Page 11 of Deja New
as it was exhilarating.
(oh, my God she’s so cute when she laughs!)
“Do you still dream about it? The night you found out your dad was dead?”
“Actually I’ve been thinking about Mom’s one-eighty on the whole accident-versus-surprise thing.” Hopefully Archer wouldn’t notice she hadn’t answered the question.
“‘Accident-versus-surprise’?” Leah asked.
“Yeah.” Angela leaned forward so her head was between both of their head rests. “The first time I did the math, I saw I was older than my parents’ marriage and asked about it. Turns out theyhadto get married; Mom got pregnant and Dad wanted to do the right thing. My dad always said I was a surprise. When I asked the difference, he said: With an accident, if you could do it differently, you’d go back in time and undo it. But with a surprise, you’d never go back and undo it.”
“And what did your mother say?”
“Oh, the reverse.” Angela laughed, but there wasn’t a lot ofhumor in it. “One the reasons I was so surprised by the depth of her grief was because mostly I remember them fighting all the time. It wasn’t some great love match. So when I found out they had had to get married, it made sense. And, Archer, you’re not saying anything, so I’m betting you knew what was going on.”
Archer didn’t reply. Just kept driving. Leah’s gaze met Angela’s in the rearview mirror. “I’m afraid I don’t understand.”
“I wasn’t an accident. Mom got pregnant on purpose. She’d wanted to get married for ages but Dad had, y’know,zerointerest. Here’s the irony—Dad wanted Dennis’s life. And Dennis wanted Dad’s.”
“So you were...” Leah paused.
Archer filled in the blanks: “Bait in a trap. Personally, I liked Uncle Donald’s version of the story.”
“Well, yeah, I did, too. When I was six.”
“And I think your mom was a real jerk for telling you the truth.”
Angela shrugged. “I’m glad she was honest. And I give Dad props for sticking around.” Was that why her mother had made grieving her full-time job? She had gone to such lengths to haul Douglas to the altar, losing him was too much? Something to think about. “Also, I’m not sure I was bait. I think I was more like the canary in the coal shaft.”
“Angela, that’s awful!” Leah cried, but then couldn’t stop giggling. “You guys have the oddest way of looking at the world.”
“Look who’s talking,” Archer said fondly.
Angela had to admit it: She hadn’t thought they’d all belaughing as they drove through the gates of Illinois Correctional Campus. What did that say about her? And them?
That things will be different this time. Because I’m different, and Archer’sdefinitelydifferent, and we have Leah Nazir, and a new detective, and we’re finally going to get it done.
Please God.
