By the time they picked their dishes, and Lacey's Mom added the extras she wanted. They had over ten dishes.

Lacey went over to the galley kitchen and pulled bowls and plates out of the cupboards. She found utensils, and bigger serving spoons, bringing them over to the table.

"Zena, would you help me? Does anyone want more coffee?" Lacey asked.

"No thanks." Matt shook his head. "I'm over my limit already."

Her parents shook their heads as well. She emptied the carafe and rinsed it out before setting up the machine for the next day.

"What are we doing for drinks with our food then?" Zena pulled matching glasses down and carried them to the table leaving them grouped together beside the plates and bowls Lacey stacked there.

"I ordered a couple of bottles of soda with this. Sprite and ginger ale, I didn't want any more caffeine. I'm jittery enough as it is," Deanne said.

"For the moment, let's not talk about what happened before, I'd like to know how your day went," James said as he stretched his arms over his head, arching his back against he chair he was sitting in.

Lacey ran through how they met, and Zena told them about her drama class. She mentioned how she'd already signed up for the drama club, as Miss Emma had the sheets there for them. They talked about the cheer squad auditions, and Zena gave them a short demo of the dance routine she was going to use.

"Zena, how did you get those scratches?" Deanne asked as Zena finished her hip-hop number. "Let me have a look. I want to make sure they're not infected."

"Nurse Agger did a good job cleaning them up for me. But Principal Dalton is going to charge Anya. Apparently, they have cameras in the hallways now." Zena said as she stood beside Deanne where she sat between Zena's father and her husband.

"These are deep. Must have hurt like the dickens." Deanne said. "Flip the lights on please, James."

"They still sting a lot. At least they're scabbed over now." Zena was glad to see the angry red borders around them had disappeared while they were talking.

"It looks like they should heal well. I hope you don't have any scars from them." Deanne stood to pace restlessly.

"If I do, I'm proud of them. I beat her at her own game. I got her caught in the act." Zena's fierce declaration brought applause.

"I'll take care of filing for a restraining order." James said and pulled a legal pad out of his file. He scribbled a few notes. "I'll call Dalton tomorrow morning."

They all jerked when the delivery boy knocked on the back door of the office, James went to give him his credit card and came back with two bags of food.

He put them on the table, and Deanne lifted wrapped egg rolls out of the first bag. She dished them out and dropped little packets of plum sauce on the table to go with them. Dinner was officially served.

Lacey realized she was ravenous. What was it about emotionally charged days that brought out her appetite? Everyone was munching, reaching for more food from the bags as they finished their egg rolls. She wanted wonton soup and went to look for a bigger spoon to ladle it out into a bowl.

Bringing the ladle back to the table, she asked, "Does anyone else want soup?" Zee nodded and she filled two bowls. Putting the lid back on the Styrofoam container, she handed one to her twin.

She met Zee's eyes as their parents brought each other up to speed on what had happened over the years they'd been apart. She wondered what would make best friends like they seemed to be, stay apart. Not even contacting each other on important days, until one of them died. She wanted to know if Elise and Lawrence were still alive, but they couldn't be. Otherwise, she and Zee would have different parents and be together. Maybe they did talk to each other, just not when she knew about it.

"What do you think happened to our parents, Lace?" Zee whispered.

Their Dads were loading the dishwasher and Lace's mother was gone to use the bathroom.

"It can't be good. I mean I was just thinking the same thing. Why would they stay apart like this, not letting us know about each other? What went wrong? And the whole thing about your mother's plane crash? I'm scared. Our parents have to be dead," Lace said.

"I know. And what if there's someone in town that knows the whole story, because they were in on it from the wrong side?"

Lacey didn't like where Zee was going and made a face at her. "You had to bring it up. Would my mom and dad still be living here if it wasn't safe for me?"

"Point for you. I wish Sara was here. She's my BFF. I miss her." Zee admitted. "You'd like her. She kind of pushed me to change."

"I was going to ask what was going on. I mean who would take your cell phone and car privileges away unless there's a big bad no-no. I've barely been grounded."

"A wake up call, remember. Mom's will. They're coming back to the table," Zee slanted her eyes toward their dads as they finished their chore.

"Here comes Mom, too." Lace reached under the table to squeeze Zee's hand.

"Who wants to tell the rest of this?" Matt asked.

"I'll take it," Deanne said. "Take a look at these. We've kept them in our files ever since Elise and Lawrence's crash."

The pictures showed three couples at play, at work, and at home. They seemed to be happy in apartments, and as Zee went through the stack, she asked, "Were you all staying in Boston?"

"Stella had her first job with a charter company. I think she stayed with them right through her career. Your parents didn't move until after." There was an ominous pause before Deanne continued. "James and I were in law school, after we finished our prep years. Matt already had an offer from Harvard, to come teach. He was set too."

When Elise was about eight months pregnant, they were in a car accident. Their brakes failed. The traffic reconstruction unit with the Massachusetts state troopers found they were tampered with. There were distinct marks from a hacksaw on the metal brake lines. Lawrence was killed instantly, and your mother was in a coma."

James put his arm around his wife's shoulders as she drew a shuddering breath before continuing. "The investigation traced it back to the day Theo came into Boston and threatened Elise. He told her he was having her marriage annulled. He told Lawrence their marriage was illegal because Elise was underage. She wasn't. Majority for marriage is eighteen in all states. It's drinking age that is still twenty-one in places. His last words to his sister, were, 'Not that it matters. You won't live to see another birthday."

"Holy shit! He murdered them." Lacey saw her own horror reflected in her twin's blue eyes.

"He almost got you two too," Matt said. "Not that the cops could do anything about the threat. That's all it was at that point."

His wife continued the story. "We knew Theo was crazy jealous of Elise and her right to inheritance, thanks to both your great grandmother and grandmother's wills. The trust was set up by your great grandfather on James's side. Our families have been friends for generations. We came here to set up our practice, even though, as you know the rest of the Pemberton's are in Boston and New York." Deanne nodded at Lacey.

"What happened to our father's estate?" Zena asked. Her stunned face matched Lacey's.

"You're the oldest. You get the Pettigrew mansion. Lacey, you have a trust set by Lawrence. You'll come into your inheritance when you turn twenty-five. Your father was Lawrence Michael Grenville. His estate is in a small town a few miles outside Boston." Deanne explained.

"How did you get to adopt us?" Zee had to know. "Or are we really adopted?"

"You are legally adopted. Arranged by the same judge who eventually sentenced Theodore Pettigrew to life in prison with no chance of parole. Your uncle is in a New York State maximum security federal prison. Your parents had an ironclad will. Theo tried to break it, but Elise and Lawrence talked to your grandparents, Lacey, to get it written. Mind you, surnames changed for this family as the women married."

"That would be so confusing," Lacey said.

"We have a family tree for you somewhere in the files." James was flipping through the thick manilla folder he had in front of him.

"I've got it here," Matt Henderson said. He pulled a thick piece of paper, folded many times out of his own file. "We can put it on a wall later if you want to see."

"How were we born? I mean if Elise was in a coma, then what did the doctors do to keep us alive, and her too?" Lacey asked.

"Once they were sure you were healthy, they kept Elise alive on life support. She had a head injury that was fatal. Her brain waves indicated no activity. You were born by C-section fourteen days after the accident. Both of you stayed with us at first," Deanne said.

"Then when sentencing happened, and Theodore made his statement after the judge asked if he had anything to say, everything changed again. We were supposed to be your guardians. But not after that."

"What did Elise's brother say?" Lacey didn't want to know, but she had to at the same time. It had to be bad.

"I will hunt you down. All of you. I will take what is rightfully mine. Look over your shoulders. I will be there. As sure as the sun rises, I will force my estate from your illegal grasp and kill you as you have killed my freedom." Matt read from papers he had stacked on the table.

"That's from the court transcript. He is and was totally crazy and a complete psychopath. The diagnosis was part of the trial. Deemed sane enough to stand trial, he was put into a regular prison." James finished the story.

"Um, what if he's not in prison anymore?" Zena whispered in horror.

"We're going to find out tomorrow. Last time I checked he was in solitary confinement. That was at the beginning of this year." Deanne stated. "We separated you, and changed your legal names to reflect ours, hoping we could keep you safe. We made sure there was no communication allowed with your uncle. We've tried our best to make you disappear right down to the judge allowing us to use aliases when we were called as witnesses at Theodore's trial. His diagnosis was part of pretrial arguments. His defense lawyer agreed."

"Man Lace, this is too much," Zee commented.

"We can't tell anyone at school." Lacey looked around the table. "What if someone in town knows the whole story? What if Uncle Theodore had a wife we don't know about? Or a child?"

"He never married, or even had a girlfriend as far as anyone knows, so that's not a concern. But we do need to keep this quiet." Matt looked at each of the others in turn.

Everyone nodded.