“What happened to your fan club?”
She watched me for a beat, knowing that I was purposely changing the subject. Now was not the time to talk about it.
“Gone.” She waved a hand toward the street.
“What were they asking you about?”
She mumbled out the answer.
I tilted my ear toward her, pretending that I couldn’t hear. “What was that, Amphitrite? You were breaking up, the depths of your gibberish too deep.”
Before I could move, she stuck her finger in my ear. “No, you just have too much water lodged in there! Selective hearing, I believe it’s called. You need a suction cup.”
I grinned. The girls had begged her to teach at the studio, each one promising to attend class—Oh, if you did, we would all be there!It would be so much fun, wouldn’t it?
“Who gave you the suckers?” She nodded to the two suckers Mary had given me, stuck behind the gold belt around my waist like pistols.
She didn’t want to talk either. I was just about to hand her one, so we could relax out on the porch and enjoy something we used to, when Mick tore out of the house, jumping off the porch with keys in hand.
“What’s going on?” Scarlett twirled, shouting after him.
I turned Scarlett toward the house, door wide open. Mitch’s hand hovered around Violet’s arched back, afraid to touch her, but keeping close. The ticking time bomb had goneboom. Every so often, she’d stop and breathe, holding her stomach.
“Oh,” Scarlett breathed out.
Mary rushed around her mother, arms out, coming straight toward me. I picked her up and she wentzoooo, as though she were flying. “Guess what, BRANDPOW? We’re about to have two new clowns!”
* * *
“That was quick,” I said, squeezing Scarlett’s shoulder.
Her eyes scanned each window display that we passed. Not wanting to go straight home after the hospital, we both decided on a walk. Whether it was from the rush of adrenaline, two births, Halloween, or a combination of all three, the night felt alive around us.
Scarlett lifted her wrist, the gold of her watch and bracelets sparking in the darkness, narrowing her eyes. “I doubt Violet would agree. Three hours of hard labor probably feels a lot longer.”
“That’s something. Two different birthdays.”
“Yes, it is. She was born on Halloween. He on the first of November.”
“I didn’t even consider that could happen with twins.”
Scarlett and I stopped in front of her mother’s small boutique, and she gazed up at the mannequin dressed in a gold jumpsuit. Silence fell between us, both lost to our own thoughts.
Twins—Wendeline, Wendi for short, and Levi. Both babies were six pounds even, and that was where the similarities ended. I had assumed most twins would resemble each other, even somewhat, but not those two. They were as different as their birthdays and their sexes.
Levi was the spitting image of Mary as a baby—only a fuzz of light blonde hair, and he seemed relaxed to be out in the world. Wendi had a forest of black hair and what seemed like a perpetual frown on her face.
“Is it—” I couldn’t even finish the thought.
I blinked and found Scarlett watching me through the reflection of the glass, hoodie pulled up over my head, over my hat.
“It’s possible, Brando,” she whispered, as though she didn’t want anyone else to hear, even though we were all alone. The street was deserted. No stragglers out welcoming the witching hour. “It’s called heteropaternal superfecundation. It’s where the children can be ‘bipaternal,’ meaning, during ovulation two different fathers can fertilize the eggs. That also means that they would be half siblings.”
“So one man’s sperm has to fight another’s?” It was more like a waking fucking nightmare.
Her smile came slowly. “No matter who or when, they race, Brando. Everyone is the enemy. That’s why you should always be proud of yourself. You won the race of life!”
“Leave it to you to see the humor in this. The entire situation is—” I shivered, and not from the weather “—effed up.”
