Free The Wrong Sister by Leanne Davis Page A

something with some cool water.
    She curled up into a ball and simply ceased being.
    She heard noises. The girls walked in with a rush of laughing, girly voices. She heard Donny’s voice. She heard Julia cry. Then it got quiet again.
    She should have gotten up. She should have greeted her girls. She should have told them their father was gone forever. She didn’t move, however, because she felt half dead. What was wrong with her? Did Donny give her something?
    She woke up and it was dark. Sensing a body next to her, she reached out and grew confused.
    “I’m here, sis. I’m here for you.”
    Gretchen? How?
    Lifting her head in confusion, she discovered that it was not Gretchen. It was Vickie. It was Vickie’s long body wrapped around her and holding her tightly as she started to cry again until her chest shook.
    “The girls…”
    “It’s fine. Donny’s got them. We’ve got it taken care of. We’re here, honey. We’re here.”
    Strangely enough, Tracy fell asleep believing that.

Chapter Five
     
    DONNY POURED THE CEREAL for the three girls. All of them watched him quietly. Even Julia seemed to sense that something was going on. Ally and Kylie both frowned with confusion at finding him there, when he greeting them this morning. He slept on the couch. He met the girls after school and explained their mother was really sick and Micah had to go out of town unexpectedly, so they called him to help out.
    They originally accepted his explanation without question. But now? They didn’t believe it. Their eyes were suspicious and distrustful of him.
    The biggest shock to him was Vickie. He called her after he finally got Tracy calmed down. It took an hour just to get Tracy even coherent enough to swallow the sleeping pill. He didn’t know what else to do. She was unlike herself in a way he’d never known anyone to be in his presence.
    Vickie showed up not twenty minutes later. She pretty much bypassed him and needed no further explanation to crawl into bed with her big sister. She held Tracy. She was several inches taller and Tracy curled into her like a trusting child. Donny shut the door on them and marveled how his wife always loved her sisters.
    He didn’t even get a second to process the horror of the last two days. The girls got home from school. Julia woke up and he spent the next five hours trying to pretend everything was fine. Normal. Going to be great.
    “What’s really going on?” Ally asked, her gaze drilling him. She was the spitting image of Micah except her hair was lighter. She was a pretty girl, athletic, smart and well liked. Her sister was the opposite. Kylie was quiet and reserved, a little clumsy, and very sweet. Kylie had red hair like her mother and the same gray eyes. She was, almost freakily, the spitting image of Tracy.
    Ally was strong, confident and outgoing; she nearly shadowed her father while trying to emulate him. Losing her father, her mentor, and her idol, would kill Ally. Kylie’s delicate personality would no doubt, be crushed. She internalized everything to the point of feeling responsible for the sun rising or not, in the morning. What would she do after being abandoned by her father? Donny’s throat tightened. Shit. He was just barely a father. How could he tell them? He didn’t, of course. But how should he deal with this now? How could he help these innocent, sweet girls handle the stunning blow he knew was coming their way like a locomotive? It made him want to sit down and huddle into a ball, rather than face what the consequences might be to them.
    “Your mom’s having a bad day. Can you let her start feeling better? Then she’ll talk to you. She just needs a little time. Okay?”
    Kylie’s expression went from angry to insecure to round-eyed and scared. “Is she dying?”
    “What? No! No. It’s nothing like that.” Shit. He was not so good at playing the father of a teenager. He often said the wrong thing… either too much or too little. Or he said stupid