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"You really are a pretty girl, Cat," Jade said after she came up beside me, put her arm around my shoulders, and her head against mine. We both looked at me in the mirror. "Soon you'll be breaking more hearts than me," she whispered.

Could I? Could I really? I wondered as I stared into the mirror.

"Let's get the Goddess dress for Star," Jade decided. "In fact, let's all buy something here. I'll do the velvet gown. Misty?"

"Okay. They'll all be perfect for Daddy's new wedding."

She considered, and chose a crinkled silk tunic with a V-neck and a crinkled silk skirt in teal Imagine the sight of the four of us when we entered that church, I thought, but I was sure making a scene and stealing the moment was exactly what Misty hoped we would do.

We ended up spending a little more than a thousand dollars.

Geraldine is surely spinning in her grave, I thought, and half expected to find the earth churned up when we returned to the house. On the way home, we stopped at Misty's so she could pick up her clarinet. She wanted to play for us after dinner. We were determined to have a good time and put away all the dark events.

To my surprise, Star loved the dress when we showed it to her after she arrived. We all put on our new clothes and paraded around the house.

"Perfect clothes for our first session in our special place," Jade declared, and led us up the stairs where we were to light the candles, turn on the music, sit on the rug, hold hands, and touch each other's spirits.

"If Doctor Marlowe could see us now," Star quipped, and we all laughed. Our laughter was truly like music, music to drown out any storm.

Jade gave us our first lesson in meditation and whether it was my imagination or not, I did feel the tension leave my body. Afterward, we all helped make a great pasta dinner with a spinach and goat cheese salad to start. Jade had brought wine from her mother's house. We sat around the table, talking and enjoying each other.

Jade insisted that our mythic clothing had turned us all into goddesses and we each described the magical power we would most like to possess. Misty wanted to be invisible and spy on whomever she wished. Star wanted to fly. Jade wanted to turn men into love-hungry slaves. I said I wished I could live in a castle with walls that kept out all sickness and unhappiness.

"That's what this house will be," Jade declared.

When the meal ended, Misty put on a CD and we cleaned up to music After that was done, we went into the living room to relax and Misty performed for us on her clarinet.

The melodies from Misty's clarinet were as meditative as Jade's New Age CD's. Jade, Star, and I all closed our eyes and let ourselves drift. I know I felt as if I was floating on a cloud.

When Misty stopped playing, she sat in a lotus position in front of us. No one spoke for a few moments.

"I'm glad you're all going to be with me on Saturday," she said. "No matter what, I can't think of my father as being married to someone else, standing up there and promising someone else he'll love her forever and ever. It makes me feel.., like I don't exist anymore, like he's just erased his past and everything and everyone in it, even me."

Star reached for Misty's hand, and then Jade's, and I held Jade's and Misty's hands. We sat there, linked. Nothing else needed to be said.

After a moment we all stood up.

"Tomorrow," Jade decided, "we'll get back to fixing this place up so it's more like a party house. Maybe we need more dramatic lighting, even some new pieces of furniture, more pictures, lots of stuff!"

"Back to the stores," Misty declared, holding her hand up high as if she held a sword.

"Beverlies," Star muttered, "think shopping solves everything."

Misty, Jade, and I looked at each other and then roared. "What?" Star said.

"You said it before," I told her.

"Huh? When?"

"Through Misty,"

Jade said, and we laughed again, only harder.

"You're all crazy," Star said. She thought a moment and then added, "Thank God for that."

The rest of the week went quickly. Jade stayed that night and Misty returned for the following evening. The next day the Salvation Army came and took Geraldine's furniture and clothes. It went a long way toward helping me feel she was truly gone for good.

We had meditation sessions every night and had fun cooking and talking. Star felt pressured to remain at home for Rodney every evening She told us her mother had gotten a job as a waitress in a bar on the beach and was already keeping very late hours. Because she woke Rodney up when she came home, stumbling over furniture, Granny convinced her to sleep in the living room and let Rodney go back to his cot.