Diamonds Are Forever. Michelle Madow
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filled Savannah’s eyes, and she tried swallowing them away. She couldn’t say it—not without crying.
Leave it to Mom to talk without thinking and screw up everything.
“She thanked Savannah for not shutting her out these past few weeks,” Courtney told Peyton. “Which means that Savannah must have broken our pact. She’s been talking to Mom.”
“Is that true?” Peyton asked Savannah.
“I couldn’t not talk to her.” Savannah sniffed and wiped away a tear. “She hates what she did, and wishes she could take it back. Us not talking to her was making her feel worse.”
“She can’t just ‘take it back.’” Courtney paced around the room, her hands curled into fists. “Britney wasn’t some small thing that slipped Mom’s mind. She was our sister—she was my twin—and Mom didn’t tell us about her because it was too hard for her. Don’t you see how selfish that was?”
“I know,” Savannah choked out. “I tried not talking to her—I really did. But she kept reaching out to us, and she’s our mom. I couldn’t ignore her.”
“And I’m your sister,” Courtney said. “Me, you and Peyton—we agreed to take space from Mom so she would know that she can’t lie to us without any consequences. But you not being able to do it...it’s like you don’t care about what she did. Like you don’t care about Britney.”
“That’s not true,” Savannah said. “I do care about Britney, and I hate that Mom never told us about her.”
“So why are you acting like she doesn’t matter?”
“Because Britney’s dead!” The moment she realized what she’d said, Savannah clasped her hands over her mouth, her eyes wide.
Courtney stopped pacing, her face pale. She stared at Savannah as if she didn’t recognize her.
“What the hell, Savannah?” Peyton said. “When did you become such a bitch?”
“I didn’t mean it like that,” she mumbled, unable to meet her eyes. Her sisters were looking at her with so much betrayal that she wanted to bury herself under the covers. “Mom just kept reaching out to me, and I felt so bad ignoring her...”
“Mom kept reaching out to you because she knows you’re the weakest of the three of us,” Peyton said. “She knew you would give in.”
“At least I let myself care about people,” Savannah shot back. “You just push everyone away. Of course you had no problem shutting Mom out—shutting people out comes naturally to you.”
There were three knocks on the door, and they all went silent, watching as whoever it was opened it and peeked her head through. Aunt Sophie. Her skin was wrinkled and hollow, with age spots all over it, and the circles around her eyes were so dark that they could have been bruises. In her ivory, flowing nightgown, she looked like a ghost who hadn’t slept in weeks.
“Is everything okay in here?” she asked, her voice soft and frail.
“Aunt Sophie!” Courtney exclaimed. “Did our talking wake you up?”
“I wouldn’t call what you were doing ‘talking.’” Aunt Sophie laughed, although it turned into a hacking cough. She caught her breath, then said, “Yelling is more like it.”
“We’re so sorry,” Courtney said, clasping her hands together. “We didn’t mean to bother you.”
“I know,” Aunt Sophie said. “I opened my window this morning for some fresh air, and your window down here was open, too. Sound really travels out here in the country.”
“How much did you hear?” Savannah asked.
“Everything.” Aunt Sophie hobbled over to the closest bed—Savannah’s—and sat down. She held her hand against her head, as if just that short walk had made her dizzy, and took a few long, steadying breaths. “As I understand from what I heard, the three of you made a group decision not to speak to your mom and grandma, and Savannah spoke to them anyway without telling you.”
“We don’t need to ‘talk this out,’ or whatever,” Peyton said. “We’ve got it covered.”
Aunt Sophie cracked a smile. “I disagree. It sounded like you were about to rip each other’s hair out. And since I have to live here while everyone else is angry at each other, I think we do need to talk it out. Let’s not make this weekend more stressful than it needs to be, okay?”
Savannah’s cheeks turned red, and she fiddled with her bracelets, unable to look at Aunt Sophie. If she’d heard that entire conversation, then she must have heard what Savannah had yelled at Courtney—about Britney being dead. She’d never said anything so mean, ever. Especially not to her sister.
Aunt Sophie must think she was a terrible person.
“I want each of you to sit on your beds, and we’ll discuss this—without yelling,” Aunt Sophie said.
“Are you a psychologist now or something?” Peyton asked, although she did stomp over to her bed and sit.
“No—but I was a teen once, and your grandma and I had quite our share of fights as well,” Aunt Sophie replied. “I know what it’s like to fight with your sister. And when it came to your grandma and I, I was always the peacekeeper of the two.”
“Like Courtney,” Savannah said. “Well...like Courtney is normally. Peyton and I fight all the time about stupid things, but Courtney always fixes it.”
“You’re right,” Courtney said. “I’m always there for both of you. When you and Peyton fight over what music to listen to, or taking each other’s stuff, or any of your stupid fights, I help you work it out. But now—the one time when I needed you to stand by me—you couldn’t do it. And you lied to me about it.”
“Which are you more upset about?” Aunt Sophie asked. “That Savannah talked to your mom and grandma, or that she kept it from you and Peyton?”
“Both.” Courtney sniffed. “But not telling us makes it worse.” She turned her focus to Savannah, her eyes full of so much anger that Savannah backed up against the wall. “How did you sit with us in the car today when I was talking about how grateful I was that you and Peyton kept your word, knowing that you hadn’t? How could you lie to me like that?”
“I didn’t mean to,” Savannah said. “You made me promise not to talk to them. Then they wanted to talk to me, and I hated ignoring them, so I didn’t. No one ever asked me if not talking to them was something I wanted to do.”
“It’s always about you, isn’t it?” Courtney said.
Savannah blinked, and looked down at her lap. How could Courtney say that to her?
“We’re supposed to be talking about this without fighting,” Aunt Sophie reminded them. “I don’t have the energy to deal with a fight like the one I overheard earlier—and I certainly don’t want to be surrounded by this attitude all weekend.”
“Sorry,” Courtney said. “I knew we shouldn’t have come here.” She leaned against the wall, pulled her legs up to her chest and added, “But maybe it’s best that we did. Otherwise we wouldn’t have found out that Savannah’s been lying to us.”
“So I was correct,” Aunt Sophie said. “It’s the lying that upset you the most.”
“I guess.” Courtney shrugged. “It definitely made it worse.”
“What was I supposed to do?” Savannah asked. “If I’d told you about talking with Mom and Grandma, it wouldn’t have changed anything. You still would have been mad.”
“Yeah,” Courtney said. “But not as mad. At least that way you wouldn’t