They got through the night peacefully enough.

    “I take it nothing happened last night?” Mortimer asked her. Bella could tell by his voice that he had woken up in a bad mood.

    “Well the house is still standing,” she said. “I think that's a good sign.” Mortimer forced a smile, and Bella knew that while he appreciated her attempt to lighten the mood, there was nothing she could do to make him feel better so they just got up and started preparing breakfast.

    This day wasn't going to be easy, not with Mortimer's foul mood, the need to keep the waring twins apart and trying to keep the younger girls out of it all. And that was before someone came to the door.

    Bella opened it to find Mary-Sue Pleasant on the porch. Her normally neat hair was disheveled, and her casual suit was slightly wrinkled.

    “Bella, it's so good to see you,” she said, pulling Bella into a hug.

    “I wish it could be under better circumstances,” Bella replied.

    “I know,” she said. “I'm sorry, but I've been busy. Maybe a little too busy.”

    “Mary-Sue!” came Cassandra's voice. “You came. What changed your mind?”

    “What you said, and what my parents told me when I talked to them. Now where are the girls?”

    “They're upstairs...” Bella started.

    “Good,” Mary-Sue responded, walking through the entry way. “I need to get Angela down here so I can read that girl the riot act.” She stopped in front of the staircase. “Angela Diane Pleasant! You get down here right now!”

     Almost immediately, Angela came down the stairs, stopping in the middle with her mouth wide open.

    “Mom?” she gasped. Mary-Sue continued to glare at her and Angela continued her way down the stairs and sat down on the sofa that Amanda and Anne had moved to the side of the staircase.

    “What in the world were you thinking taking off like that?” Mary-Sue scolded. “Do you have any idea how worried I was?”

    “I was desperate, Mom,” Angela replied. “I had no other choice.” Bella noticed that Randy, Amanda, Anne and Lilith had gathered at the top of the stairs, excited to see someone else get in trouble.

    “You know,” Mary-Sue continued, “I expect this kind of behavior from your sister, but not from you.”

    “Gee, thanks a lot Mom,” Lilith grumbled loud enough to hear.

    “Lilith, you get down here too.” Lilith rolled her eyes and pushed her way past the girls, climbed down the stairs and sat down on the opposite end of the couch.

    “Now, your father has a five hundred dollar charge missing from his credit card,” Mary-Sue said, focusing her attention back on Angela. “You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?”

    “I may have used it to pay for a flight and the bus trip here,” Angela replied.

    “Well, what do you know,” Lilith said smiling. “I'm not the family screw up anymore! This is a red letter day.”

    “Not now, Lilith,” Mary-Sue said sternly. Again, she turned back to Angela. “This doesn't have anything to do with Dustin, does it?” Angela nodded. Mary-Sue sighed. “I told you, if he's going around getting arrested, then you're much better off without him.”

    “But you don't understand!” Angela fired back.

    “Exactly what don't I understand?”

    “He has baby brother and a single mother. He was doing his job, Mom. He's the only one supporting his family and that was the only job he could find.”

    “That doesn't excuse...”

    “I know that!” Angela was riled up now. “They didn't tell him that what he was doing was against the law, they just gave him work and he didn't question it because he needed the money.”

    “I don't see why this is any of your business, let alone reason for you take off with your father's money.”

    “There's a program that was designed for people in his situation. They could help him find a good job. But he needs me to vouch for him and I can't do that without either you or Dad. I came to find Lilith so I could get some advice on how I could bend those rules, but obviously that was a waste of my time.”

    “I still don't get it,” Mary-Sue argued. “Why does Dustin have to resort to working? Why can't his mother get a job?”

    “She's going to have a hard time finding work for the next several months,” Angela replied.

    “Why?”

    “Because she's pregnant.” Angela covered her mouth after speaking those words. “I really wasn't supposed to tell anyone that.” Lilith sat silently after taking in that revelation. Mary-Sue held her head in her hands.

    “This just got ten times more complicated,” she said under her breath.

    “Why don't we sit down and have some coffee or something?” Cassandra suggested. “It will give you some time to think.”

    “I think I'll take you up on that,” Mary-Sue agreed. Bella motioned for Randy to come down the stairs and led him into the living room.

    “Randy, I need you and Alexander to keep the twins occupied. Put them in separate rooms. We don't want another fight breaking out.”

    As Randy ushered the twins upstairs, the front door opened for the second time.

    “Hey, Bella,” called Jessica. Bella shook her head. Not only did Jessica have the very bad habit of just wandering into Bella's home like she lived there, she tended to have very bad timing with it. And, of course, she picked the absolute worst time to pay her friend a visit. “They're saying that the fight yesterday was the greatest fight to happen in Strangetown since General Grunt got beat up by an alien....” She stopped when she saw the scene unfolding in front of her. “Oh, I didn't realize you had company. I'm just going to leave now...”

    “As you can tell,” Bella whispered to her friend, “now is not a good time. I'll explain later.” She walked Jessica to the door. “And don't forget to knock next time.”

 

Cassandra

 

“So I take it everyone knows about the fight?” Mary-Sue asked as she sat down at the kitchen table.

    “Gossip here can be ridiculous at times,” Cassandra answered, taking a sip of her coffee. She was going to be late to work, but she was sure, with the events that happened yesterday, that once she explained what was going on her bosses would let it slide. “The same thing happened when I caught Don. The good thing about it was that Mom's friends came over as soon as they heard. They wanted to make sure I was okay. It made me feel a little better knowing that they cared.”

    Her mother came in the kitchen, grabbed a cup of coffee and sat down with them at the table.

    “I'm so sorry the girls ended up being so much trouble for you,” Mary-Sue apologized.

    “It's not your fault, Mary-Sue,” Bella reassured her. “We didn't know this would happen.”

    “In a way it is,” Mary-Sue explained. “The more I think about it, the more I realize how Daniel and I treated the girls unfairly. Angela always seemed like the good girl so we always believed her and ended up blaming Lilith for things I now realize she didn't do. Angela was usually agreeable, but Lilith would never listen. She'd always challenge us at the worst times, and no matter what we did, it never got her to be more like Angela.”

    “And that's the problem,” Bella informed her. “Lilith isn't Angela. Sure they look identical, but they are different people.”

    “I never expected Lilith to be Angela,” Mary-Sue said.

    “No, but you expected Lilith to behave like Angela and acted disappointed when she didn't. And as a result, she's under the impression that she'll never be good enough for you.”

    “Bella, how do you know all this?”

    “You forget we're raising two girls close enough in age to practically be twins. ”

    “But they have different parents,” Mary-Sue argued.

    “That's besides the point,” Bella told her. “The fact is, the way you parent Angela isn't going to be effective with Lilith. Look where's it gotten you.”

    “And I'm sure there was more that I don't even remember,” Mary-Sue continued. And with everything that's going on in our family right now...” She sighed. “It's no wonder she ran away. To be honest, I'd want to get away from all of that too.” She shook her head and took another sip of her coffee. “I don't know what to do about this whole Dustin thing, however. I never did like him hanging around Angela, and Daniel hates him. He about lost it when they started dating, but I figured she would lose interest in him. A lot of high school relationships don't work out. Look at Daniel and myself.”

    “Look at my parents,” Cassandra said.

    “And some of them do,” Mary-Sue continued. “I just never thought that Angela and Dustin's could be one of them. And now that I know about his family's situation... I can't be the person responsible for leaving them out to dry. Not when there are two innocent babies that could end up suffering. But I can't really justify helping him either. What if Dustin doesn't get his act together?”

    “What if he does?” Bella asked. She got up and placed her coffee mug in the dishwasher. “You know, a lot of those criminal organizations take advantage of teens in Dustin's situation. They find someone who is desperate for money and offer them a decent salary. And once those teens become adults and find that no one will hire them, they have no choice but to go back to working for the criminals. It's really a good thing Dustin got arrested. Thanks for programs like the one Angela mentioned, he now has a way to get out of that while he still can.”

    “I hadn't thought about that,” Mary-Sue confessed.

    “I'm going to check on the girls,” Bella said. “There's no signs of fighting right now, but who knows how long that will last.”

    “Have you tried getting to know Dustin?” Cassandra asked as her mother left the room. “Have you even met him?”

    “No,” Mary-Sue admitted. “Not formally at least. I've seen him around Angela, and I've heard what Daniel has to say, although I really shouldn't be listening to him anymore. But no, I've never really spoken to Dustin.”

    “Then how do you know he's a bad person? I know he got caught up with the wrong crowd, but it sounds to me like he really cares about what happens to his family. There are plenty of men who don't.”

    “Tell me about it.”

    “What about Lilith and Dirk?” Cassandra asked. “How did you react when you found out about them?”

    “Honestly,” Mary-Sue said, “I thought about not allowing her to see him anymore. She's snuk out of the house after midnight I don't know how many times to meet him. But I knew that would only make things worse, so I didn't seriously consider it. And after meeting with Darren and talking to him, I realized that Dirk is good for her. If it wasn't for him, she would have gone off the deep end a long time ago.”

    “When Darren and I met,” Cassandra explained, “he and Dirk were at a low point. His inspiration for painting had dried up and with it went their income. The bills were piling up and Dirk's grades had slipped horribly. But, about a year or so after we met, Darren got his muse back and things started to get better for them.”

    “Do you think you helped them out at all?”

    “I know I did,” Cassandra said. “He told me he had fallen in love with me.”

    “You're kidding.”

    Cassandra shook her head. “I couldn't believe it either. That's why we drifted apart after my wedding, and that's why he came over here to see how I was doing when you mentioned what happened with Don. Darren's a close friend of mine, and I know he raised his son to be an honest, trustworthy person.”

    “I can see that now.”

    “The point is,” Cassandra continued, “Dirk's been at that place were Lilith's at, and he's trying to help her get out of it. Don't you think Angela is doing the same for Dustin?”

 

Lilith

 

“Maybe you should do something crazy,” Randy suggested, “like get a really edgy hair cut.”

    “I like my hair like this,” Lilith replied. “I've never really been a fan of super short hairstyles.”

    “But you wear it the same way as Angela.”

    “She copied me on that. I wasn't going to let her ruin that for me.”

    “Then maybe you should dye it black,” Randy said, “or some crazy neon color.”

    “My hair color is unique enough as it is.”

    “Is that your real color?”

    “You're not the first person who's asked me that you know.”

    “I think every redhead gets asked that at least once,” Randy said laughing.

    “Yes, I'm a natural redhead. I don't have to dye my hair to get it to be an out there color.”

    “Because based on your mom, I would have thought your hair would have been black.” Lilith looked over at Anne, who was leaning over Alice's crib watching the baby sleep. She could imagine herself with that hair color, but she preferred it the way it was. She loved how much it contrasted with her wardrobe and how unique it was. The way she wore it made her feel feminine and confident. She wasn't going to lose that even if Angela did wear her hair the same way.

    “My dad also has red hair. We get it from him,” Lilith said, although thinking about her father made her a little sad.

    “Look, I know what it's like to have a family member hurt you,” Randy told her. “I never really considered Don my father, but he was the closest thing I had to one for a while. So when I found out he had been running around on Cassandra, I felt betrayed.”

    Lilith couldn't imagine what kind of effect that would have on a little girl like Amanda. Was she even old enough to understand what her father had done? And Alice, well Alice was too little to even notice that her father was out of the picture. Lilith, however, wouldn't have described her feelings as betrayal, especially since her parents had never really been on her side. But she had been scared. Even though she was at odds with her parents all the time, she couldn't help but feel uncertain about what would happen next. She had spent that night crying into Dirk's chest, trying to comprehend her confusing emotions.

    “You didn't see him do that, did you?”

    “No. You did, didn't you?”

    “My mom had just caught him in the act when I came home. He didn't even notice we were standing right there.”

    Lilith's phone buzzed with a message from Dirk, and she pulled it out of her pocket to look at it. She had felt bad about being in a bedroom with a guy that wasn't Dirk, so to make herself feel better, she sent him a picture of the girls with an explanation of the events of the last hour so Dirk wouldn't totally freak out. It was a good thing Dirk wasn't the jealous type, but he really didn't need to be. Nothing matched the strong feelings Lilith had for him, and she would never do what her father had done. Dirk knew that. He trusted her.

    “Lilith?” She turned to the doorway of the bedroom to find Angela standing there. Now what? “I'm sorry, Lilith. I'm sorry for coming here and intruding on your space.” Wait? Angela was apologizing? “I know it's no excuse, but I was desperate. You were the only person I could think of who could help me. I really didn't mean to bother you at all. But I should have realized that you would be hurt by that. This whole thing is my fault.” Did she hear that correctly? Angela was admitting she was wrong? All that made Lilith think about was what Dirk and Bella told her the night before. If she was going to apologize, now was the perfect time to do so and if her sister could, so could she.

    “I'm sorry too,” she said. “I'm sorry for hitting you in the face.”

    “Who are you and what have you done to my sister?” Angela asked. Lilith noticed Alexander was standing behind her, he and Randy ready to break up any fight that occurred.

    “I could ask you the same thing.”

    “But seriously, I should have just gone to our grandparents for help. I should have known coming here was only going to cause more problems, especially after the way Mom freaked out when you ran away.”

    “She freaked out?”

    Angela walked into the room and sat next to Lilith on the bed, looking her in the eyes. “She was worried about you. We all were.”

    “You were worried about me?”

    “Dang it, Lilith,” Angela replied, “you're my sister. Sure we fight constantly, but that doesn't mean I don't care about you.”

    Would Lilith have cared if Angela had run away? Probably not. Her parents would have lost their minds with worry, but she had to admit to herself that she would have been happy that there was one less person in the house to drive her nuts. Wouldn't that be the way her parents would feel about her taking off? Hadn't it been? She just couldn't see them worrying about her.

    “Mom was a mess,” Angela continued. “But she and Dad, they actually stopped fighting. They put their differences aside and came together until you got home safe. I even noticed her crying on his shoulder. And I was scared. I couldn't stand the idea of something bad happening to you. Until then I thought I hated you, but the whole thing made me realize that I don't want a bad relationship with you.”

    Lilith scooted farther down on the bed. None of what Angela said was making any sense. Her parents had worried about her? Angela had cared? No, that couldn't be possible. She had fought with Angela within 24 hours of returning home. Her parents hadn't even been relieved she was okay. They were too busy being upset with her.

    “Look, Lilith,” Angela continued, “our parents... they're not the best parents out there. Mom is always wrapped up in her job, and Dad... well I can tell you what he was thinking when he hopped into bed with Kaylynn.”

    “He wasn't,” Lilith mumbled.

    “Exactly,” said Angela. “Wait, did we just agree on something?”

    “Yeah, we did. That's just weird.”

    “But it feels good, doesn't it?”

    “Speak for yourself.”

    “My point is,” Angela said, “I want a sister I can count on.”

    “And I know better than anyone that you don't always get what you want.”

    “Lilith...”

    “I can't Angela. I just can't.”

    “Is everything okay in here?” Bella slipped into the room, her eyes filled with concern. Angela got off the bed and headed for the door.

    “I don't know,” she said as she scooted past Bella and left the room. Bella took her spot on the bed next to Lilith.

    “I can't stand her, Bella,” Lilith told her. “And now she has this great idea that we can be friends or something. After I hit her and told her I hate her. Well, forget it. I just wish sometimes she would never speak to me again.”

    “That's not fair, Lilith.”

    “You know what isn't fair? The fact that she doesn't even do anything and she still gets on Mom and Dad's good side. How she got to glide through childhood when I wasn't even ready to grow up when I did. How they always act like I'm some kind of criminal or something.”

    “Well, you have been misbehaving lately.”

    “I'm just sick and tired of following rules that never work in my favor,” Lilith said, looking at the ground.

    “Lilith...”

    “And that's not all. Dad hates Angela's boyfriend and they still let her go out with him at night. Do you know how scared I was when they found out about Dirk? I didn't want them to take away the one good relationship I have. That's why I snuk out of the house – because I knew there was no way they'd let me out.”

    “Lilith, none of this is Angela's fault.”

    “Then why is she constantly starting a fight with me?”

    “Because you've forced her into it.”

    “It's just not fair,” Lilith said.

    “It wasn't fair that I was taken from my family,” Bella told her. “It wasn't fair that I missed my daughter's wedding, or the birth of my first grandchild. And it definitely wasn't fair that I wasn't able to raise my son. But it happened. And in situations like those, you can sit back and wonder why this happened to you, or you can pick yourself up and move forward with what you do have. It's up to you Lilith. Think about it, okay?” Lilith nodded and Bella got off the bed, leaving Lilith with her thoughts.

 

***

 

    “We need to get one thing straight,” Mary-Sue said as soon as the twins sat down on the sofa. “Who hit the other first?”

    “It was me,” Angela said without hesitation. Lilith almost gagged right then and there. Why in the world would Angela be covering for her now? She swallowed hard. If Angela was really going to take the blame for the fight, she must have been serious about wanting to fix their relationship. Was Lilith ready for that? It was normally the other way around. How many times as a child had Angela let Lilith take the blame for something Angela had done? Too many to count. And as infuriating as it had been, part of Lilith wanted to do the same thing now. But she realized she couldn't. Not after all the trouble she had caused Bella, Mortimer and her mother, not to mention her own twin. No, she wasn't going to be like Angela. She knew she was better than that.

    “No,” Lilith spoke up. “It was me.” She lifted her head to meet her mother's blank stare. Mary-Sue started to speak, but then stopped herself. Lilith could tell her mother had realized something, but what, she couldn't quite figure out.

    “Randy,” Cassandra asked, “who started the fight?”

    “I'm not tattling,” Randy said from where he, Amanda and Anne were perched at the top of the stairs.

    “Randy!”

    “It was Lilith.” Mary-Sue's gaze met Lilith's, her normally cold eyes becoming warm and welcoming.

    “Thank you for telling the truth,” she said, then turned over to Angela. “Angela, you're grounded. No TV, no computer, no phone.” Mary-Sue held out her hand and Angela promptly handed over her phone. “The only places you will be seeing for the next month are our house and school. Do you understand?”

    “Yes, Mom.”

    “You will also be helping you father move into his apartment to pay him back, and you will do extra chores for me to reimburse the cost of this trip. But,” Mary-Sue continued, “if you do all that, then I will take you to help Dustin.” Angela's eyes lit up.

    “Really?” she asked.

    “It will have to wait until your father moves out of the house,” Mary-Sue said, “but if this is something you really want to do, you have my support.”

    “Thank you!” Angela exclaimed as she got up and gave her mother a hug. “Thank you so much!” Lilith rolled her eyes.

    “Lilith,” Mary-Sue said, “come here.” Lilith got off the sofa and Mary-Sue pulled her into a hug. “I'm sorry, Lilith. I realize I haven't treated you right and there's no way I can make up for it, but I really don't want a terrible relationship with you and I want to try to make it better. I know you're capable of far more than causing trouble. Look.” Mary-Sue pulled a piece of paper from her suit pocket. She unfolded it to reveal a test with a bright red A+ at the top.

    “Where... where did you get that?” Lilith asked.

    “I found it when I was cleaning your room. It shocked me to say the least, especially after finding your last few progress reports with several D's and an F. But your father and I always knew you were capable... why didn't you say something?”

    “I was going too, but when I got home Dad was with Kaylynn and... you're going to expect that from me from now on, aren't you?”

    “Maybe not right away, but eventually, yes.”

    “I only did that so you would finally have a reason to quit comparing me to Angela. You're always so proud of her and you're never proud of me.”

    “But I am proud of you,” Mary-Sue told Lilith.

    “All I've done is run away and be a burden on you.”

    “That's not true, Lilith. Do you know what Mr. Dreamer told me when we met?” Lilith shook her head. “He said that you were what kept Dirk going during a very difficult time. He said he was worried about him and wasn't sure how Dirk was coping with everything when he could barely hold it together himself. But it was you, Lilith. It may not be a test score or a semester on the honor roll, but it's definitely something to be proud of. And I'm sorry it took me this long to tell you.”

    “Thanks Mom,” Lilith said quietly.

    “If you want to come home, you can. But you'll be grounded too.”

    “What for?”

    “For starting a fight with your sister.”

    “Okay, that's fair.” Lilith's eyes shot open. “Wait, what about the art show? Dirk can't show up without a date!”

    “You should have thought about that before you hit your sister.” Lilith sighed, realizing her mother was actually right this time. “Or...”

    “Or what?”

    “You can finish the week here, and you'll be able to go to the art show. But you won't be allowed in our house until Sunday.” Lilith looked to Bella and Cassandra, who both nodded. “The rest of your punishment will be up to them. It's your choice.”

    It wasn't that difficult a choice to make. While it warmed her heart that she was being welcomed back home, the thought of returning and not being able to see Dirk tore her apart. Last time she had gotten through it by teaching herself to play the guitar, and had become quite good at it in that month and a half. But every time she picked it up, she imagined the look on Dirk's face when she would be finally able to show him, and it made her miss him even more. No, she wasn't going to make herself go through that again, not after spending a week away. This art show was a big moment for Dirk's father and she wanted to be there to share it with Dirk. And, if she was really honest with herself, as much as she wanted to go back home and run into Dirk's embrace, she couldn't until she knew where she stood with her family. Did she want to make things better? She didn't know.

    “I... I want to finish the week,” Lilith said. “I guess I just need some time.”

    “All right then,” Mary-Sue said, turning toward the door. “Angela, grab your suitcase. We're leaving.”

 

Lilith: I'm sorry.

Lilith: Mom gave me the choice of coming back home and I decided to finish the week here. I would have been grounded if I had come back with her. This way I can still go to the art show with you.

Dirk: It's okay, Lilith. I understand completely.

Lilith: I just need some space from them for a bit. I'm so confused.

Dirk: About what?

Lilith: About everything. Mom and Angela want to try and make things better. I don't get it.

Lilith: I don't know if I can.

Dirk: Do you want a better relationship with them?

Lilith: I don't know. I need to think about it.

Dirk: That's okay. Take all the time you need.