“How you didn’t mean for it to happen, how you’re so, so sorry.”
“Oh no,” Mama said, looking at her oldest daughter. “Nora... Tell me it’s not true.”
Tears slid down Nora’s face, running black with eyeliner. “It is true,” she whispered. “And I am so sorry...”
Daddy ran a hand over his face. “Oh, good heavens.”
“You need to leave,” Emma said to Nora, her face flushed with anger. “You need to get out of here right now and don’t come back. I don’t ever want to see you again!”
“Now, Emma...,” Daddy started.
“She was kissing him, Daddy, and God knows what else she was doing with him!”
“Emma,” Daddy said. “Let’s just take a deep breath here. Now, Nora... What’s going on between you and Jonathan? How did this happen?”
“What does it matter how it happened, Stanley?” Mama snapped. “She was kissing her sister’s fiancé. She’s in love with him. Does anything else matter after that?”
“I’m just trying to get to the bottom of this,Theresa.”
Maddy’d never heard Daddy speak so sharply to her mother.
Emma glared at Nora. “And where is Jonathan in all this, Nora? Huh? Is he in love with you too? Are the two of you justsoin love now?”
Nora shifted. “I think—you should ask him that.”
“Well, I’m askingyou! Is he in love with you, Nora?” Emma’s hands clenched and unclenched at her sides. Her shoulders rose and fell with her breaths.
The sound of the surf punctuated a long, painful silence.
Black smudges underlined Nora’s sad, guilty eyes. “He says he is,” she said softly.
A beat of silence thrummed between them. Then Emma covered her face and wept into her hands, great sobs that shook her body and left Maddy feeling hollow and helpless.
Mama put her arms around Emma and rubbed her back. “Oh, honey. Oh, honey, this is just so awful.”
Nora closed her eyes as if she couldn’t bear to see her sister in pain—pain she’d caused herself. More tears leaked down Nora’s face.
Maddy’s throat ached, and she swallowed around the huge lump. She wished she could close her eyes and make it all go away. What had she done? What was going to happen now? The summer was ruined. The wedding—was it off? Or was Jonathan in love with both of them? Was that even possible?
Emma broke away from Mama, her eyes snapping with fire. “How long has this been going on, Nora? How long have you both been cheating behind my back?”
When Nora failed to answer quickly enough, she spun to Maddy. “How long, Maddy? When did this start?”
Heat flushed through Maddy’s system as all eyes turned on her. She trembled, her legs quaking beneath her. Her mouth worked, but she had no words.
“You knew?” Mama asked, her voice full of disappointment. “Oh, Maddy...”
“I—I didn’t know,” Maddy squeaked. “Not for sure.”
Emma stepped toward Nora, her face full of rage. “How dare you carry on with my fiancé behind my back! My own sister! Right under the same roof!”
Daddy stepped between them. “Now, Emma, you know it takes two to—”
Mama emitted a sharp laugh. “Youwouldside with her! Are you kidding me, Stanley?”
“This is about our daughters, Theresa, not us! You know very well Nora didn’t intend for this to happen.”
“Oh, and that makes it all right, does it? As long as she intended no harm, she’s off the hook!”
