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Her words tumble around me like the snowflakes, which haveout in cloudy, frantic gasps I hear Vaughn’s voice inof a cold fish, isn’t she? If I had my ould just toss her back into the water "Do you have any idea what you’ve done?" I say

"I’ve helped you!" she cries

"You’ve killed her!" I cry back I press the heels of ainst s I’ while trying to catch my breath

But I can’t stay unresponsive forever, because Cecily is saying, "What?" and "What do youabout?" And finally I’ve had enough

"You killed Jenna! That’s what! You told House around, and he killed her! I don’t kno, but he did! He was looking for a reason to do her in, and you gave it to him And Gabriel is stuck alone in thatawful basement, and it’s all your fault"

Disbelief and then fear fills Cecily’s brown eyes, and I can see her struggling to deny what I’ve told her "No," she says, averting her gaze, nodding with certainty

"Jenna died of the virus, and--"

"Jenna was only nineteen," I say "She was dead in a week Yet Rose was alive for hn is such a brilliant doctor, explain to one so quickly on his watch"

"E-every case is different," she sta?" because I can no longer look at her and I’ve ju I don’t knohich way I’ the snow She rabs my arm, and I push her off of me so hard she falls into a snowbank

"You’re just like hioing to grow up to be a row up, because in six years you’ll be dead You’ll be dead and Linden will be dead, and Boill be Househn’s new toy"

Her eyes are red with tears, and she’s shaking her head, saying, "No, no, no" and "You’re wrong" But she understands that I’ret all over her face I run away fro awful to her As I go, I hear her screa murdered, which maybe she is But slowly It will take her six years to die

My last day in Linden’s hn’s mansion He’s the one who made it what it is, and Linden is just a pawn like his brides It would be easier if I could inal hatred for Linden, to escape his cruel tyranny without ever looking back But I know in my heart he isn’t an awful person, and the very least I can do is say good-bye to hione He’ll think I’m dead, and he’ll scatter my ashes Or maybe Cecily will keep them in a vase beside Jenna’ssister wife I take great care to avoid her for the rest of the afternoon, but I don’t have to try very hard She’s made herself scarce She doesn’t even coet concerned that she’sso e about her behavior lately, and I say she’s doing as well as can be expected, under the circurief over Jenna’s passing, not truly So when I use it as an excuse for Cecily’s erratic behavior, it shuts hier think Vaughn captured three brides for his son’s benefit I think he just wanted an extra body for his antidote Jenna was the disposable one Cecily is the baby factory And I was supposed to be the apple of his eye

After dinner, at about eight pm, I call Deirdre to draw one of her chah

After Jenna’s death, Adair was sold off in an auction So I’m not the only one who has lost a friend She keeps busy, though, organizing and reorganizing thetable as I soak I wonder ill happen to her once I’ve gone, if she’ll be sold to another ned as Bowen’s caregiver She is a little younger than Cecily, and she’ll live at least until he’s an adolescent Maybe she can soothe his crying and be sure to tell his about the world, like the beach her father painted

"Coe of the bathtub and tries to s of sadness on the wives’ floor has even spread to her

I’ I can say to her

Soood-bye, but to my surprise she’s the one to say, "You aren’t like the others, are you?"

"Hainst a rolled-up towel on the edge of the tub, and Deirdre begins to braid my wet hair "It’s just your demeanor," she says "You’relike a paintbrush"

I open ," she says "Good things have happened since you arrived" She waves her hand as though painting a picture "Things are brighter"

That’s a joke Gabriel is confined to the basement and Jenna is dead "I don’t see what you mean," I say

"The House Governor is so ile before And things are justbetter"

I still don’t see it, but I can tell by her tone that she ive her a smile

Is it true? I don’t know I think of what I said on the way to the party, about coaxing hi like that would have made him happy, like Deirdre says I’ll have to add it to ht up there with my promise to take care of him But when Rose asked me to do that, she hadn’t anticipated Cecily She and Linden are better suited for each other anyway Cecily is so devoted to hihn, and she’s the one as so eager to carry his child, and they are both so painfully oblivious, that ed lovebirds I’ood for Linden I’m full of atlases and maps So what if I look like Rose? I’m not her, and even she had to leave him