"You and Joseph do it," Veronica had said.
"That's because we're grown-ups," Samantha said. "When you two are older you can try it, but for now you have to sit back here." She pressed orange lifejackets into their hands. Molly put hers on right away, but Veronica resisted, throwing the lifejacket to the ground.
"These are for babies," she said.
"Now, honey, it's just to make sure you stay safe if anything bad happens," Samantha said. She picked up the lifejacket and put it around Veronica's neck, fastening the straps tightly. Veronica glared at Samantha with such hatred that Molly took a step back.
As she thought of it now, she remembered Mr. Pryde squinting at Veronica then. Molly wondered if he had recognized his sister in that glare. How could he? she thought. I'm imagining things.
Joey blew his nose again, jolting her from her thoughts. "Where's Daddy now?" he asked.
"He's out fishing," Molly said. "That's why he asked your aunt to take care of you until your mother comes back."
"Daddy doesn't like me either," Joey said, his lip trembling. "He doesn't want me around."
"Of course he wants you around. He loves you very much, but he has to work to support you and your mother. That's what grown-ups do."
"Does Mommy work?"
"Yes. That's why she had to go away. For her job," Molly said, hoping he didn't press her for details on this point. With a child as fragile as Joey, finding out his mother had died might cause him to have another sneezing fit or perhaps something even worse.
"I wish Mommy didn't have to work," he said.
"I know, but it's because Mommy loves you that she has to work," Molly said. "She wants you to have nice things and be able to go to a good college so you can have a bright future."
"I guess," Joey said, not sounding convinced. "Do I go to school in Seabrooke?"
"You're the smartest boy in the whole school. When you graduate, they'll even have you make a speech in front of all the students and their parents." Molly had sat with Samantha, Veronica, and her brother during Joseph's graduation from Seabrooke High School. While Veronica fidgeted in her seat, Molly listened with rapt attention as Joseph talked about a future abounding with possibilities.
"If we choose to and apply our minds, we can defeat anything-even death," he said. Molly shivered at this comment. Samantha flinched as though someone had struck her. If he only knew about the fountain on Eternity.
But he couldn't then and Molly didn't know how to explain it to him now. If she told him about his true origin then he would be sure to ask the one question she couldn't answer: why? Why had she and Veronica done this to him and the others? This question had kept her awake for the last two nights. Veronica had promised her plan would make Eternity a better place, but so far it had only brought death to the island. Could anything they did now make up for the loss of Samantha, Prudence, Wendell, and David? She didn't know.