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She fought it, staring at the screen ferociously. She barely saw whatever it was that her sisters were watching—something involving hockey players. She was sure she’d seen it before, but it didn’t matter because she couldn’t see it now. There were too many tears in her eyes when she never cried. Never. She tried to blink them back but that made it worse. They started to roll from her eyes, down her cheeks, and then soon enough she was just sitting there… weeping.

It was horrifying and she couldn’t stop. It seemed to her as if there was some kind of concrete block inside of her and tonight it had decided to make its way out. No matter what it took with it or how much it hurt in the process.

She didn’t want to move, but she also didn’t want her sisters to notice, because she never cried. She wasn’t a crier. It wasn’t acceptable in any circumstance she could think of, and anyway, it wasn’t as if it solved anything.

The tears kept coming. They kept pouring down her face and she was terribly afraid she had to sniffle, and they would certainly hear that. So she tried to sneak a hand up to wipe at her cheeks and then the next thing she knew, both of her sisters were pressing in closer. Grabbing her in one, big, sisterly hug, and murmuring things she didn’t even really understand.

For the first time in her life, or at least in as long as she could remember, Kitty sobbed her eyes out.

It went on and on, and she had no choice but to let it.

Eventually, the tears stopped, or at least lessened. Flannery stood up momentarily, but only to grab some tissues, then sat back down. And just as close.

Then both of them waited there, without saying a word, as Kitty tried to think of how on earth she could explain this to them.

But no matter how she tried to come at it, she couldn’t seem to think of a single way to explain what was happening.

Except, that was, the ugly truth.

“My marriage is just pretend,” she said, baldly. She heard both of her sisters gasp a little, but she didn’t look to either her right or left. That was too much to ask. “I ran into Izzy one morning and she said she thought there was no point actually letting us buy the land unless we were married. She was convinced husbands would take us away from here and leave the restaurant sitting empty.” She shook her head. “So I… literally asked the first man I ran into to marry me, and he did.”

“Oh, Kitty,” Indy said softly. “You idiot.”

That was helpful, actually, as Kitty did not like being called an idiot. And she greatly preferred that spark of indignation to bawling her eyes out.

“It was an excellent plan,” she said. Maybe a little sternly. “It would have solved all of our problems. All he had to do was stay married for a year, then divorce me and go about his business.”

Flannery glared in the general direction of the attic, which, from her position on the couch, meant she was glaring at the ceiling. “Is he trying to back out? After barely a month?”

“Worse,” Kitty said darkly. “He was supposed to leave town. Now he says he’s not going to do that. And he said he doesn’t think he’s going to want a divorce, either.”

For a moment, her sisters were silent. Then Kitty watched as they both leaned forward, just slightly, so they could look at each other like she wasn’t between them.

Only then did they turn to look at her.

And their matching expressions of astonishment, tinged with something like exasperation, made Kitty hunch a little bit against the couch.

“Oh no,” Indy said, in that tone of fake indignation that she generally only used when she was teasing Kitty. “Are you saying that your husband actually likes you, Kitty?”

“Not only likes you but likes you enough to stay married to you, when you went to so much trouble to make the marriage as bloodless as possible?” Flannery shook her head. “What a nightmare.”

“I don’t know how you will survive such a betrayal,” Indy continued, rolling her eyes. “How dare the man actually have a feeling!”

“You’re missing the point,” Kitty argued, crossly. “We agreed—”

“Kitty. Hear me on this,” Indy said, with a certain urgency. “I’m pretty sure that you’re the one who is missing the point.”

On her other side, Flannery was nodding. A lot. And then she actually twisted around sideways on the couch cushion so she could glare directly into Kitty’s face.

“He doesn’t just like you,” Flannery said, very brusquely, to Kitty’s ear. “Have you looked at him? I mean really looked at him. He’s head over heels for you. That’s why I assumed you two had been sneaking around for a while even though I couldn’t imagine when or how you did it. This obviously makes more sense, but you have to be top-tier delusional to think that a man like that would have married you for any other reason than the fact that he wanted to. That no matter what nonsense you came up with, he really just wanted to.”

“He doesn’t believe in marriage. Neither do I.” Kitty tried to say that matter-of-factly, but her voice betrayed her and cracked all the way through.

“We are nothing like Mom and Dad,” Indy said fiercely. “You know we’re not.”

Kitty pressed the heels of her hands to her eyes, that now felt red and scraped dry. “It has nothing to do with being like them. You know as well as I do how toxic marriage is. Why would I want to repeat that? I don’t. I won’t. It’s supposed to be pretend.”

“Kitty,” Flannery said from beside her, though her voice sounded different now. Softer, Kitty thought, and that made her eyes water again. “A marriage is only as toxic as the people in it.”