Page 98 of Kiwi Sin

“No. Well, yes, about Honor,” Frankie said, “but—”

“Put us on speaker, too, then,” Daisy said. “And listen.”

Frankie did, because I heard Honor’s voice saying, “Daisy? What’s happening?”

Gray said, “Hi, Mum. Daisy and I are getting married. Gave her the ring and all, and she said yes.”

Honor said, “Lovely. Also no surprise at all. You must’ve finished the house, then.”

“Yes,” Daisy said. “He did. Well, Gabriel and the crew did. And it’s sobeautiful.”

“Like I told you,” Honor said, “it’s the male bird showing the female he knows how to build a nest.”

“What?” Daisy asked. “I don’t—”

“Oh, wait,” Honor said. “I said that to Gabriel.”

Silence for a minute, and Gabriel said, “I, uh—I’m here, too. This is Gabriel.”

“Oh,” Honor said. “Got that sorted, then, did you?”

“Uh …” Gabriel said, and looked at me.

Frankie broke in, and I couldn’t be sorry. “That’s lovely and all, Daisy, if you want it,” she said, which wasn’t exactly screaming, “Congratulations!”

“Cheers,” Gray said, with that smile in his eyes he got sometimes. “For that heartfelt endorsement.”

“But I rang you for something else,” Frankie said. “To tell you that I’m not coming back.”

“Oh,” Daisy said. “What? Why? Are we—”

“It’s not you,” Frankie said. “You’re awesome, and so is Gray. But I want to stay up here with Honor.”

Daisy said, “Oh.”

Honor said, her voice as calm as Gray’s always was, “Frankie thinks it may be easier, as the other pupils won’t know her old name up here, or her story.”

“Mount Aspiring is a good school, too,” Frankie said. “And I need people to notice me andknowme for something besides Mount Zion. I want to benormal.I want to learn how to be normal around men, especially. How not to care what they think, and how can I do that at a girls’ school? Maybe you think that I should be able to do it better in Dunedin, because it’s so much farther away from Mount Zion, but I can’t, because everybody already knows. And—”

She stopped, and Daisy said, “And having all of us around reminds you.”

“Yes,” Frankie said. “Knowing you know everything that happened to me with Gilead, and that you’re sorry for me. I hate it. And I can’t take any more of walking by the men from our family and having them look at my clothes and think everything they do think. Or those family meals, with Uncle Aaron trying to tell everyone what to do, and him and Aunt Constance practically telling me out loud how unwomanly I am and trying to shame all of us back into submission. Sorry, Gabriel.”

“No worries,” Gabriel said. “Everybody’s got an opinion. Sometimes, you don’t want to hear it.”

Frankie said, “Wow. What happened toyou?”

Daisy said, “I … I understand.” Gray had his arm around her now, and for once, she didn’t look poised and confident. I felt so bad for her, I wanted to cry, and when I glanced at Gabriel, his face looked as troubled as I felt. “Of course,” Daisy said, her voice stronger. “You should do what you like, Frankie.”

“I can help Honor by staying here, too,” Frankie said. “With the cooking and cleaning and all. She says she doesn’t mind having me.”

“I don’t,” Honor said. “Happy for the company, and Frankie knows how to pull her weight.”

“And, yeh,” Frankie went on, “I don’t exactly love cooking and cleaning, but it’s not nearly as bad if I’m not doing it for any men, just for Honor and me. I can have a job here and save for university and study without any distractions, because you know I need a good scholarship.”

Priya said, “We wouldn’t be a distraction, though. There’s a whole separate bedroom in the yurt for you! Or you could live in the caravan, maybe, if you don’t want to be close to us, and then you wouldn’t have to clean foranybody. And Oriana will cook, so you don’t need to. What am I going to do without you? That was the whole plan!”

Frankie said, “You’ll have Oriana.”