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Ma lunged again, and this time Aunt Rennie held her back. “Stop. Stop! We can’t fight like this.”

Elaine clutched the wall, safely away from the broken railing. And Nora was on the other side of her mother, cradling her cheek. Without a thought, Madeline stepped down to where Nora was.

“Are you okay?”

Madeline pulled Nora’s hand away. Nora was scratched, badly. A small bit of blood welled up on her jaw. She’d kissed Nora there gently only two nights ago. An eternity, it felt like. Back before—allthis—had come to light. “I’m so sorry,” she whispered. “Hold on. I can get something.”

“No, you won’t.” Elaine pointed a shaking finger at her. “Get away from my daughter.”

Nora turned. “Ma, it’s fine.”

“Nora—”

“I said I’m fine,” Nora said steadily. Her eyes met Madeline’s.

“Madeline!”

Madeline whirled around at her mother’s voice. Madeline rounded on Ma, brimming with rage. “You hurt her.”

Ma faltered. Aunt Rennie blanched. Madeline had never raised her voice to either of them. Now she approached them. “Stay away from them,” she said, her voice trembling. “Nora had nothing to do with this.”

Aunt Rennie gaped. “Madeline, what?”

Her mother’s eyes widened. “What is going on between you two?”

Madeline and Nora looked at each other, but then Elaine grabbed Nora by the arm. “We’re going.”

“What have you done?”

Madeline was backed up against a wall in the room her mother occupied. They were all gathered there. Ma gripped her shoulder and Madeline could feel her sharp nails. Through the window the sky had darkened. Ma’s wrinkles looked harsher in the fading light. “Is something going on between the two of you? Is this what I think it is?”

“It probably is,” Madeline said, and then went silent. They’d never talked about it, between the two of them. Madeline had brought girls over to her house when Ma was at work, and the things that had happened at school… Ma had never known.

“??,” her mother said. Her expression slacked. “You’re—” She swallowed. “Whyher?”

Because she healed me. Because she saved me from the garden. Because she was the only person who was honest with me.Madeline tilted her head stubbornly. Her heart thudded in her chest and her cheeks felt hot. “Why not?”

Ma burst out, “It’sElaine’sdaughter.”

“It’s happening again,” Aunt Rennie said faintly, rocking herself on the bed. “A daughter from our family, a daughter from theirs. It’s repeating. This place is cursed.”

Ma said sharply, “Stop trying to curse your niece.” She stepped back and crossed her arms. “Ada and Sophie’s relationship ruined them. Don’t you see?”

“Are we actually being serious right now?” Madeline spread herpalms out. “This didn’t all happen because two girls were in love. It was because Wài Pó killed herabusivehusband.”

The room fell silent. Madeline remembered flashes of Wài Pó throughout her childhood. She had helped Madeline eat cake at her fourth birthday. She’d taken her to the park and let her feed the ducks with her gentle hand. And yet Madeline never knew any of this about her. She never was aware of Wài Pó’s brutal history and the things she went through. About the choices she’d had to make. And, it seemed, neither did her mother and aunt.

“Will we talk about that? Or do you still want to come after me for what I have with someone who had no part in any of this?”

She stared down her mother.

“You don’t know that,” her mother said finally. “About Nora.”

Madeline looked at her mother in disbelief—for a moment, for a brief eternity—before she marched out the door.

thirty-nine

AUGUST 2024