The City of Rossford

“A sister?”

Beside Julian, Vanessa Lawden nodded.

Layla had always believed that it was her mother’s, and maybe her uncle’s duty, to get on with Vanessa, a task they had never really accepted regardless of her being their half sister. Now, Layla realized she wasn’t sure how much she liked Vanessa, the woman who made her half brother into her first cousin.

“She was before Julian,” Vanessa explained. “She was when I was very young. I was in college. I actually thought about not having her for a while. But then I just went through with it.”

Layla suppressed an urge to say, “How kind of you.”

“I was going to school down South. At a Black college. None of that would affect my life back up here. I gave the baby up for adoption.”

Layla sat down in the chair. Julian, beside Claire, looked unfazed and Will kept looking at Layla every few minutes as if expecting her to scream.

Instead, Layla said, “Vanessa, that is… one interesting story. But what it all comes down to is Julian has a sister and I have cousin.”

“Well, no,” Vanessa said.

Layla looked at her aunt. To Will, for a moment, they looked very much alike, same length of face, same long nose and slightly pointed chin, same sweep of black hair.

“Whaddo you mean, well no?”

Except Layla looked much meaner.

“Year laters, when I got together with your father,” she said to Julian, and then added, “with both of yours’ father, he brought up the one… wild night we had in college. That’s where we met the first time, but he went back up north. It wasn’t until he was long gone that I realized Hoot Lawden had gotten me pregnant.”

“Damn,” Layla muttered while Julian said, “Well, how many of us does he have floating around out there?”

His mother eyed him, but Layla shook her head before saying: “And you just… left her at some orphanage in the South?”

“I gave her to Catholic Childrens’ Services.”

“Please tell me she at least grew up with Black folks?”

“Well, I don’t know that she did,” said Vanessa. “And what’s more, I don’t know that it matters.”

“Of course it matters,” Layla said to her aunt’s surprise.

When Will looked at her she said, “What? How fucked up would you be if you were raised in a houseful of Black folks and never met one of your blood relatives or anyone who looked a little bit like them?”

Vanessa was looking at her niece, almost like she wanted to say something back. Almost, but not quite.

“Well… why are you telling us now?” Layla said.

“Yeah, Mom, after twenty-six years.”

“Well, in her case it’s actually about thirty,” Vanessa said.

Layla and Julian looked at each other.

Julian blew out his cheeks and caught his breath.

“Don’t look at me like that,” Vanessa said to him. “Don’t you dare give me that look!”

“I will,” Julian said.

“Now,” he took another deep breath while Claire touched his hand, “why are you telling us about this sister now?”

Vanessa’s tongue rolled around in her mouth. She was thinking, though what she was thinking about Julian could not guess. Probably how much she wanted to tell the truth.

Finally she said, “Well, she’s here. She’s come to Rossford.”

When Matt Anderson saw her, the girl was on the side of the road and his headlights caught the gold glint of her hair. He stopped the car and she looked up. There wasn’t hope. There was a grim look on this girl’s face, and she had just risen from tinkering under her hood. She wasn’t just ready to be saved. She was ready to cut someone’s face open if she had to.

“Hey! Peace!” He held up a hand as he came toward her. “I’ve seen you before.”

She frowned, not in anger, but trying to remember, and let her hands fall.

“You’re Dena Affren’s little sister, right?”

Before Meredith could say anything, he said, “I’m Matty Anderson.”

“Oh,” she let out a great sigh of relief.

Meredith said, “I am on my way someplace, and for once I don’t have my phone, and my cousin—who did I mention is also sort of my brother-in-law’s—truck is shot.”

Matty scratched his chin and thought a moment.

“What if I tinker around a bit for you? Move aside,” he said before she could answer.

A few moments later the car came to life and Meredith said, “There is a God!”

“Did you doubt it?”

“Honestly?” she said. “I was beginning to. Yes.”

“Take this,” Matty handed her his phone.

“I…”

“You can return it to… someone if you don’t see me before I leave. I’m here for the night. Alright?”

Meredith took a deep breath.

“Yes. Thanks. Thanks a lot. Things have been…” then she just said, “Thanks.”

A few minutes later she was at the diner on the end of Route Two, and there was Naomi Riley, hair in a bun, sitting in one of the booths smoking a cigarette. Meredith entered and waved for a moment, and then she sat down at the booth where the boy with the wide blue eyes waved to her timidly.

“Hi,” she said to Kip Danley.

There was a rapid knock on her door and Shelley Latham shut the books quickly. She thought of stacking them neatly beside the bed and then, impatient, simply threw them off and ran to the door.

“What was that noise?” Matty said when she let him in, but she just grinned, pulled him into the room and closed the door.

She jumped up on him, her thighs around his waist so that he lost his balance and went with her to the bed, lying on top of her while she laughed and, removing his ballcap from his head, ran her hands through his thick marmalade hair.

“Matty,” she laughed in a low voice. “I need you in a bad way tonight.”

Already hard, he shifted a little to unbuckle his belt and murmured, “Happy to oblige, ma’am. Happy to oblige.”