Dani bit her lip and held still. Her grandmother forgot who sat in her visitor’s chair. She thought she was Dani’s mother. It was the same voice that Mrs. Bendsfield had used as she spoke to a ghost.
Her grandmother whispered, “I’d love to go again.”
Dani’s fingers bit into the plastic seating of her chair.
“You raised those girls right. I hear how you talk about them. Julia sounds real proper, like she’s going to be a queen or something. Erica—she’ll be the sweetheart. You believe me, right now. Erica’s gonna wrap everyone in that hand of hers. She’s gonna make hearts thump.”
Her grandmother fell silent for a moment.
“And Dani.” She sighed, stricken. “She’s the one who’s gonna walk her own path. Julia’ll wear the crown, but Erica’s going to rule the lands. Dani’s just going to walk right through them. She’s got it inside of her to make it. I know it.”
Sandra laughed.
She was laughing with a ghost.
“You gotta make Mae clean up her act. And you can do that. I know you can. You might not think it, but you just get her at the heart. You promise her one of your girls, and she’ll turn about. Mae can’t have kids, and that’s where most of her partying comes from. She’s mourning all those unborn babies of hers, but you promise her one of yours. She has to earn it, though. She’s gotta walk the straight and narrow.”
Dani jerked in the chair.
“You promise her one of yours…”
Dani tasted salt at the corner of her mouth. She’d started to cry. It couldn’t be… She shook her head. That couldn’t mean what she was starting to think it meant.
“You give Julia to Kathryn. Kathryn can speak Julia’s language. They the same, but Dani—she’s different. You give her to Mae. Mae will teach her how to stand. I guarantee that. Mae will raise her right. Erica, you best give her to Kathryn, too. Erica’s a mix of both her aunts. She’s like you, Daniella. She got your spirit. I know. A mother knows. A grandmother knows even more. You do what I say.”
Dani pressed a hand to her mouth. She was shaking. Her hand was trembling.
“No, no.” Sandra O’Hara soothed her daughter. “You be fine. That sickness will work its way through you, and you’ll find peace at the end. You loved him true. I know you did. And, even though he’s not around, I know Emmy. He’ll be back. He’ll check in on your girls, but he’ll know that they ain’t his girls. Your girls will be fine, Daniella.”
Dani took another breath. Then another.
“Okay,” Sandra whispered in a short breath. She sounded drowsy. “You best be going. I’m getting right tired now. I gotta get my strength for tomorrow. You call and tell me how your doctor appointments go. I want to know.”
She reached over the bed, grinned distantly at a ghost, and grabbed Dani’s hand. “I’ll see you when I pass away, too.”
She drove to one place.
She parked.
She walked in.
She ignored everyone sitting there.
The one person she came to see straightened. “What’s wrong?”
She asked Mae, “Did you adopt me?”
Dani saw the answer before Mae responded. It hit her smack in the chest, and it was like a bomb that imploded. It was true. Everything her grandmother said was true. Dani never knew. Lies. Had everything been lies? Had everyone been lying to her?
“I can’t.” She turned away. Her heart was splitting open.
“Dani!” Mae rounded the counter and approached her, slowing at the end as if she were an injured animal. “Maybe we should talk about this somewhere quiet.”
“I don’t want to talk about it.” Dani removed her arm from her aunt’s touch. “I already know.”
“There’s a lot that went on that you don’t understand.”
“No, there’s not. There’s the simple fact that you kept something from me. You lied to me.”
“It’s not that simple. It wasn’t about lying or holding back the truth or…”
“Yes, it was. I was a child who wasn’t loved by her caretaker. And the person who did love me, who could’ve taken me in, chose not to. That’s how simple it was.”
“Dani—there’s—there were stipulations. There were things that your mother wanted done before I could even think of making your adoption legal.”
“But you did. Somewhere down the line, you and Aunt Kathryn signed me over, and both of you never told me.” Dani felt it in her gut. It made sense why one aunt wanted her, and the other hated her. “That was wrong.”
“Dani.”
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
Dani started to move away, but Mae caught her elbow and kept her in place. “You will not run from me, not from this. There are a lot of things that you aren’t aware of. Before you pass your judgment on me and run, you best be hearing all the facts before you judge me.”
Dani stared at her. The two stared at the other. Neither looked away, but it was too much for her. Dani pulled away again. “This isn’t a trial. This was a lie you kept from me.”
“You don’t run.”
“I wasn’t planning on it.” But that wasn’t true. It’d been there in the back of her mind, but it wasn’t strong. There were more reasons to stay than run.
Pain flashed in Mae’s eyes. “Fine. I’ll tell you.”