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"Kind of like Wren"

"Kind of like my parents supposed Wren to be They weren’t at all shocked when Oliver showed up with his new play they had already seen frorow into Jackson Yes," she said after a pause, "I am aware of it all"

I squirmed as she reminded me of what Maisie had done to round to stand on, and now this stranger,it to quake

"I’m sorry," she continued "I know it’s unpleasant for you to dwell on that, but I have so s that I must share with you"

I nodded "Connor?"

"Yes" She paused "Connor You knohat he was like Weak, greedy, and lecherous It’s true Iris wasn’t es, and she reacted by shutting him out When they returned to Savannah, Connor beca out to touch ies into Tillandsia" She paused and gave roup I will get into my reasons shortly, but for now, please understand that I did all I could to turn Connor froer I think it was ht on to what I was trying to do with Tillandsia" She paused "But I don’t want to get ahead of myself"

"I spoke to Iris I reasoned with her I pleaded with her to handle her husband She refused to believeat the foot ofhihtened with distaste "I moved out that very day Rented a little place near the river, but he followedforon about how deeply he needed me I knehat he felt for me was not love; what he called ‘love’ was the desire to possess Finally I decided that the only way to get rid of hiive him what he wanted I hoped he would eventually tire of ht side of her mouth "I created a double, and I sent her to him Once he had satiated himself and was asleep, she, it, would dissipate He carried on a hot little affair with a series of my doubles, but he never touched me"

"And Erik?" I asked and watched her face soften at the mention of my father’s nauilty of having an affair with Ellen’s husband, but I’m not ashamed The times I spent with Erik were the happiest of my life I never meant to hurt Ellen, but as I hope you will understand, I was in love with Erik and he with me"

TWENTY-THREE

"Erik was the love of my life, only Ellen found him first," she said and flushed Her composed exterior melted, and I saw a flash of the woe I understood what she had been through, the pain that cut her on both sides for hurting her sister and not being openly able to love my father I kne that I had never "loved" Jackson, that the emotion I’d felt for him was actually my reaction to the power that had been used in his creation, the power that should have been mine All the sae my mother

"Here is where it all becomes so terribly complicated and murky," she said, and her eyes looked beyond me toward an unreachable past "Do you believe in fate?" she askedfocus

"I don’t know Souess I use it as a rationalization When things end up like they did with Maisie, part of me wants to believe that there was no other way for them to turn out That Maisie never had a choice, and was only playing the role written for her"

"And the other times, when you don’t believe?"

"When I want to take things into my own hands andto do now for Maisie"