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A huge, burning lump formed in her throat, one she couldn’t swallow around, and she had to blink at the sting in her eyes. She sniffled, too, more affected by the news than she would have imagined. The image of Forrest injured, broken and bruised by a man who proclaimed to be his father had her hands balling into fists.
“There’s more,” Norma Rose said gravely.
Twyla wrung her hands but the shaking wouldn’t stop.
“The new evidence implicates Father,” Norma Rose revealed.
Quiet and rational, Josie said, “Of course it would. Father is the one who sent Galen to prison.”
“Exactly,” Norma Rose said, “and perhaps Forrest only returned home in order to—”
Unwilling to let Norma Rose finish what she was about to say, Twyla jumped to her feet. “Forrest wouldn’t do that.” Her sister’s insistence that they all should hate Forrest had gone on long enough. “And he’s not his father.”
“Who?” Josie asked. “Who’s not whose father?”
“Galen Reynolds isn’t Forrest’s father,” Twyla said quietly, and repeated the short explanation Forrest had given her. While that was settling in for both of her sisters, she added, “And Forrest never left town by choice.”
“What do you mean?”
She briefly shared what Forrest had told her. A tale that made her insides burn all over again.
“Oh, dear heavens,” Josie whispered. “Did Forrest tell you that, too?”
“Yes,” Twyla answered. The need to protect Forrest grew stronger inside her. “But please don’t act like you know. I said I wouldn’t tell anyone.” Turning to Norma Rose, Twyla paused. Her sister looked rather ashamed.
“You knew, didn’t you?” Twyla asked.
Norma Rose shook her head. “No, but Father always insisted there were things I didn’t know about.”
“Father knew?” Twyla asked, a bit shocked.
“What doesn’t Father know?” Josie responded.
The room grew silent. Mostly because, just like her, her sisters were probably contemplating a few things they hoped their father didn’t know about.
Josie was the first to speak. “Remember how mean Galen Reynolds was when Mother died?”
“Who could forget,” Twyla said, her stomach churning. “I thought he was the devil reincarnated.”
“And now he’s being paroled,” Norma Rose said.
Twyla’s backbone shivered, and she straightened her spine against it. That filled her with something else, a sense of power perhaps, because she let her gaze roam between her sisters. “But this time, we aren’t children, and he can’t frighten us with his evil glares.”
Norma Rose lifted her chin. “And we have ten times more money than he ever hoped to have.”
As Twyla and Norma Rose’s gazes met, Twyla felt her newfound power growing. In unison they turned to Josie.
With a somewhat frightened look, Josie swallowed visibly. “What are you two thinking?”
“I don’t know yet,” Twyla said. “But there has to be something we can do.” She turned to Norma Rose, hoping this once they could stand together. “Right?”
Norma Rose was chewing on a fingernail, but nodded.
“But Galen Reynolds is evil,” Josie said. “He truly is.”
Twyla sensed there was more behind her sister’s statement. “What do you know that we don’t?”
Gnawing on her bottom lip, Josie once again glanced between sisters. With a sigh, she said, “I’m sworn to secrecy, so it can’t leave this room.”
“What can’t?” Twyla demanded.
“Galen Reynolds never had a film company. Not a real one.”
“We know that,” Twyla said, disappointed.
“It was a front for shipping girls to California—those he promised movie deals to. And most of those girls that he took to Hollywood disappeared.”
A shiver rippled down Twyla’s spine. “Disappeared?”
Josie nodded. “Disappeared. Never have been seen or heard from again.”
“How do you know that?” Norma Rose asked.
“I just do,” Josie answered.
Twyla didn’t want to sound cold, but her insides had turned to ice thinking about Ginger and how she’d talked about going to Hollywood. “I thought they were prostitutes he hired to work at the Plantation.”
“He’s the one that turned them into prostitutes,” Josie said. “It wasn’t what they’d been promised.”
“How do you know that?” Norma Rose asked.
“I can’t tell you,” Josie said. “But it’s true. And there’s more.”
