Who would have thought it would end like this – his life in shambles, his perfect world crumbling all around him? As he took in the shattering scene before him, he bit back his tears and screams and did what he had to do to protect the only sister he had left. He ran through the house, searching for towels to clean Veronica, his mind racing and supplying the back-story for the tragedy that would split his life into two eras. Lilly must have gone to Veronica's house, picked her up, and then while they were sunbathing, Lilly broke the paternity news to Veronica. He had known she would tell eventually. With Lilly, it was only a matter of time. Causing drama was her forte, always had been. And it had been her undoing.
"C'mon, Veronica. I'm going to take you home." He stared down at her, wrapped in a ball and rocking back and forth only a few feet from the pool of blood that was seeping across the patio. He had to force himself to look away and swallow the bile that was rising in his throat. Veronica didn't look at him, just as he expected – or hoped, really, because that would mean she really wasn't at fault here. She offered no resistance when he hoisted her to her feet, guided her to his car and drove her home, thanking God that her house was empty. He laid her in her bed and reluctantly left. He had to finish what he started.
That next horrible hour would remain among the most vivid of his memories from that day. He spent it sitting Indian-style only a few feet from his sister, rocking slightly to ease the nausea that her bloodied head was causing. He heard his parents' car approach and he took a deep, steadying breath before kneeling next to his beloved sister and clutching her still, lifeless form, rocking her slowly back and forth and pleading with her to wake up. Along the way, he found that his shock and anguish was not faked, as he had planned, but very real. He had just delayed it in his efforts to protect Veronica. Careful to keep his stare blank as his mother grabbed his arm and screamed, he seemed every inch the epileptic, just as Veronica had been not too long ago, except that in her case it was real. She truly was his sister. This was too much to be a coincidence. For him, it was even better than a paternity test. He heard his parents arguing a few feet away, unaware that he was listening to every word.
"I'm calling Clarence," Jake proclaimed, reaching for his cell phone.
"What, why?" Celeste asked, her voice uncharacteristically high pitched.
"We have to protect him, Celeste. He's our son."
Celeste seemed to have regained her composure slightly because when she spoke next, she sounded almost normal. "Yes. Yes, of course. Call him."
He almost felt sorry for them, for fooling them. Jake would most likely have been willing to protect Veronica much the way he was Duncan – she was his daughter, after all – but Celeste would undoubtedly be less than agreeable.
It took all his strength not to reach out and stroke Veronica's tear-stained and oblivious face when she arrived with her supposed father later that night. As he watched her leave with her mother, he swore to himself that no matter what, she would never find out the truth about Lilly's death.