Chapter 30

Candy and Sally were still sitting on the bedroom floor at the foot of the bed. Sally was holding Candy’s head to her chest. “You can’t leave me alone tonight,” Candy said. “Stay here.”

“Baby, I can’t ... you know that,” Sally said and kissed Candy on the head.

“Why not? He’s thousands of miles away.”

“It doesn’t matter, I can’t. Too many bad things happened here.”

“That was years ago.” She pushed back and looked up. “What, tell me?”

“You don’t want to know.”

“Damn it, Sally, I do. I’m sick of the secrets. Everyone is keeping secrets. Tell me?” Candy saw her sister’s face darken.

“When I was eight months pregnant,” Sally pointed through the archway, “John bent me over that desk and fucked me in the ass so hard I pissed all over the floor. And in this bed, he held me face down on Sandra’s pillow and fucked me. He called it role play, but it wasn’t. I had to smell Sandy the whole time he was raping me. Then I felt guilty for making him horny. That’s why he had to do it, because I dressed too sexy, or my tits were too big, or my ass was made for it. I was already getting fucked by all those boys at school. That’s what he told me, and I believed that mother fucker.”

Candy’s sobs were convulsive, but she wouldn’t look away from Sally. Her sister had it worse than she ever did. No wonder Sally ran away. “I’m sorry, okay, I’m sorry. I’m sorry I ever made you come here.”

“It’s not your fault, Candy. None of this is our fault ... it was John.”

Candy nodded, wiped snot on her sleeve, and let Sally stroke her hair. “You shouldn’t be alone tonight,” Sally said. “I don’t wanna be alone, either. Come with me. Stay at my house, and tomorrow I’ll tell you everything ... everything that I can.”

“The kids?”

“Leave a note, and call them early. They’ll be fine.”

Of course they would, Candy thought, they’re more grown-up than I feel.

The following morning, after reading his mother’s note, Evan had gone to the mall. He was in and out faster than he made it through Target when Deana was with him. That day, he pulled one over on his all-knowing sister and secretly ordered a ring for her, too. It was the best trip to the mall ever. It was still hard to believe that the fantasy of having sex in a changing room had finally happened, and it was with Deana. That was fantastic in the safe bubble of summer vacation, without his father around, nothing to worry about. What about next week or when school starts?

Three girls in the same house would have rings that Evan gave them. If Rebecca came to dinner, it would be four. Candy’s would be on her toe, and his father probably never looked at her feet, but Deana was going to have to make up a story about why they all had the same tri-band rings. Although, they weren’t identical. Deana’s was different from the rest. It cost more; the bands were genuine gold and silver, and the center band of gold was wider than the outer silver and white gold rings. He was relieved that it had come in before he’d given Rebecca and Gloria theirs, but now that he was home and ready to give it to Deana, Evan was jittery. They couldn’t get any closer mentally, physically, or emotionally than they had during sex, but in Evan’s mind, placing a ring on Deana’s finger felt more like a proposal than a symbol of their forever bond.

Unlike Rebecca, Gloria, and Candy, who could choose any three people for the bands to represent, Deana would know what it meant the second she saw it. Like the three pieces of metal permanently joined, they were a union of three. It had been that way since they shared a womb, and even after their mother’s death, they felt the presence of a third. Lately, that seemed stronger, at least to him. Deana might feel that, too, but would she tell him who she thought their third was?