"Aww, mom!"
"I'll come up and play with you later, okay?" Theresa promised.
"I want pie now, though!"
"You can have a slice to take back to your room," Carolyn said. She reached for the cake knife and cut an uneven slice, distractedly; her hands were shaking faintly.
"Watch it!" There said; too late.
Carolyn snatched back her bleeding finger. "Dam—darn it!"
"Go wash that off, I'll take care of Joey," Theresa said. She prepared a plate of pie and ice cream while Joey watched Carolyn anxiously.
"Are you okay, mommy?"
Carolyn forced a smile. "It's just a little cut, kiddo. Don't worry about me. Go up to your room now, and Theresa will come up as soon as we're done talking, okay?"
"'kay. You promise, Auntie Resa?"
"Promise," Theresa said.
She waited until the door had closed behind Joey. Carolyn was still standing bent over the sink, running water over the cut in her hand. Theresa could feel the weight of her secret hovering in the air between them. It felt wrong. She'd never had any secrets from her big sister before.
Tell her if you want, Samuel had said. She's your sister. If you trust her, I trust her.
Theresa hadn't been sure she wanted to drag Carolyn into this whole crazy story. She was going to sound like a lunatic trying to tell the whole truth.
But if she started lying to Carolyn now, she'd have to keep lying to her for the rest of her life. Eventually, it would start to twist things between them.
Theresa thought of Samuel and Severin, the careful way the two brothers were dancing around each other now, trying to negotiate the shifting balance of power between them, trying to find a way to work together. She knew that Samuel would happily give up every cent of his fortune if he could have the kind of relationship with Severin that Theresa had with Carolyn, their trust and honesty and closeness.
She stood up, turned off the tap, and gently took Carolyn's bleeding hand in hers. She ran her thumb over the cut, red light spilling from the tip of her finger. The wound sealed up into a neat pink line. When she lifted her hand, Carolyn was staring at her.
"Something really crazy happened to me," Theresa said. "It's kind of a long story. You might want to sit down."
She told Carolyn the whole story, the whole truth, even the bits she'd rather have left out, like the reason she'd answered Samuel's ad in the first place. Carolyn's eyes went wide and horrified when she realized what Theresa had signed up for.
Theresa held up her hand. "Let me finish," she said. "You can yell at me later."
She told Carolyn about Samuel, how wonderful he'd been, and how quickly she'd found herself falling for him. And then she took a deep breath, and told her about the dragon thing, and the whole terrible confrontation with Severin.
She couldn't quite bring herself to meet Carolyn's eyes for the last parts of the story. She looked down at the plate in front of her, the pie Carolyn had made, neat latticework of crust at the top; didn't let herself think about what it would be like if Carolyn didn't believe her. And then she was done talking, and she had to look up.
Carolyn wasn't looking at her at all. She was looking down at the fading scar on her hand where an open cut had been just a few minutes ago.
"If you were anyone else, I'd think you were having me on," she finally said, but she shook her head when Theresa opened her mouth. "No, I know. I don't think you're lying. I know you believe what you just told me. I'm just kind of worried one of us is having a psychotic break." She gave a shaky, incredulous laugh.
"You've seen what I can do," Theresa said.
Carolyn looked down at her hand again. "Yes," she said. She was quiet for a long moment, and then she shook herself all over, her tense shoulders easing. Theresa felt her own body relaxing in response. Before Carolyn even said anything, she knew her sister had decided to believe her.
"Holy hell, sis. Dragons!"
"If it makes you feel better, you can forget I ever told you this," Theresa said quietly. "In any way that matters, he's just a man."
Carolyn suddenly giggled. "A man who's a billionaire! How is that any less crazy?" She shook her head. "No. If you can deal with dating him, I can deal with knowing what he is. Can I meet him?"
"He'd love to meet you," Theresa said. "You could come out to Du Page County with us. We could have a picnic or something. He can show you the dragon thing. It's amazing."
Carolyn scrubbed a hand through her hair. "Wow. Dragons. Billionaires. Your life's gotten pretty crazy, sis."
"Can't argue with that," Theresa said.
Carolyn lifted her head and looked her in the eyes. "Are you happy, Resa? Does he make you happy? I don't care about anything else if he makes you happy." She reached out across the table.