The one thing Helen could confidently gather from all the chatter
was that the Delos family was rather unconventional. There were
two fathers who were brothers, their younger sister, one mother
(one of the fathers was a widower), and five kids, all living together
on the property. The entire family was supposed to be unbelievably
smart and beautiful and wealthy. Helen rolled her eyes when she
heard the parts of the gossip that elevated the Delos family to
mythic proportions. In fact, she could barely stand it.
Helen tried to stay behind the register and ignore the excited
whispering, but it was impossible. Every time she heard one of the
members of the Delos family mentioned by name, it drew her attention
as if it had been shouted, irritating her. She left the register
and went over to the magazine rack, straightening the shelves just
to give her hands something to do. Even so, she couldn?t help but
hear how scandalized the book club was to find out that Cassandra
Delos, who was thirteen, had skipped a grade and was going to be
attending high school. She was supposed to be exceptionally
bright, but on the whole, the book club disapproved of children
skipping grades, probably because none of their children had ever
managed it.
They don?t like to be separated, Helen thought. It?s safer if they
stick together. That?s the real reason why Cassandra skipped a
grade.
Helen had no idea where the thought had come from, but she
knew it was true. She also knew she had to get as far away from the
gossip as she could or she was going to start yelling at Kate?s
friends. She needed to make herself as busy as possible.
As she wiped down the shelves and stocked the candy jars, she
mentally ticked the kids off in her head. Hector is a year older
than Jason and Ariadne, who are twins. Lucas and Cassandra