Page 77 of Among the Sins of my Father

The music of Swan Lake plays on repeat, mocking me as I slip back into the house via the pool entrance. There are no staff cleaning the mess of the party. None of the family lingering in the aftermath. It’s as though everyone decided to go at the same time, leaving the house in a state of abandonment.

Mary’s room is at the opposite end of the house than Michael’s and the music fades the further I walk. Her door is unlocked, so I creep inside and over to the bed where Ette sleeps soundly.

“Ette?” I shake her gently.

She wakes with a frown of confusion that melts into a smile when she sees me. She extends her arms, wrapping them around my neck.

“What are you doing here?” She whispers and her eyes dart over to where Mary’s asleep on the opposite side of the room.

“We’re leaving,” I tell her, pulling the covers back.

“Are we going home?”

I nod and hold my fingers up to my lips, reminding her that we don’t want to wake Mary. I grab a cardigan next to her bed and wrap it around her shoulders. Taking her hand, I pause as we pass Mary. She looks peaceful in her sleep. Even the scars look less harsh. For once, her hair is pushed away from her face, fanned out over the pillow. A wave of sympathy washes over me. I imagine her as a young woman, fresh-faced and eager for what the world would bring. I imagine her as a bride, walking down the aisle to the man who would break her heart. I try to imagine the thoughts that would have been racing through her mind when she got behind the wheel, alcohol-fueled, emotionally wrecked and desperate for revenge. She watched her husband die. She lay and waited for her own death, while saying goodbye to a son she would never see again.

“Wait for me in the hall, okay?” I whisper to Ette. “If you see anyone come back to me. I won’t be long.”

Ette looks confused but does as I ask. I’m gentle when I wake Mary, not wanting to startle her, but she sits up abruptly anyway, her eyes scanning the room for signs of danger.

“What’s going on? Why are you out?”

“I just want to tell you something before I leave,” I say.

“You’re leaving? Michael’s letting you leave?”

A vision of Michael’s slain body left bleeding on the grass comes unbidden. I’m surprised at the sadness I feel. I thought maybe I might find some relief in his departure, but there’s only sorrow, despite everything he put me through.

“They found Dominic,” I say.

“Where?” she leaps out of bed as though ready to leave here and now.

“It doesn’t matter where. He’s gone.”

Her eyes narrow. “What do you mean, gone?”

I struggle with the words, still not knowing the truth of what truly happened. “He’s dead,” I say bluntly, choosing not to shelter her from the one aspect of what I know to be true.

She sinks back to the mattress, sitting on the edge and shake her head. “How?” is all she says.

“He took his own life.” Tears well in her eyes, but she doesn’t question it. It’s as though she knew it was an option.

“Thank you for telling me.” Gathering the covers, she lies down and pulls them over her head, turning away from me.

“Mary?” There’s no answer from the mound under the blankets. “Leave. Start a new life away from all of this.”

Still no answer. I shake the mound. She pushes back the covers, her eyes lifeless and blank, and merely blinks in my direction.

“Go now. Find Mrs Gorman and leave, okay?”

“Sure,” she says, pulling the covers back over her head.

Ette appears in the doorway. “I hear footsteps.”

Peering down the hallway, I take her hand in mine, and then we run. Our footsteps echo loudly. I keep checking behind us, certain we’re going to get caught. The house seems larger, now that we’re trying to escape. There are more doors, more rooms than I remember. I pause, looking down one hallway, wondering if it leads to an exit.

There’s a scuffle in one of the rooms next to us. Grunts and moans. The sound of a body getting slammed against a wall.

Ette looks at me wide-eyed. I hold my finger to my mouth once again and shake my head, not wanting to alert anyone to our presence. We share a look before I tighten my fingers around her hand and we step out, choosing our path.

---