Page 48 of Nineteen Eighty

“Fine. I’m fucking the foreman’s wife. Happy?”

“You fucking anyone will never make the six o’clock news, Charles. But she must be something else, for you to set aside your daughters for her.”

“I’m not—” Charles stopped. He was too exhausted to answer. It wasn’t even the cuts and bruises anymore. His weariness ran soul deep, and the reminders of his failures only carved deeper ruts in the foundation. “Look. I don’t want… I don’t want them to… well, to be like me, all right?”

Cordelia’s weird smile faded to a frown. A silence grew between them as she seemed to give this serious thought. “You think being around them, your depravity will just rub off? Like a bad scent?”

“How else do kids learn shit, if not from their parents?”

Cordelia laughed. “I don’t think a whole lot of your skills as a human, but as a father, you’ve so far been a different man altogether. When you’re around your daughters, you’re, dare I say it, actually a decent person. You love them, and by some miracle of God, that love makes you different where they’re concerned. Don’t you get that the more you pull away from this, the more you pull away from your own humanity? Your own redemption?”

“Is that what this is to you? Watching over them? Your own redemption?”

“Oh, Charles,” she said with a bemused sigh. “We both know my care of them has an expiration date. It always has. You just better hope it doesn’t come before you figure yourself out, or then they’ll really see a darker side of humanity.”

The four of them raised their glasses to a toast. To children, Noah said. To friendship, Rory added.

This was the first time Colleen and Noah had seen Rory and Carolina beyond in passing since they’d moved back to New Orleans. Carolina and Rory were back full-time now, with Rory working for the firm.

But they were now the parents of three children. After Robyn, Carolina got pregnant with their third child, a son. She and Rory had a falling out when he suggested an abortion, doing so out of a deep and justified fear for her life, but when Cameron was born without complications, they called him their miracle baby. After, Carolina didn’t fight when Rory insisted they both take more permanent precautions to avoid future risk.

Cameron was a happy child, like his older brother, Clancy, who was now six. Cameron wasn’t quite running yet, so he crawled after Clancy with impressive speed, following him everywhere. Robyn—who they called Ari—was content to play on her own now. She was almost four, with a full head of wavy golden hair, resembling someone whose name would never again come up at the table unless the topic was completely unrelated.

“And now Patrick and Isabella are finally joining the rest of us as parents!” Rory declared, refilling his wine glass. All six of their combined children played in the garden, just beyond the porch.

“Twins, would you believe?” Carolina added with a look that said, oh dear me.

“Luther and Josephine are having twins too,” Colleen said. “A boy and a girl.”

“Now that’s trouble,” Carolina said.

“Girls balance the boys,” Rory said wisely. “Ari has such a calming influence on them both. Is Amelia like that, too?”

“A little. Ashley is our quiet one,” Noah said. “They’re all a bit introverted, I think. If any of them has the propensity to grow out of it, though, it’s Ben. He’s a natural showman, I think.”

Carolina’s eyes brightened. “Oh? How so?”

Colleen shot Noah a light look of warning. Although Colleen had once saved Carolina’s life with healing, it was a strange sliver of the past no one liked to talk about. Anything inexplicable was unwelcome to a Sullivan, despite that she’d seen several of their brood work their own unusual magic from time to time. She’d often wondered if these similarities were what brought the families together, but also understood acknowledging them could be what tore the families apart. Rory and Carolina were safer and happier in a world where everything was just as it should be. They didn’t want to hear about Benjamin juggling his toys in the air using only his curious mind.

“Oh, you know. Just likes an audience,” Noah said, winking at Colleen.

“Ari doesn’t seem to make many friends at preschool,” Carolina lamented. “Sometimes I wonder if, you know, if she gets that from…”

Colleen placed a hand over Carolina’s. “She doesn’t. Amelia is like that, too. Some children just have different needs. Maybe we can set up some play dates between the girls?”

Carolina brightened. “Oh, I’d love that, Colleen. If it’s not too much trouble.”

“Of course it’s not. Anasofiya is spending a lot of time in her room these days, so I’m sure Augustus will appreciate us bringing her along as well.”

“Oh, yes! How lovely that would be, for all three girls!”

“All with first names beginning with A,” Rory mused, to no one in particular.

“Until we invite Olivia,” Noah teased.

The foursome finished off another bottle of wine before Rory insisted it was time to get the little ones off to bed. Colleen was a little drunk herself, a sensation she rarely allowed herself to indulge in. The languid pace of the evening, the hours of conversation with old friends, these things were a welcome addition to her chaotic life. She worried she might regret leaving Scotland, but her family was here. Her people were here. Her life was here.

They all exchanged hugs and kisses, along with promises to do this more often. And as Noah and Colleen watched their friends and their children leave, arms looped around one another, they drew strength from each other’s peace.

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