Chapter Nineteen

Nelson paces in the front room with the football game playing in the background. Rebecca is due to arrive any minute. He does not know what will be in store, both his older daughters in the house and hating him. Laura at least had some sympathy and sadness when they talked on Thursday before everything blew up in his face with the truth about Ruth. Ever since, they've not spoken much. He's been busy at work, and she's been spending the days going to the gym and clearing out her childhood bedroom. There's three enormous rubbish bags of things for him to take to the charity shop. And she is upstairs now going through more things.

He is also not sure how much Laura has told Rebecca. Apparently they spoke on Thursday after the revelation of Ruth, but Nelson doesn't know if Laura conveyed that to Rebecca or whatever else. He himself hasn't spoken to his middle daughter since they were on the phone with Michelle, breaking the news of the divorce. Rebecca had been very quick to blame him and become extremely angry over it all. He isn't sure if she still feels that same way.

But he will find out soon enough because her car is pulling up outside. He goes and greets her in the driveway. "Hallo, sweetheart," he says, pasting a smile on his face to hide his nerves. He really shouldn't be afraid of his own child, but given the circumstances, he can't quite help it.

Rebecca gets out of the car and stares at him. He can't read her face, but she looks mildly suspicious. His heartrate quickens with anxiety. Eventually she grumbles, "Hi, Dad."

"Laura's up in her room working on her clear-out. I thought I could make lunch for us all whenever you're ready," he says gently. It's eleven right now, and he'd been too preoccupied to eat much breakfast. Laura never eats much of anything, he's noticed, but hopefully they can all have lunch together.

"You make lunch?" Rebecca asks incredulously.

"I'm learning to cook a bit," he defends. He can do a toasted cheese along with the scrambled eggs with toast soldiers and the pasta with butter.

Rebecca gets her overnight bag from the boot of her car and walks past her father into the house. "I'm going to put my stuff down and then let's have lunch. I'm starving."

Nelson follows her inside and immediately gets started making three toasted cheese sandwiches. Rebecca comes down to sit at the kitchen table to watch him. She tells him that Laura will join them when she's finished with the box she's sorting. "It's weird seeing you cook," Rebecca notes.

"I'm not going to live on takeaway now that Mum's gone," he replies.

"She left because you cheated, didn't she?"

The casual nature of that statement throws him. "No, she didn't," he tells her, trying to remain similarly casual and not turn away from the sandwiches he's making. "Mum told you why she left. She wasn't happy. Neither of us was. She's starting her own life. I'm staying in town, of course, but I'm selling the house so we can both move on. You and Laura have moved away, you've got your own lives. Now we can all be happier this way." Nelson feels like he's said a variation of this speech about a dozen times in the last two weeks. Though the repetition doesn't make it any less true.

"But you did cheat," Rebecca presses.

Either Rebecca suspects this on her own or else Laura told her already. Regardless of which, Nelson won't lie to her. "Yes."

"And that's not why Mum left?"

"It happened years ago. And she's known for a long time. And that's not why she left." Nelson puts the sandwiches onto plates and turns toward Rebecca for the first time. "Go tell your sister lunch is ready, please."

The three of them sit down and eat in silence for a few minutes. Nelson is trying to figure out how to broach the subject. Laura is picking at her food, and Rebecca is watching both of them with increasing suspicion. The awkwardness is eventually too much for him. At work, he can wait out a suspect in an interview, no problem. But this isn't a case he's solving. These are his daughters. And he's procrastinated enough.

"You both remember my archaeologist friend, Dr. Ruth Galloway?" he begins.

"The woman you've been sleeping with?" Laura snarls.

Rebecca gives a snort of laughter, which surprises Nelson. "What's that for?" he asks her.

"There is no way you cheated on our mother, the most beautiful woman in the world, with Ruth. I mean, she's not bad looking, but Mum is gorgeous. How could you possibly even think to look at Ruth when you've got Mum?" Rebecca replies.

Nelson shakes his head. "It's not about what she looks like. It's…Ruth and I have something that I've never really had with your mother. And that's why it's been so difficult. I work with Ruth a lot of the time, and she's…I dunno, she's different. She's smart and kind."

"And our mother is stupid and mean?" Laura interjects.

"I didn't say that," Nelson counters. "And I never would. It's just different! They're two very different people. And I love them differently."

That snaps Rebecca's attention again. "What did you just say?"

"That Mum and Ruth are different."

"Did you just say you love Ruth?"

He hadn't meant to let that slip. He sighs, hoping to walk that back a little. "It's complicated. And that's not even really the complicated part."

Rebecca isn't making jokes anymore, and Laura looks very close to tears again. Rebecca looks at her sister with worry and back to their father. "What's the complicated part, if it isn't that you're somehow in love with a frumpy single mother who digs up bones for a living?"

"Ruth's a single mother to our child. I'm Katie's father. She's your sister."

At exactly two o'clock on Sunday, Ruth parks her car in front of Nelson's house. She's been here before, but very infrequently. She sees Nelson's white Mercedes in the driveway with two other cars behind it. Those must belong to Laura and Rebecca. Ruth is very close to a panic over all of this, and she's not sure if it's helped or made worse by the enthusiasm coming from the backseat of her own car.

"Mummy, are my sisters pretty?"

Ruth wishes she wouldn't ask things like this, but she answers Kate anyway. "Yes, they're very pretty. Like Aunt Michelle, you remember?"

Kate smiles. "Is Aunt Michelle going to be here?"

"No," Ruth reminds her. She had explained all of this earlier, telling Kate that they were going to Dad's house and she was going to meet Dad's older daughters, Laura and Rebecca, who are Kate's big sisters. "Aunt Michelle moved away. She and your dad aren't going to be married anymore. That's why he's been able to come by so often now."

"Is Dad going to marry you now?"

Ruth nearly wants to vomit at that question. "We're all focusing on him just being your dad," she replies to her daughter.

She gets out of the car and goes to the back to get Kate out of her child seat. Before she can, however, there's a familiar voice calling to them.

"Hallo, lovely ladies!"

Ruth has never heard Nelson use terms like that before. Perhaps he's having some kind of breakdown. She turns away from Kate to see him jogging toward them with a manic sort of smile. "Everything okay?" she asks warily.

"Champion," he replies. He puts his hands on Ruth's hips to move her aside so he can see Kate. "Hallo, Katie. I've got some people who really want to meet you," he tells her.

"Is that so?" Ruth asks with more concern.

Nelson picks up Kate and carries her into the house, telling Ruth, "We all had an interesting talk yesterday. And after a lot of yelling and crying and questions and answers and everything, we've come to an understanding."

"And that is?"

"We're all going to be happy and civil and give it a chance. We can't change anything that's already happened, so we're just going to make the best of everything," Nelson tells her.

"You know who you remind me of right now?" Ruth says in a low tone.

"Who?"

"Phil."

Nelson groans, "Jesus wept."

Ruth chuckles slightly. There he is. That's her Nelson.

He puts Kate down just inside the door. "Go over there, Katie, and meet your sisters."

Behind them, Ruth holds her breath. She texted Nelson earlier today, telling him that she'd explained things to Kate as best she could. But there was really no way to prepare any of them for what is about to happen.

Sitting on the sofa are Laura and Rebecca, both looking beautiful and somewhat apprehensive. Kate, having no fear in a way that her mother cannot fathom, walks right up to them. "Hallo, my name is Kate Scarlett Galloway and I'm four years old and that's my mum and dad."

Kate points to Ruth and Nelson and smiles at them. Ruth tries to give her an encouraging smile back, but she's sure it looks more like a grimace. She can't breathe or think, she's just waiting for the other shoe to drop. A hand takes hers and gives a comforting squeeze. Ruth looks away from Kate for just a second to glance at Nelson beside her. He gives a subtle nod.

Laura stands up first. "Hi Kate, I'm Laura. And I'm twenty-three. And that's my dad over there, too." She has a friendly smile on her face and gets right down on her knees so she's at Kate's level.

Rebecca joins her sister on the floor and introduces herself, too. "And I'm Rebecca. I'm nineteen years old. And I'm really glad to meet you, Kate."

"My mum was right, you're both really pretty," Kate says.

Both Laura and Rebecca laugh. "You're really pretty, too, Kate. I guess that's something we all have in common as sisters," Rebecca says.

"Kate, do you like Frozen?" Laura asks.

"Yeah! It's my favorite movie!" Kate cries.

"Do you want to watch it with us? It's my favorite movie, too. And it's all about sisters, like us!" Laura tells her.

Kate excitedly joins Laura and Rebecca on the sofa, sitting between the two of them. She looks so happy and excited, and the older girls are being so sweet and welcoming. And it's much more than Ruth can handle.

She lets go of Nelson's hand and backs out of the room, hiding herself in the foyer by the front door as tears start to fall down her cheeks. Nelson does not hesitate a second before pulling her into his arms so she can cry into his shoulder.