally, she ended the call.
"Who was it?" Riley asked anxiously.
"It was Tiffany," April said in a stunned, quiet voice.
Riley recognized the name. Tiffany Pennington was April's best friend these days. Riley had met her a couple of times.
"What's the matter?" Riley asked.
April looked at Riley with an expression of grief and horror.
"Tiffany's sister is dead," April said.
April looked as though she couldn't believe her own words.
Then in a choked voice she added, "They say it was suicide."
