"I taught her some prayers, and we did them. We talked about what she was raised to believe in and tried to see if any of that covered mourning, but it just opened the floodgates." Rebecca said. "I think Serena was the final straw there, and everything else is just coming out."
"I was an animal!" Marie screamed. "My entire life, I was raised to be nothing more than livestock, and Serena was going to be as well! My mother knew that, she knew who I was and what happened to my daughter, and she played dumb as she tried to sell you my sister. She looked me dead in the eyes, and told me it was her job to sell you my sister even as we were picking up Serena's remains."
"I think she was in the same boat." I replied. "Even if she was the receptionist, I don't think she had that much power."
"Don't lie to me." Marie spat back at me. "She was in kahoots with that bitch my entire life, and neither of them bothered to tell me anything. I knew something was up when I didn't hear my baby cry, or get to hold her, and they lied to me about what happened and then sold me off!" She let out a deep wail, and then continued talking between sobs. "The only reasons I found out what happened, and have her remains are because I was lucky! I ended up in a nice home instead of a brothel or worse, my sister was purchased by someone you knew, and he was able to buy her child and both of them told me about mine. A few hundred bucks difference on the auction block? I don't know anything and I end up dying without learning Serena's fate."
I kneeled down next to Rebecca and Marie, and gave the girl a hug.
"She smiled and nodded when the Doctor and our Pastor told us the only way Jesus would love us is if we obeyed our masters, and bore fruit for them. It didn't matter what it was, babies, milk, hell, as soon as we were eligible we had our blood harvested before we could get knocked up." Marie said as she shifted over to me, and pounded weakly on my chest, "She fucking knew all that, and knew who I was, and still specifically dragged her little toy A1470E by to show her what a sinner looked like when Janice and I were being shipped off. Doctor Hansen was at least apologetic."
"What do you mean by that?" Rebecca asked.
"The Doctor said she just had to sell us to keep control of everyone else, even if she didn't want to, and would try to set our prices so we ended up in nice homes, and then she gave us candy." Marie said. "This after she used me for my entire life, and decided to sell me so she could avoid some inconvenience."
Before we could really get anything else out of Marie, there was a knock at the door, and my dad stuck his head in.
"It's good you're getting it all out, but the food's here." Dad said, "And I know you're dating a Jewish girl, but did you have to go full kosher?"
"Dad, if you want cheese on a sandwich Jimmy can just put it on for you when he toasts it." came my sister from the distance. "That's why we ordered a spread instead of just sandwiches."
I then ended up picking up an exhausted Marie and carrying her to the couch in the living room, where Rebecca joined us while Honesty got the three of us plates, and then her own.
My dad ended up sitting across from us, with Constance and Grace roughly in the middle. There was some mindless gameshow on the television on mute. Janice occasionally popped out to hug her sister, but otherwise kept herself busy serving food alongside Jimmy and keeping Katerina out of sight. Marie barely ate, mostly salad and some chopped liver, while the rest of us ate a decent amount. We mostly talked about lighter stuff, dad told Rebecca about where he worked, he made a pass at Honesty, the usual dinner party conversation.
And then dad had to ruin it by trying to help.
"You know, when Kelly miscarried, it tore a hole in all three of our hearts, and we were like that for a good couple of months before we decided to try again. You two are both fine to have kids right?" Dad said, as he looked at Marie and I, "Having another one might help with that like Anne did. Besides, it's not like you have to legitimize it."
I could feel Marie tense up for a second, before looking at me strangely, while Rebecca and Honesty gave me concerned and sympathetic looks over her shoulder and head. Marie then apparently recovered her appetite, or was forcing herself to eat more.
"Wait, mom had a miscarriage?" Grace said. "Nobody ever told us that."
"This was like March 1997, Dolores was like five months pregnant with Steven, your mom was just starting to show, and you two were barely talking. Tore the two of them up, and I was there trying to pick up the pieces. Thank god we still had the staff, that poor cook went through so much. I ended up feeling a lot like Janice does, and at the lowest point I was concerned we'd get divorced." Dad said, "Anyway, about a month later, we still don't know Steven's gender, and your mom doesn't want to stick the kid with a much older partner like she had to deal with, so she gets back on that horse, and we conceive Anne. Problem mostly solved."
"And then I was a boy." I said.
"Oh yeah, your mom was pissed when you came out, but that's tangential to the whole miscarriage thing." Dad replied. "I'm sorry I couldn't be a better dad either, but Kelly was a good mom to you even though you two never call her that. So like one out of the three of us is pretty good. You'll probably do better by whatever kid you four have next, and Connie is already a better mother than Dolores ever was."
"Thanks dad." Constance said. "But I don't have kids."
