Natasha was not proud of herself but she was determined. Once her father had shown Bob the door in the most literal sense, all hell had erupted, just as she'd hoped. Any chance that her plan might someday be appreciated as a clever prank had disappeared in the rearview where it had always seemed greater than it actually was. Her only choice now, whenever she decided to reveal her game, was to present it as a necessary lesson validated by her eventual wedded bliss with Rodney.

Listening to the raised voices of her outraged family, she felt a fraud for her own audacity in thinking her cause justified such a lack of respect for those who loved her most. Her mother pleaded with her. Where was her self-worth that she could marry a man who made a pass at her sister? Her father bellowed until he choked on his own saliva, his disappointment in the willful blindness of his intelligent daughter expressed from the most familiar vent. And DeeDee, her beloved big sister, worried, yes, and angry too, but so hurt at the thought of losing her sister to a desperate act of denial, it was though she was grieving her other half while being consoled by a look-alike stranger.

They had quieted to say grace over the Christmas meal, and ate in sullen silence until Natasha suggested she take leftovers home to Bob and then the protests began again.

"Everybody here is over reacting," Natasha stated brazenly. "If I'm not upset, why should you be?"

"Why aren't you upset??" her mother her mother struggled to ask without shouting. "He kissed your sister!"

"He thought she was upset about running into her ex-boyfriend at the hospital."

"He did not say that!" DeeDee gasped.

"You saw Kurt?" Alexis asked DeeDee, her eyes so sympathetic that at once Natasha knew DeeDee had told their mother everything and could not help but feel wounded, hypocritical as it was.

"You knew he was married?" Natasha asked their mother.

"You were dating some married guy?!" Alvin said, so surprised he stuttered.

"I didn't know he was married," DeeDee fumed.

"You told Bob though." Natasha said sulkily.

"Kurt's out of the picture, and running into him certainly didn't mean I was open for business with your fiancé!"

"I didn't say that," Natasha said.

"Good. Because I know you are not even thinking about thinking that this was in any way my fault."

"I know it wasn't. It just wasn't Bob's. He's been...stressed." Natasha said with a shoulder shrug.

"So you keep saying," Alexis said. "Is that supposed to account for that cockamamie lie about being an actor?"

Alvin put his hands in prayer pose and yelled, "If only that were true!" at the ceiling.

"Is he mentally well?"

"Of course," Natasha rolled her eyes.

"Then he thinks you're stupid," DeeDee said.

"My daughter is NOT stupid! At least you weren't. Has he got something on you?"

"Like what, Dad? He's got some inside info that would force me to marry him?"

"You're not saying you love him," DeeDee said.

"That goes without saying."

"Then say it."

"I love him all right! Geez! Can we please drop it?"

"I'll drop him," Alvin said.

"You know, if you'd told us we weren't ever going to be allowed to be happy with who we married I wouldn't have wasted my time dating. I would've conducted interviews."

"That's not fair," Alexis said.

"You guys pitching a fit when I thought Rodney might propose wasn't exactly fair either."

"At least Rodney made sense," her father said. Natasha had to fight not to seem too pleased.

"The only thing you didn't like about him was that he was in too much debt. Student debt, and, I might add, loans he took out to invest in rental properties that'll pay off big someday. At least you could stand him."

"Yeah, well," was all her father said.

"Okay, enough of this," Alexis said. "We're not going to be one of those families that dread holidays because we can't have disagreements without them turning into ugly shouting matches. There's been a lot happening in a little time, so let's just be us for the rest of the night and come back to it later. We've got a pecan pie for dessert that's a foot deep. I'm going to go get it and when I come back, we start over."

"Start over," Alvin grumbled resentfully.

"You want whipped cream?" Alexis threatened him.

******

After dinner they'd opened presents. Together the girls had bought their mother an antique night stand of gilt brass on fluted legs, cigars for their father, subscriptions to specialty streaming services, as well as a Toronto Blue Jays World Series baseball signed by Juan Guzman.

"It says, 'To Bill'," Alvin said, his face screwed up behind his glasses.

"Well I guess Bill fell on hard times. It's autographed isn't it?" Natasha said.

DeeDee and Natasha both received gift certificates to their favourite salons, and a paid stay at a spa-resort with the intention that they should go together. They accepted the latter with thanks and non-commital mumblings as to when they might make use of it. DeeDee had bought Natasha her favourite, ridiculously expensive perfume, which she immediately doused herself with ecstatically. Natasha then handed DeeDee a long box, but not without noting the wrapping paper had been tampered with.

"Someone's been snooping I see. That's why I hot glued the ribbon."

"It wasn't me, I swear," DeeDee said, and opened her gift with moody restraint.

Under a fine wrap of tissue paper, DeeDee found a sherbert orange crepe mid-length coat with sequins and black beading. She was stunned with its beauty, unable to express the greedy joy she would have felt under different circumstances.

"What's that small present over there?" Alexis asked, pointing to a tiny box under a mass of crumpled wrapping paper.

"Oh, that's Bob's for me!" Natasha said, and practically lunged at it to open it. "We were expecting to open them here, but..."

"Don't you think you should wait until you get home?" DeeDee asked in a judgey tone.

"Why? I've waited all day. He won't mind. Besides I want you to see how much he loves me."

Knowing only that it was the ugliest brooch Bob said he could find, Natasha made a good show of being prematurely touched by his thoughtfulness so that her premeditated disappointment to follow would have a better impact. She had not expected to laugh out loud.

"What is it?" Alexis asked. "Not another toe ring, I hope."

"It's this!" Natasha said, displaying the cross-eyed matador pin.

"It's, uh...is it vintage?"

"It's ugly as sin is what it is!"

"Is that a buck tooth?" Alexis said grabbing it.

"Aww, the dope. He may have excellent taste in ballet and wine, but I'll be buying my own jewelry from now on."

"He had a good reason for choosing that one," DeeDee said glumly. "You should let him tell you."

"Are you on his side again?"

DeeDee didn't answer. Instead she went back to admiring her coat. As she held it at is full length to inspect the beaded details, something glittering at her feet.

"There's more?" she asked.

"There is?" Natasha wondered.

DeeDee bent forward and picked up a delicate ankle chain attached to a holding card.

"That's right," Natasha said. "Bob said he'd picked up something for you."

"It's from the same store as your pin."

"Let me see it," Natasha said, tossing her pin to the floor with the other discarded packaging. "Now why couldn't he have picked something like this out for me?"

"I'm sorry," Alvin said, "but was he courting you the whole time he was here with Natasha?"

"DAD!" the sisters yelled in unison.

"Well the last thing she needs is another married man!"

"Excuse me a minute," DeeDee said and excused herself to her room with eyes beginning to sting.

Natasha followed her, wanting to comfort her, knowing the shameful truth was that she was unwilling to do the one thing which would.

"I'll be out in a minute," DeeDee said exasperatedly when Natasha opened the door.

"Don't be mad at me please."

"I'm not mad," DeeDee huffed. "I don't know what I am. I'm frustrated, I guess." It sounded more like a question. "I have what I want, but I can't have what I want. I see what I want, but I can't have what I see. I want you to have everything you want but you shouldn't want it. What am I supposed to feel?"

"I know you worry about me but I'm still me. You're still my best friend and I love you."

"I love you too, but Natasha..."

"Why didn't you tell me that guy was married? You must've been heartbroken. I know we don't always tell each other everything right away, but you need to tell me when you're hurting."

"I didn't tell you because after I found out, I tried to stay with him. It was only weeks, but I couldn't. I was embarrassed."

"You know, I say I don't tell you things because you can't keep a secret, but a lot of the times it's because I don't want you to see all the stupid mistakes I make."

"What mistakes? I mean other than this one. You're the best little sister anyone ever had."

"You've told me that since I was a kid. You're like a second mom to me. I don't want you to ever think different, that's all."

"I never do. Even when you're awful," DeeDee said with a faint smile. "Sometimes I feel you wish I was more like you. More fearless, less cautious. More decisive."

"Who's more decisive than you once your mind's made up? Impulsive's different, not better. You think I don't wish I had your patience? Smiling to yourself all the time, happy with only the thoughts in your head even when everything else is a mess? Probably means you'll live longer than me. Which I'm fine with by the way."

"Are you being impulsive now? Are you just marrying Bob because you want to get married to someone, to prove a point to mom and dad?"

"What I'm doing is going to make me the happiest woman on earth."

"And I want that for you. We deserve love. Destined, all in, die without the other love."

"We do."

"Then why are you marrying someone you haven't called once to check in on since he was thrown out?"

"I know it doesn't make sense to you now, but it will. You have to trust me."

"I'm trying, kiddo. I really am."