Chapter 34
Gwen
When Gwen passed the Christmas tree farm, she slowed the car in search of Angeni Luna’s property. She pulled to the side of the road at the sight of a signpost with an address on it. She parked with one set of tires on the asphalt, the other on the dirt. She didn’t feel right driving down the driveway as if she were an invited guest. She didn’t even know if this was the right place.
June was fussy in the back seat, so Gwen took her out of the car seat, held the baby against her as she walked through the trees to get a better look at the front of the house. She recognized it immediately—the rustic wood siding, like a log cabin, and that beautiful wraparound porch, complete with a swing. It was Angeni Luna’s house. She reached into her back pocket for her phone, took a photo of the house. Leigh would think she was crazy, but Leigh was also the type to be impressed by crazy.
There were two people on the porch. She recognized the young, darker-skinned woman from a couple of Angeni Luna’s posts. She was the newest “auntie” in the commune, or whatever it was. Her eyes went to the other woman, and before she could take in her face, she took in something else—a gun.
She crouched down, desperate to get away from whatever danger she’d walked into. June looked at her with confusion, and Gwen shushed her quietly. If the baby started crying, the women on the porch would see her there, and then what?
She was about halfway between her car and the house. She wondered if she should crawl back to the car or just stay where she was. There were risks either way.
“It’s okay, we’re okay,” she whispered to June, who kept staring at her, waiting for her mother to tell her what to expect in this situation.
Gwen could hear the women talking on the porch. One of them, the one holding the gun, was practically shouting.
“You need to tell her the truth,” she said.
What had Gwen gotten herself into? Why had she gotten on that stupid ferry?
“I will, okay? I’ll tell her,” the other woman said.
“What will you tell her?”
“I’m not Sitka. My name is Sasha Robinson. I came to confront Angeni because of my sister.”
“Your sister?”
“My sister. Daphne. She died during a home birth. She loved Angeni. It just got out of hand, this whole thing.”
The dark-skinned woman was shouting too. Or shout-sobbing, rather.
“I’m leaving. Today. Okay? Put down the gun, Aurora.”
That was her name—Aurora. Angeni Luna’s soul sister, best friend. Seeing her with a gun made no sense. It was completely incongruent with what Gwen knew of Angeni Luna’s idyllic life.
“Look, I know Angeni didn’t even have a home birth, okay? I don’t care anymore. Yes, Erik kissed me. It was nothing. It was an impulsive mistake. I just want to go. I’ll leave you all alone. I promise.”
Angeni didn’t have a home birth? This girl had kissed Erik? Gwen’s mind raced in attempts to make meaning of what she was hearing. She thought of Leigh, wished she was there with her.
“You need to tell her all this. You can’t just run away like a coward. Tell her. She won’t believe me,” Aurora said.
Gwen didn’t like where this was going. She decided to turn around, crawl back to her car, get her child away from these people and their soap opera. But then she heard a new voice on the scene, and she’d watched enough Angeni Luna reels and videos to know it was the woman herself.
Chapter 35
Angeni Luna
Angeni stared at her computer screen. This was her first day trying to get back to working on the book after all the recent drama. She needed to start making some progress. Maybe working on the book would distract her from the friction with Aurora. Since their conversation at the bay, Aurora had been keeping to herself in her tiny house out back, though they had maneuvered around each other in the kitchen this morning. Angeni was waiting for Aurora to come clean, to confess that, yes, she was trying to make trouble because of her discomfort with Sitka. Angeni was prepared to forgive her if she would just confess.
There was a small part of her that wondered if Aurora had been telling the truth—if Erik and Sitka had developed some kind of nighttime relationship that had escalated to a romantic kiss. She had never noticed any chemistry between the two of them, and Angeni was usually quite intuitive about such things. She and Erik had been going through a hard time, and she knew Erik was probably longing for physical affection, but she just couldn’t see him kissing Sitka. She was just a girl, a standoffish, difficult-to-read girl. Aurora had to be lying, which was an equally distressing infidelity.
Freya was taking her midmorning nap on the floor mattress in Sitka’s room. She was used to sleeping there at night and seemed toprefer it during the day, though Angeni still let her nap on her chest whenever possible. Angeni stood from her chair, convincing herself she needed a break. She went to peek in at Freya. The baby was sleeping soundly, flat on her back with her arms and legs flailed out. Sitka’s room looked unusually tidy, the bed made, no toiletries or items of clothing out. In the corner of the room, Angeni saw the two bags Sitka had arrived with. They appeared to be full. Was Sitka leaving?
Angeni closed the door to Sitka’s room and went looking for her. She hadn’t seen her go out back, so she must be on the front porch. As she came toward the front of the house, she heard shouting. It sounded like Aurora, but she’d never heard Aurora sound like this. She walked faster.
The front door was ajar.
