The Lucky Ones(73)

“Feel better now?” Allison asked.

“Much,” Thora said.

Allison nodded. “Good.”

“I’ll go check on Dad,” Deacon said. “You going to bed?”

“In a few minutes,” Thora said. “Good night.”

“Good night,” Deacon said.

He was almost all the way out of the room when Allison said it.

“Guys, I know, by the way.”

Deacon froze, then slowly turned around. Thora’s eyes widened slightly.

“Know what?” Thora said.

“I was sitting in the window in my room,” Allison said. “I thought I saw something on the beach. I got out the binoculars. I promise, I thought it was just, I don’t know, an animal or something at first. I didn’t mean to snoop.”

Thora said nothing. Deacon said nothing.

“It’s okay,” Allison said. “It’s really okay. I just didn’t want to not tell you all I knew. Seems like there’s enough secrets in this house without me keeping any extras lying around.”

“If I’d known you were watching,” Deacon said, “I would have put on a better show.”

“I didn’t watch,” Allison said. “I saw. And then I immediately stopped looking.”

She was speaking very calmly but her heart was pounding in her chest and her stomach was tight.

“Does Dad know?” Allison asked.

“No,” Thora said. “At least, we’ve never told him.”

Deacon sat on the white overstuffed chair opposite her on the couch. Thora sat on the arm of the chair.

“You remember his rules,” Deacon said. “We were scared he’d separate us if he knew.”

“So you have been together a long time?” Allison asked.

“Since we were fourteen,” Thora said. By lamplight, Allison could see the soft blush on Thora’s face. “Are you angry?”

“Why would I be? I mean, it’s kind of surprising,” Allison said. “We used to call you the Twins.”

“Because we’re the same age,” Deacon said. “Not like we look much alike.”

“I keep thinking I should have known. How did I not know?”

“We always tried to be careful,” Thora said.

“And come on, I was fourteen,” Deacon said. “Not like it lasted much longer than two minutes, anyway.”

“You got much better with age,” Thora said.

“I couldn’t have gotten much worse.”

“That’s true,” Thora said, then flinched. Deacon had apparently pinched her at that remark.

“Does Roland know?” Allison asked.

“Yeah,” Thora said. “We finally gave in and told Ro when we were eighteen. We asked him not to say anything to anyone. Legally, we are siblings.”

“How did Roland take it?” Allison closed her book, done now with any pretense.

“He handled it better than I thought he would,” Deacon said, now rubbing Thora’s back. “Apparently he and Kendra were a thing for a very short time. So he understood. He didn’t like that we were keeping it a secret from Dad, but he got it.”

“You don’t think Dad would be okay with it now?” Allison asked. “I mean, you all are what? Twenty-eight? And he’s happy about me and Roland.”

“No offense,” Deacon said, “but you aren’t one of us.”

Allison wasn’t offended, but it still stung. No, she wasn’t one of them. She could have been, maybe, but fate had other ideas for her.

“Dad tried really hard to make us into a perfect family. And we tried to be a perfect family for him. We really did. Deacon even lived with family in China for years to get over me.”

“Didn’t work.” Deacon looked up at Thora and winked. “But we did try for Dad’s sake. He’s done so much for us—treated us, took us in, adopted us, gave us everything we ever wanted and needed. He never asked for anything in return. Maybe he’d be okay with me and Thora together, but we’re not going to stress him out now.”

“We don’t want to hurt Dad.”

“I get it,” Allison said.

“Are you sure you aren’t angry?” Thora asked her.

“I’m sure I’m not angry. I know what it’s like to be in a relationship you don’t know how to talk about,” Allison said. “Can I ask if that’s what you two were doing when I fell?”

Deacon and Thora looked at each other. Thora nodded.

“We were in my room,” Thora said. “Doing exactly what you think we were doing. I was upset about something and Deacon was trying to make me feel better.”

“I’m sorry I lied,” Deacon said. “I was protecting Thora. It’s what I do.”

Allison smiled at them. “I feel silly. I should have known,” she said. “At the studio, you were invading Thora’s personal space big time.”

“He’s allowed,” Thora said.

“And your two rooms, those are the two with the Jack and Jill bathroom, right?” Allison asked.

“Connecting doors,” Deacon said.

“Guess we won’t be needing separate bedrooms much longer,” Thora said.