Summer Island

Ruby noticed that her sisters hands were trembling. “Have you forgiven her?” she asked. “I mean, really?”

Caro looked up. “I tried to forget it, you know? Most of the time, I do, too. Its like it happened to another family, not mine. ”

“So, you havent forgiven her any more than I have. Youre just nicer about it. ”

Caroline tried to smile, though there was a bleakness in her eyes that was unsettling. “Your honesty is a gift, Rube, even if it hurts people. Youre. . . real. I cant seem to-”

A scream blared through the open window behind them.

Ruby jumped. “ Good God. Has someone been shot?”

Caroline deflated. Her shoulders caved downward, and the color seemed to seep out of her cheeks. “The princess is up. ”

Ruby moved closer to her sister. “Are you okay, Caro?”

The smile was too fleeting to be real. “Ill be fine,” she said, and Ruby saw that her sister was pretending again. She got up from her seat and walked woodenly back into the house.

Ruby followed her.

“AAAGH. . . ” This time there were two screamsA jack-in-the-box came crashing and jangling down the stairs and skidded across the kitchen floor.

“Go,” Caro said with a tired smile. “Save yourself. ”

A naked Barbie doll cartwheeled down the stairs and thumped into the table leg.

The screams were getting louder. Ruby fought the urge to cover her ears. “Lets go upstairs. I want to at least see my niece and nephew. ”

“Not when Jennys in this kind of a mood. Trust me. ”

Another toy came crashing down the stairs, followed by a shrieking cry. “MO-MMY NOW!”

Caroline turned to her. “Please? Another time?”

“Well . . . next week Im going to come down here and baby-sit. You and Jere can go out dancing or something. ”

“Dancing. ” Caroline smiled wistfully. “That would be nice. ”

Ruby remembered suddenly that she wouldnt be here next week. Shed be back in California on The Sarah Purcell Show, telling the world about her mother. Suddenly she felt sick.

“Youd better get going. The ferry lines are hell this time of day. ”

Ruby checked her watch. “Shit. Youre right. ” Caroline looped an arm around Ruby, drew her close, and guided her toward the door. There she paused. “Im sorry you had to find out about Dad, but maybe itll help. Were human, Ruby. All of us. Just human. ”

Ruby hugged her sister, holding her so tightly that neither of them could breathe. “I love you, Caro. ”

“I love you, too, Rubiks Cube. Now, get going. ”

Ruby drew back. She had the strange thought that if she said anything except good-bye, Caro would simply shatter.

So good-bye was all she said.

Nora sat at the kitchen table, staring down at the package of letters. Earlier, shed spoken to Eric, but afterward, the silence had tackled her again.

Idly, she rubbed her throbbing wrist. Shed spent an hour in the morning practicing with her crutches, and she was improving. She could go short distances. By the end of the week, she hoped to be out of the damned chair completely.

But the practice hadnt fulfilled all of its purpose. She couldnt clear her mind completely. The letters were always there.

Shed tried giving herself a little pep talk. They were just words, she told herself, scribblings on paper, and they were from strangers. Certainly she could find the strength to pick up a pen and fashion some kind of response. A good-bye and a thanks-for-the-good-times, at the very least.