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“Good,” he said, relief transforming his face back into a youthful mask. “And while we’re on the subject of people you should stay away from, I don’t want to hear about you hanging out with Jilo again.” He pointed upstairs. “We’ve broken her link to the linen closet. You should have never kept it secret from us.”
“I know,” I said. “I’m sorry.”
He looked at me through narrowed eyes. “Nothing about her is real, you know? It’s all a show,” he said. “And I don’t just mean that she has to borrow her power. I knew her granddaughter, remember, and I know things about her. She might go around acting like some backwoods Hoodoo priestess who can’t use a personal pronoun or conjugate a verb, but it’s all an act. It’s good for business. It’s what people expect. Truth is, the woman’s a graduate of Spelman College. She holds a degree in chemistry. If she’d been born twenty years later, she would have most likely ended up a medical doctor, not a root doctor.” He read the surprise on my face. “That’s right, nothing’s real about Jilo other than the trouble she can land you in if you don’t keep clear of her.”
“I’ll stay away,” I said, somehow knowing it was a lie. I was connected to the old woman now. Even if everything about her was a lie, there was some ineffable link between us, and I wasn’t sure I’d ever be able to shake it off. I wasn’t sure I wanted to.
“Good,” he responded, too distracted to read me as he usually might. “Your sister comes home in a few hours. You ready for that?”
“Yeah, I think so.”
“She’s going to want to talk to you, but I’m afraid you two won’t have much time together. The representatives from the rest of the families will be arriving just before she does, and they’re going to keep her busy.”
“Does she know about Connor?” I asked.
“Yes, she’s aware of what he did. She knows about Wren as well. I know she’s desperate to lay eyes on you, to see for herself that you’re okay.” He paused. “We haven’t mentioned the baby. We figured you’d want to tell her yourself.”
“And Jackson?”
“She knows he’s gone,” Oliver said. “Remember, Gingersnap, from her perspective, she’s been gone for a very long time. She’s had time to grieve for Connor, in whatever form that grieving might have taken. And she’s had time to get over Jackson too. I think that both of you girls have realized that although he came in a very nice package, there wasn’t much substance there. If there had been, he would have at least waited to tell Maisie good-bye face-to-face.”
I just nodded my head in agreement. “Okay, my girl. I have to get back to business,” he said and started to walk away. Suddenly he stopped in his tracks, and swiveled around. “Wait!” he said. “I have a surprise for you first.” I looked at him warily, and he laughed. “No, this one is good. Your aunts and I made a reservation for you at the Mansion tomorrow. While we’re dealing with the families, you’ll spend the day at the spa and then enjoy a night in your very own park view suite,” he said, doing his best imitation of a game show host.
“That sounds wonderful,” I said. “Thank you.”
He winked at me. “Anything for my favorite niece,” he said blithely. He paused for a long moment, and when he finally spoke, his voice had taken on a more serious tone. “And I want you to know that I mean that. Maisie has always been the apple of everyone’s eye, and don’t get me wrong, I love that girl to bits, but you’re my little Gingersnap, you hear me?”
He was the black sheep, and I was the dud. Deep down I’d always known I was his favorite, but it felt good to hear it anyway. I smiled. “Yeah, I hear you,” I said. “Now get out of here before we both start crying like little girls.” He laughed and left the room. I followed him out a few minutes later and went outside to sit on the side porch. The past few weeks had caught up to me all at once, and I felt a thousand years older than the age on my driver’s license. I sat quietly, focusing on controlling my breath. The cicadas did a wonderful job of drowning out the sounds coming from inside the house, and the warmth of the sun lulled me into a mercifully dreamless sleep.
I awoke to the sensation of a soft hand pushing my hair back from my forehead. “Hey, you,” Maisie’s voice instantly wrested me from sleep. Before I had the chance to remember our horrifying last encounter, before I could feel the guilt of helping to drive Jackson from her life, I felt a surge of love—the kind of love that could only be understood by those born a twin. The person I’d come into this world with had been returned to me, and I pulled her close. Nothing mattered beyond the comfort of her presence.
I loosened my hold after a moment so that I could get a good look at her. She was my sister, all right, but she had changed. She had an air of serenity and maturity about her that I’d never sensed before.
“I need to apologize to you, Mercy,” she said.
“No, I should to apologize to you!” I replied.
“For what? For Jackson?” she said and laughed. “I know it’s still fresh for you, but I’ve had a long time to get over what happened with Jackson.”
“He’s gone,” I said, hearing the detachment in her voice but not emotionally capable of comprehending it.
“For now, but I’m certain we haven’t seen the last of him. He ran away, but once he’s had time to think things through, he’ll come back to me.”
I didn’t know how to respond. I couldn’t bring myself to tell her about his last request—that I go with him. All I could do was hope that for her sake he was well and truly gone and that someone better would come along to take his place.
“They’re going to be looking for me soon,” Maisie said. “And I won’t have time to talk to you again until after the investment, so please listen to me.” I met her eyes to let her know that she had my full attention. “I need to apologize to you for how I behaved on the night of the drawing. I must have been out of my mind to treat you that way. When you ran from me, I realized how much I must have scared and hurt you. I wanted to call you back, but…”
“It’s all right,” I said.
“No, it isn’t. You are my sister. My best friend. Sometimes I think my only real friend. The way I treated you, the way I treated the entire family, was unforgiveable.”
“I can’t speak for the rest of the family, but as far as I’m concerned, you’re forgiven.”
“You sure do live up to your name, don’t you,” she said, leaning in to kiss my cheek. “You have no idea what your forgiveness means to me.” She paused. “You know, some of the family felt that the line had chosen you as anchor and I was stealing its power from you.”
I laughed. “I am pretty darned sure that the line never intended me to be anchor. And frankly, even if it did, both of us know that you’re the better choice. I know Ginny shared things with you that she shouldn’t have, but maybe it’s for the best. You’ve been training for this your whole life, and you’re going to be the best anchor the line has ever known.”
