Desperately Seeking Seashells

Maddie's stepsister Remy had never seen the ocean before. As their parents settled into the seaside home they were renting for the week, Maddie helped Remy unpack all her beachwear before they headed down to the oceanfront. But even as Maddie watched the calming waters beyond while a small ship pushed along in the distance, she noticed Remy wasn't admiring the view. The little girl was crouched down, her hands dug in the sand.

"What are you doing?" Maddie asked, kneeling down to her stepsister's level. Remy frowned, swiping at her flyaway hair with her sand-crusted fingertips.

"I wanted to get a bunch of shells for my friends," Remy said, "but these are all broken."

Maddie laughed a little. "They're picked over. We have to get here in the morning when the tide's just come in. And then you'll have a brand new selection of shells."

Remy's face brightened. "Really?"

Maddie nodded. "Really."

As they wandered closer to where the tide undulated back and forth against the shore, Remy giggled as the water brushed her toes. Maddie couldn't help but grin at her little stepsister. Two years ago, she would have said she hated the idea of her father remarrying and would have welcomed a new addition as far as a child with passive-aggressive loathing. But Maddie was fifteen, on the cusp of a new phase of adolescence, and she didn't have the time or energy to be angry with her father's choices. Mom had already been gone five years. It would have been a small tragedy if Dad hadn't found someone to help the grief become just a memory, and how would Maddie herself have felt upon leaving for college in a few years, her father still stuck in a house full of traces of Mom?

And for a stepmom Candace wasn't so bad. Maddie still wasn't close to her by any means, but Maddie didn't hate the woman. Plus, without Candace, Maddie never would have met Remy. Being a big sister was its own small miracle.

It also helped that Remy was a pretty cool kid (not that Maddie would tell her that—at least not too often).

By the time they got back to the abode that would be home for a week, Candace and Dad were standing in the kitchen. Maddie tried not to dwell on the tense looks on their faces, but she could tell they had been fighting. It seemed that the two adults, though they loved each other, didn't vacation well together. The whole drive down had been a tug-of-war as everything from rest stops to lunch from drive-throughs were a point of contention. It was a good thing Maddie had learned how to distract Remy so that the little girl wouldn't worry too much about their parents.

Dad tried to look more pleasant and less frustrated by turning his attention to Maddie and Remy. But his smile looked tired. "Having fun, girls?"

Maddie plastered a grin on her face. "Yeah, just seashell hunting and getting the lay of the land."

"Do you think we'll see any dolphins?" Remy asked in a breathless voice, her hands clasped together.

"If you get up early, really early, you may have a chance," Dad said. But despite his put-on cheeriness Maddie couldn't help notice how Candace walked from the room in silence. Even Remy cast a long look after her mother once the woman left the kitchen.

"So," Maddie said, trying to change the subject, "what's for dinner?"

Dad looked relieved to focus on something else. "How about we go to the little pizza place we passed on the drive into town?"

"What about Mom?" Remy asked. "Doesn't she want to go with us?"

"Your mom's not feeling too well. She needs to rest after the long drive. How about we bring her something back?"

Remy didn't look convinced, but she nodded anyway. Even though it was a shame, Maddie herself couldn't help but feel a little glad that Candace wouldn't be coming. Ever since the wedding six months ago, she seemed to have fallen into a moodiness that trailed after her like a bad smell. But Maddie knew from the hushed conversations she sometimes heard that Candace wasn't happy with her job and she wanted to take time off from working. But Dad's income from his teaching job wasn't enough for four people, especially in the suburb where they lived. And Maddie knew her father was already worrying about how they would be able to afford her college expenses in just a few years.

After dinner, Maddie convinced Dad to watch the new Pixar movie with Remy while Maddie herself took a shower. But after she got back out, all fresh and clean, she heard something. Treading softly, she stopped outside the room Dad and Candace would be sharing. Faintly, there was the unmistakable sound of sobs. Maddie almost felt embarrassed as she stepped away and returned to her father and Remy. She had known Candace was having a hard time lately, but now she didn't know if she should be worried about her stepmother who was crying by herself behind closed doors.

Just before bed, Maddie retreated outside for a breath of fresh air. The beginning of the beach was just steps away, so clad in her flip-flops and her pajamas she went down to the edge of the beach. She used her cell phone light to swipe over the area and, sure enough, there were more shells that had come in with the tide over the last few hours. It took time, but she managed to collect enough to surprise Remy in the morning.

By the time she returned inside with her bounty and headed to the kitchen sink to rinse the sand off the shells, she nearly halted when she saw Candace sitting at the island and stirring a cup of coffee. Her stepmother didn't even seem to have noticed her return, so Maddie easily could have eased out of the room without being seen. But somehow that felt like the wrong thing to do.

"Hey, Candace," Maddie said, attempting a real smile for once as she walked to the sink. "Are you feeling better?"

Candace looked up, a bit startled, and Maddie couldn't help noticing the strain on Candace's face. "Oh, hi, Maddie. I didn't know you were still up."

"I just did some seashell scavenging for Remy," she said as she turned on the faucet and began removing the sandy bits on the shells. "She was so excited about finding some. We'll probably have a whole collection by the time we leave."

Candace chuckled. "Thanks for doing that for her. You're a good girl, Maddie."

Maddie might have paused in her project because she couldn't remember Candace ever really complimenting her. For a stepmom, Candace had never tried to form a mother-daughter bond with her, and Maddie had been grateful for that to avoid any kind of awkwardness. But it was still nice to hear praise, especially from this woman who was probably best described as "emotionally distant."

"I just want her to be happy," Maddie said.

Candace let out a long sigh. "So do I."

Then Maddie looked back and saw that Candace's head was now bowed, a fist to her forehead, as her shoulders trembled.

A split-second decision later, Maddie placed a soft pink shell next to Candace's coffee cup. "Here's a shell for you too," she said. "You like this color pink, right? I remember the color from your wedding palette."

The way Candace looked at her then, her eyes wide and gleaming, Maddie was almost certain the woman was ready to cry.

"Thank you for thinking of me," Candace murmured, her fingers closing over the shell.

Maddie might have shrugged any other time, but she resisted. She didn't want to appear glib. It was obvious Candace was going through a rough time.

"It's no trouble," Maddie said. "You're family."

This time, when Maddie turned her back to resume rinsing the remaining shells, Candace did indeed start crying. But Maddie just hummed softly, trying to sound soothing and supportive, even if she wasn't close enough yet to Candace to have a real heart-to-heart.

Whatever was going on with Candace and her emotional stress, Maddie knew one thing: they as a family would have to figure it out together. Because that was what family did, even one still newly forming like theirs was.