Melissa Good - Thicker Than Water

“No, but my blood type is O and Richard’s is A. Andrew’s is B, just like Brian’s,” Angie said with a grimace. “I told Richard they must have made a mistake on the papers.”

“Ah,” Michael murmured. “Well, if things get real bad, you can reveal that little tidbit, I’ll pull down my pants, and Kerry’ll come out looking like the Republican in the family.”

Angie paused a moment, then burst out laughing. Mike joined in, relieving some of the stress of the situation.

“What’s so funny?” Kerry asked, as she paused in the doorway.

“Don’t ask.” Angie propped up on her elbows. “We were just comparing scandals. What are you two up to?”

Kerry and Dar entered the room. Kerry took a seat on the wooden side chair, and Dar merely lowered herself to the carpet, extended her long legs out, and crossed her ankles. “I was giving Dar the tour. She didn’t get to see much last time. What scandal did you get into now, Michael?”

“I got a tattoo,” Michael admitted.

Dar snorted and folded her arms over her chest. Kerry just rolled her eyes. “Oh, God, it figures. How drunk were you?”

“Maybe I wasn’t,” Mike retorted in an injured tone. “Maybe I just decided it was something I wanted to do for personal growth.”

Kerry studied him, her fair head cocked, then she smiled. “No way, Mikey. You’re the biggest chickenshit I know when it comes to pain. You were either drunk off your butt or unconscious.”

Mike scowled, then stuck his tongue out at her. “You’re just jealous because you don’t have one.”

112 Melissa Good Kerry’s green eyes twinkled. “How do you know I don’t? You haven’t seen all of me in a very long time.”

Mike looked at Angie, who looked back at him, then they both looked uncertainly at their older sister.

“I have.” Dar came to their rescue. “Every square inch, and she doesn’t.” Kerry blushed a deep crimson, making her fair eyebrows stand out vividly. Everyone laughed, and even Dar chuckled at her lover’s loss of composure.

“Stop that.” Kerry covered her face with one hand and rubbed her skin. “Dar, you’re so bad.”

“Well, you don’t,” Dar said matter-of-factly.

“Wanna see mine?” Mike asked, to distract everyone.

“No,” Dar replied. “Based on what I know about you, I can make a guess where it is, and that window’s got a clear shot to the street.”

Angie burst out laughing, holding her stomach as she rolled over. Kerry joined in, pointing at Michael’s injured expression.

“She’s right, isn’t she?”

Michael stuck his tongue out again. “You guys are such girls.”

Dar pulled her collar away from her body and glanced inside her shirt, then nodded. “Guilty.”

Now the laughter turned a little giddy, mixing amusement with relief and not a small touch of bittersweet-ness. It finally petered out, and Kerry wiped her eyes with her sleeve and regarded her siblings.

“Sorry I lost it before,” she said. “I know you guys were trying to keep things under control.”

“That’s okay.” Angie rolled over onto her side and exhaled.

“After you left, we both did too. I’m just so over it. Mike’s just so over it. We’ve had enough of all the political garbage, and we just want our sister back.”

It caught Kerry by surprise, and she gave them a stunned look, her face going very still for a long moment. Finally she released a breath and rested her elbows on her knees. “I’d like that too. I never meant to hurt either of you.”

Angie got up and went to Kerry’s side. Dar remained very still, just watching. “Kerry, you never did. If you did anything, you helped us both realize there was another way to live.” She put a hand on Kerry’s arm. “You always were our ringleader.”

“Yeah.” Mike scrambled to them and stepped carefully over Dar’s legs. “We love you.”

Dar smiled from her spot on the carpet. Kerry’s siblings were surpassing her expectations of them, and she was silently delighted at the look of surprised pleasure on her lover’s face. She Thicker Than Water 113

was glad, now, that Kerry had changed her mind, though Dar would have supported her either way. This was better. Kerry needed this.

Now, if she could just figure out a way to prevent the rest of the Stuart family from ruining it.

THEY TROOPED UP to the attic together. Mike opened an unobtrusive door set in a small alcove, and they walked up the heavy wooden stairs.

Dar listened to the door close behind her, and she exhaled, shifting her shoulders nervously before she followed Kerry. The stairwell was very narrow, and her shoulders only just fit in the space. The closeness made her uncomfortable, and she suspected Kerry realized that, because halfway up, a hand reached back and she took it and felt the comfort of Kerry’s fingers curling around her own.

That was good, because the ceiling came down rather close to her head, and by the time they climbed up and out into the vaulted attic space, Dar was twitching. It was far more open, though, and she relaxed a little. It was warm—the heat from the house clustered up there despite the chill outdoors, and the eclec-tic nature of the place quickly drew her interest.

There were steamer trunks pushed against three of the four walls, and stacks of neatly bagged bedding and clothing. Two old rocking chairs sat peacefully in the corner, and there were con-tainers of unknown items scattered around here and there. Dar had no idea why Kerry had wanted to go up there, especially after their footsteps stirred up a mild cloud of dust and they all sneezed, but she was willing to go along with it for a while.

“We stuck them here.” Mike dragged one of the larger trunks out into the middle of the floor and knelt in front of it. He dialed the combination lock and threw the top open. “All of Kerry’s stuff that Angie and I could find around the house before the thought police came through.”

Ah. Dar’s ears perked up and she slipped around Kerry to investigate the trunk. “What have we here?”

“Hm. Good question.” Kerry scuttled to the trunk and knelt beside it. “Think I can just have this whole trunk shipped?”

Dar pulled out a pair of very old, yellow, obviously well worn footy pajamas that featured a threadbare cotton tail on the back. She grinned at Kerry, who was making a face at them, and pulled out her cell phone, flipped it open, and keyed in the memory. “FedEx? I’d like to schedule a pick-up.”

“Oh, my God.” Kerry covered her eyes. “Of all the things for 114 Melissa Good you to save.”

Angie snickered. “You know something? It was worth it, just to see your face right now.”

“Dar, give me that.” Kerry reached for the rags, but Dar lifted them up beyond her reach. “Dar!”

“Shh.” Dar finished giving the address to the operator, then folded her phone shut. “These are…um,” she lowered the pajamas to eye level, “cute.” She examined the fluffy tail in the back.

“Wanna model them?”

“Augh.” Kerry lunged across the trunk and snatched the old things out of Dar’s hands. “I haven’t worn those since I was six, thanks.” She tucked the fabric under her arm for safekeeping, then warily explored the top layer of the trunk. “Oh, God, Angie…”

She lifted out a photo album. “I was wondering if you snagged this.”

Dar settled at Kerry’s side and peered at the book with interest. It was leather bound and age creased. Kerry opened the cover.

Angie and Mike also inched closer, and sat cross legged on the floor at her side.

“Oo.” Dar laid a long finger on the page. “I like that one.”

“Dar.” Kerry had to smother a chuckle. “That hoary, old baby-on-the-bearskin picture?” She eyed her naked infant self, sprawled over some fuzzy fabric and staring up at the camera with a look best described as astonished. “Can you believe that’s me?”