Page 13 of The Hardest Part

“Anthropologists call two brothers married to the same wife, fraternal polyandry, and two sisters married to the same husband, sororal polygyny. We call it the trinity, and to us, it is sacred.”

Arien drew her head back, shaking it rapidly. “You can’t do that. It’s not legal.”

“Not out there, no,” Uncle Matty said, his fingers running up and down his wife’s arm. “The elder sibling is on the marriage license at the courthouse…”

Emily squeezed her step-cousin’s shoulder, glancing again at Kellan. His usual smirk returned, and sliding his hand down the front of his jeans, he winked at Arien.

“…but what we do inside our gate, how we live inside our homes, is no one else’s concern.”

“You were married to them both at the same time,” Arien said softly under her breath.

Ding, ding, ding! Now you’re getting it, girly.

The Jacoby sisters, Heather and Amanda, the aunts Emily never knew, tragically died shortly after giving birth to Tanner and Kellan. And the animosity between their grandfather and her uncle that followed their deaths still lingered.

Arien turned to her then, pointing at Jake. “He’s your boyfriend too?”

How do I answer that?“Yes and no.”

With his index finger beneath her chin, Jake turned Arien’s face back toward him. “We’re to be married when Emily and my brother come of age.”

“I’m a junior.” Leaning forward, Billy grinned with a shrug. “So not this summer, but next.”

Then Arien laughed and said they were all fucking crazy.

Well, of course, she did.

They couldn’t ease into the conversation, regaling her with the stories of Brookside’s history as they’d planned to. If she’d gotten the chance to hear them, then maybe Arien wouldn’t have reacted so harshly.

But thanks to John Jacoby, she got slapped in the face with it. So, yeah, this was all his fault.

As soon as Tanner finished blowing out the candles on his cake, Arien stood, and excusing herself, disappeared up the stairs.

Her lips pursed, Emily glanced over at Jake. “That went well.”

Not.

“I should go talk to her,” Jennifer said with a sigh, extricating herself from her husband’s embrace.

“Give her some time, honey.” His hands massaging his wife’s shoulders, Matthew’s gaze settled on Tanner, who looked gutted, and a surlier-than-ever Kellan. “She’ll come around. You’ll see.”

“Believe me, I know how she’s feeling, and Matthew is right, my dear.” Grams spoke in that reassuring tone Emily knew all too well. With a toss of her pale-blonde curls, she lightly clasped Jennifer’s forearm. “You look exhausted.”

“I am.” She rubbed the back of her neck with a heavy sigh. “I don’t remember being so tired all the time with Arien.”

“Go on and get some rest, dear.” Grams gave her arm a gentle pat. “We can take care of the kitchen.”

With Uncle Matty and his wife tucked away upstairs, they went to work setting the kitchen back to rights while Jake and Billy remained with Kellan and Tanner. Emily could see the four of them talking in a huddle by the fire from her position at the sink.

“Those boys need to relax,” Grams said, handing her some dirty plates to load into the dishwasher. “Arien just had a bomb dropped on her head. What’s normal to us isn’t to most folks. I remember what it was like to be in her shoes.”

“An outsider?”

“Your granddaddy brought me up here to meet his family. Hell, I’d never been on a horse in my entire life, let alone seen heifers dropping calves.” She nodded, a soft snort coming from her nose.

Emily giggled at the sound of it. “Yes, for spring break. It was calving season.”

“Paul saddled up a mare for me.” With a far-off look in her paisley-blue eyes, Grams’ voice thickened with emotion. “Her name was Rosie. Such a sweet, gentle thing. He took me up to the lake, told me he loved me, and that he saw a future for us together.”

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