Chapter 3

"Scarlett, you have to help your sister," Mary-Lou said a few days later, her voice firm. "The doctors said a skin graft from a twin, even a non-identical one, might take better. You have to donate skin for Lila."

I looked at her, then at Hank, who was nodding eagerly.

"Actually, Mom," I said calmly, "the risk of rejection from a non-identical twin is still quite high. Modern synthetic skin is far superior, with fewer complications. Besides," I added, my eyes flicking towards Lila' s heavily bandaged form in the next room, "we still don't know who was careless around that faulty wiring, do we?"

The fight went out of them.

A week later, the Beaumonts, Mr. and Mrs., visited our cramped little house.

Lila, propped up on the sofa, her face a patchwork of ointments and bandages, was in a foul mood.

Mrs. Beaumont, her eyes red-rimmed, tried to offer comfort.

"Lila, dear, Jax is asking for you. He..."

Lila cut her off, her voice raspy but cold as ice.

"I never loved Jax. He was just a rich fool who fawned over me. I wouldn't tie myself to a... a cripple. Tell him to leave me alone."

Mr. Beaumont' s face went from tired grief to cold fury.

Hank, ever the opportunist, shuffled his feet.

"Mr. Beaumont, sir... as a token of our... our sorrow... I' d be willing to offer you a partnership in my bait and tackle shop. A fine business, really..."

Mr. Beaumont looked at my father as if he were something slimy he' d found on his shoe. The contempt was a physical force in the room.

I stepped forward, my expression carefully arranged into one of remorse.

"Mr. Beaumont," I said, my voice soft, "I am so, so sorry for my sister' s cruel words. She' s... not herself. May I... may I visit Jax? To offer some comfort? To apologize for this?"

Mr. Beaumont looked from Lila' s sneering, bandaged face to mine, apparently so full of compassion.

His expression softened almost imperceptibly.

"Yes, Scarlett. You may. Perhaps you can talk some sense into him about... her."

A stark change from the man who, in another life, had called me a viper and barred me from ever seeing his son.