The Families in Rossford

“And then Liam lived happily ever after,” Layla told him.

“With the King and the Queen?”

“That’s right,” Layla said to the boy in her arms.

“Layla, am I really going to be here forever?”

“You sure will. And me and Will will be your mommy and daddy.”

The phone rang, “And my crazy friends will never stop calling. Ease up. Let me get that.”

Liam nodded and rolled out of Layla’s lap.

“Hello,” she said.

“You’ll never believe this?”

“I’m hearing that a lot tonight.”

“Meg Callan is here.”

“Meg Callan. Wait, is that the girl who—?”

“We bilked out of a ton of money.”

“As memory serves, Fenn gave her a lot of shit.”

“But Noah wanted to give it all to her. Well, you know she married Charlie.”

“I knew she dated Charlie. Sort of. They were at Mom’s wedding.”

“Right. Well, she’s eating with us right now.”

“This is the most awkward fucking dinner party I’ve ever heard of,” Layla said.

When she came back to the sofa Liam was clapping his hands with glee.

“What, Liam?”

“First, can I call you Mommy?”

“Of course you can.”

Liam clapped his hands again and enthused, “Mommy, you swear so good!”

“See, I think that’s interesting,” Meg was saying. “Because you all must know Fenn Houghton and his friends.”

“Well, we are his friends.”

“My brother is partnered with him,” Nell explained.

“Oh,” Meg said, amazed. “He was the one who helped me find out about my father and put my hands on a lot of money. I mean, he was really good to me.”

“And your dad was the only family you had?” Meredith said.

“Well, no, there was my mother. She lived around this place called East Carmel.”

“Get out!” Milo said, “We’ve got friends from there.”

“And then my sister,” Meg said. “She’s older. Kind of nuts. Her life is totally out of hand. She lived here for a bit, in fact.”

“I’m surprised we don’t know her,” Dena said, picking up on Milo’s mood which was, apparently, to put out of his mind hiding the rest of the money from Meg all those years ago.

“I’m surprised you don’t too,” Meg said. “Eileen was hard to not notice.”

“I think I’ve only know two Eileens,” Bill said. “And they were both in New York.”

“Well, I never met an Eileen Callan,” Nell said.

“Oh, no,” Meg shook her head. “She hated Dad. I was so young when he left. She was much older. She took Mom’s maiden name to spite him. I haven’t seen her in years, but I think she was here a little while back. Only now her name’s Eileen Wehlan.”

Dena choked on her food and began coughing so hard Milo had to hit her on the back so she would cough up a crouton.

“Water!” Dena rasped. “Water.”

“Is she alright?”  Meg stood up, pushing her chair away.

“I think so,” Milo told her.

“Nothing a good phone call wouldn’t cure.”

“This has been the oddest night,” Dena said while they were on their way home.

They had just picked up the children from Claire and Julian’s, and now Milo drove down Demming to their house.

“And so Eileen Wehlan is Meg’s sister?” Milo said.

“That appears to be the case,” Dena said.

“We should tell that to Fenn.”

“I should call Layla.”

“But not tonight.”

“No,” Dena agreed. “There’s lots to tell her, but it would take a little more than that for me to trouble her tonight.”

“Ah,” Milo sighed as they came onto Harris Street, and then went up the driveway.

“Home at last.”

They parked outside of the garage and Rob said, “Mom, what’s that?”

“What’s wha—? ” Dena began, but at the same time Milo said, “What the hell?” Then: “Rob, don’t walk over that.”

Each of the triple windows before the kitchen, every little pane in the mullioned door, the picture window that looked into the living room were all shattered, and the glass lay on the walk before them.

Across the front of the house was spray painted the phrase:

IT AIN’T OVER BITCH !

“Oooooh,” Rob murmured, reading the letters, black like a wound against the white of the house.

“We have to call the police,” Milo said.

“No,” Dena said, calmly. “Get me a ladder, Miles.”

“Dena—”

“Milo,” Dena waved him off. “Please. Just get me the fucking ladder.”

“Mommy!”

“Forgive it, Baby,” Dena said, kissing him.

She moved around the glass, opened the front door, and told Rob, “Wake Cara and bring her out of the car. Mom’s going to go in here and make sure things are safe.”

The house was freezing. Glass was all over the living room floor and, Dena assumed, the kitchen as well. Otherwise things seemed safe enough. She went upstairs, checked around, and then put the kids in their rooms and came back down where Milo had the ladder up.

“Alright,” Dena murmured. “Alright,” she said.

She climbed up and then, out of the eaves behind the old bird nest, Dena jiggled something, then descended with what Milo now saw was a camera.

“I’m going to get this bitch myself,” Dena said, triumphantly.

“What bitch?” Milo said.

Jiggling out the tape, Dena said, “You’ll see. You’ll see. But I need to make a phone call.”

“Layla?”

“And Meredith,” Dena said. “We’re going to go back into the den where it’s not freezing and learn the truth.”

“I’m going to call the police,” Milo said.

“Look,” he added, “whatever strange aversion you have to the Po-Po, we need to call them so we can see who can board this house up and make it safe tonight. We’re totally exposed right now.”

“You’re not focusing,” Dylan said.

“I can’t focus,” Elias closed the book.

They sat on the floor of Dylan’s bedroom at Tom and Lee’s, and Dylan said, “What’s going on?”

Elias looked like he was thinking it over, and then he said, “You have to promise to not repeat this.”

Dylan nodded.        

“Bennett thinks he got a girl pregnant.”

“What!”

“You know that Maggie?”

“Not her! She’s a skank.”

“Well, no, not her,” Elias said. “But her friend, Maris. He had sex with her on New Years.”

“I think I remember that being a definite possibility. The night me and Lance came and got you.”

“Right.

“And then she told him she was pregnant, and I think she rigged the whole thing to trick him. When I came home the other day you should have seen him. He was so unhappy. He was crying so hard. He thought Maia would leave him.”

“She would,” Dylan said simply.

“And he was just so terrified. I told him I’d help him get to the bottom of it. And that he really shouldn’t believe everything everybody says.”

And you really think she’s lying?”

“Dylan, I know she is.”

“You want me to help you?”

“No,” Elias told him. “No, I got this. Just offer me… emotional support.”

Dylan touched his hand and kissed him on the cheek.

“I will,” Dylan said. “But if you need me to help you shake her down…. I will.”

“I thought you might be a little mad for me calling,” Dena confessed as Layla sat down on the sofa beside her.

“Not at all,” Layla said, seriously. “This little girl has gone over the top.”

“You’re so sure you know who it is?” Charlie Palmer said. He had brought Meredith over, but she looked at him behind her sister’s back and just shrugged.

“I know it’s that girl,” Dena said.

“And I still don’t know who this girl is,” Milo said.

Meanwhile Dena, who sat on the floor, close to the television, rewound until she saw a form.

“There!” she said, triumphantly.

She went through the tape, the form unsmashing windows, undamaging the house, and then she wound back a little bit.

“And here we go,” she said.

The fire department had arrived to board up the windows, and they were tapping on them now while, on her television, Dena saw the front of her house and then lights, perhaps the headlights of a car. The lights went out leaving only the light of the porch. A hooded figure arrived with a hammer and a can of spray paint.

“That doesn’t really look like a girl,” Meredith said, doubtfully.

Dena stared at her sister.

“I’m just saying…”

The figure began knocking out windows methodically, turning back now and again to see if anyone was coming. This went on for some time before he—it was definitely a he—

“I don’t believe it!” Dena said.

He took out the can of spray paint and began doing his work, but he wore a cap under his hoodie and Dena prayed, “Let me see him. Please, let me see him.”

He did all of his work while Dena begged for some way to know him, and then, at the very end, an answer, he looked directly up into the camera.

“Dylan Mesda?” Dena said at the same time Layla opened her mouth.

“That’s not my cousin,” Layla said at last, as the nervous boy looked away.

Meredith turned to Charlie. His eyes were wide in his head, but his mouth was twisted in disgust.

“No,” Meredith agreed, “but it is Dylan’s cousin.”

“What?” Dena began.

“That’s Edward,” Charlie said. “That’s my son.”