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“I love that,” said Lauren. “Or what about drapes? We could hang the rods from the ceiling and have these floating drapes. Then the girls could open them if they wanted to or close them.”
“Another fantastic idea,” said Erin. “How about we go speak with the mothers that are here? Mary? Do you know them?”
“Yes,” she said, nodding. “Let me give you a little run down before we go in there.” Leaving the dormitory area, they moved into the common room. It was a massive space stretching from one end of the building to the other.
At one end was a fully equipped kitchen that had seen better days, but the other end had multiple couches, chairs, and bean bags for everyone to watch television or play games. With the girls at school, the women were all sitting quietly, reading, or watching television.
“Good morning,” said Mary.
“Good morning,” they called to them quietly.
“Everyone, these ladies are my friends who help to do the upkeep on this home. Ladies, this is Cassandra, Imara, Delphine, Fawn, and Fauna. Wait. That’s only five. Where is Isabelle?” asked Mary. The women all looked away, then back at the woman. “Cassandra?”
“She was in a lot of pain, Mary. Bree and Rachelle were with her yesterday all day. They thought that she was doing better, but she just couldn’t live with what had happened.”
“I don’t understand,” whispered Grace, understanding all too well the terror of your ex-husband killing your children.
“Her husband. Her ex-husband killed their children to try and force her to return to him. He was obviously sick and twisted, something we all know about. She thought it was her fault. Bree gave her something to help her sleep. We all watched her, made sure she was okay. She went to bed early, appeared to be sleeping just fine, but didn’t wake this morning.
“We called the clinic, and Doc came right away. She must have gotten up in the middle of the night and taken the acetaminophen.”
“Acetaminophen. But that’s not a controlled substance,” said Lauren.
“It doesn’t have to be to kill you,” said Erin. “In excessive doses, you can overdose. How much did she take?”
“Doc said that judging from the bottle, about sixty pills.”
“Good God,” whispered Mary. “I’m so very sorry. How are all of you?”
“We’re doing okay,” said Imara. “Bree, Rachelle, Calla, and Ashley were all here this morning to speak with us. It may not make sense to all of you, but she was in so much pain most days she could barely breathe. Knowing that he might still be out there wasn’t something she could handle. Her children were gone, her parents gone. In her mind, she had no one.”
“This is a terrible time,” said Faith. “We can come back.”
“No, we could use some company and good news,” smiled Imara. “What can we do for all of you?”
“Well, it’s what we’d like to do for all of you and the girls.” Mary proceeded to explain their plan, and the looks on their faces said it all. They were excited. Maybe for the first time in years, they were excited about an upcoming holiday.
“So, if you could give us some ideas for the girls. Colors they like, things they really want or need, that would be wonderful,” said Erin. “We hope to be able to have everything done in one day. Ideally, they would be at school and come home and find it. But we’d also like to learn more about the five of you.”
“Well, there’s not a lot to tell,” said Imara. She looked at the other women and knew what they were thinking. There was a fucking truckload of shit to unload and tell, but they didn’t want the memories.
“You two must be twins,” said Lauren, looking at Fawn and Fauna. They nodded. “I have two sets of twins. Boys, then girls.”
“We had seventeen half-siblings,” said Fawn. “Our father was a polygamist in Wyoming. He had a ranch and forced all of us to work on the ranch. Fauna and I obviously had the same mother, but he had seven wives altogether.”
“I’m sorry. That must have been very difficult for you both.” They looked at one another, holding hands.
“It became dangerous for us when our father expected that we reproduce. With him.” The women froze, unsure of what to say. “We knew we had to run. It was a Sunday night when he had all the wives in his bedroom. Fauna and I chose to escape. We ran to another ranch about five miles from ours, and the man and his wife called the sheriff. He got us to safety, then made sure we were protected by calling one of your men. These two big men, Titus and Phoenix, they came and picked us up and brought us here.”
“Of course they did,” smiled Lauren. “What happened to your father?”
“He was arrested and is awaiting trial. All the wives, including our mother, are going to testify.”
“Is your mother safe?” asked Faith.
“Yes. Thank you for asking. She and the other women are in a group home in Wyoming where the trial will take place. We’ve already given our dep-, what’s it called?”
“Deposition,” smiled Erin.
