I want to thank Ink-Dub for beta reading this chapter.
Winter stood in the middle of the dining room, completely surrounded. In whichever direction she looked, she found a sister or a grandfather. No one said a word. Their eyes were glued on her, not even showing intent to blink. She didn't know if they were named Loud or just did their best to live up to the name, but now they deserved to be called Quiets, as she could hear the bugs in the wall.
Wait, that is not good in any way.
"So... Winter..." Lori began, not knowing what else to say.
"Bonjour, Oui am Luna." Luna came to Lori's rescue, in an accent that would make any Frenchman want to be deaf. "Oui am the residete la musicion."
"Hi..." Winter said. Lincoln didn't mention she speaks French or is trying to. Is she French? That would be neat in the long run but is a bit awkward now. Do they all know French? Will they talk in French? Is there some other language she needs to know? Am... Ah... What is it that mom always said?... Da, ne, jeb- No the last one is definitely a curse. That isn't even French! Is it?
There are some Romans in East Europe, and Romans are Italians, and Italians are like French, so she might get to wiggle her way out of this. "Zdravo..."
"You speak French?" Luna asked.
". . . . . . . . . Yes?" Winter said with little more than a whisper.
The sisters looked between each other before squealing, making the few adults in the room cover their ears.
"Super! You have to teach me some!"
"No, I have to show you my dresses!"
"Me first!"
The sisters shouted ever louder, reaching volumes Winter seldom believed possible. It came to her as somewhat of a relief when she felt someone pick her up and take her away.
"Lynn! Come back here!"
Lynn was halfway up the stairs before she looked up to see who she stole. "Stinkin'? Why are you in a dress?" Why did they swarm Lincoln? Wait, didn't he leave two minutes ago? Who was this?
"Who is Stinkin'?" Winter asked. She had an urge to tell Lynn to keep running, as the stampede was after them.
"Lynn, put Winter down." Lori said sternly.
"Who?" Lynn asked. "Oh." With greater than usual care, she put Winter down. Usually, she would just let go of whoever she was holding, the staircase be damned, but recently Lori was on her case, so she had to be a bit more careful. And, if this was Lincoln, she will be sleeping on the couch if he has as much as a scratch. Wait, is Lincoln a girl now? She has to admit, it fits him better.
After being let go, Winter stood in place, not knowing if it was better to go with the mob or her abductor. She didn't have to choose, however, as the horde took her before Lynn could do anything. The sisters started a chase, using Winter as a hot potato. To add to her confusion, Luna somehow managed to change into a dark purple suit and found a saxophone. She played that song every cartoon used for these events, a convoluted chase.
The main group tried to get her back to the dining room, but Lucy pulled her out, dragging her under to somewhere in the walls.
"I want to show you my poetry book." Lucy didn't get a chance to open her book, as Lana pulled her out.
"I'm Lana and this is Hops." A frog jumped on Winter, making her scream and run away from Lana.
"Lana, she doesn't want that! I'm Lola, I'm going to throw you a welcome tea party, now." Winter nodded but was pulled away again.
"You are a steal, now let me introduce myself. I'm Luan." Luan quickly shook Winters's hand, zapping the confused girl to Leni's side.
"That dress is so last season; we totes need to get you something new." Leni said, moving Winter around to get her dimensions. "I'm Leni, I'll need you to come with me to try something." That sounded fine enough, Winter thought.
Lynn blew a finger whistle, making everyone lose interest in Winter. "Someone care to explain why Stinkin' is in drag?"
"What's drag?" Lana asked.
Before anyone answered either question, Winter was pulled out of the house, this time by Lori. "Okay... that was a bit... crazy..." Lori said, eyeing the fight about to erupt inside. "I'm Lori, what do you say we go somewhere else."
Winter violently nodded.
After five minutes of driving, and ice cream, Winter is back to normal. She's no longer shaking, but she's still hyper-aware of what's going on around her, turning at the slightest crack to make sure it wasn't one of her sisters. That house... it's cursed.
"I'm sorry, again, for how my sisters acted. They can get... excited at times." Lori said awkwardly.
"It's okay..." Winter said meekly. It wasn't.
"I guess proper introductions are in order. I'm Lori, I'm the... your oldest sister. I work at our family restaurant and play golf in my free time."
"Restaurant?" Winter asked. They have a restaurant, that's interesting.
"Yes, our father opened it some months ago, Honest Abe's." Lori pointed to a local down the street.
Hey, they named it after Lincoln. That's sweet. "So, are you a chef, or..."
"I'm still learning, but I do help in the kitchen." Lori answered. "Maybe I can show you around sometime."
"That sounds nice." Winter said.
"Well, how about you?" Lori asked.
"What do you mean?" Does Lori want her to show her a restaurant? No, she's probably talking about an introduction. "Oh, right. I'm Winter, I go to Chavez Academy-"
"That's in Great Lake City, right?" Lori cut in.
"Y-Yeah, how do you know that?" Winter asked. It wasn't a famous school, not even close, so it was surprising someone in Royal Woods would know about it.
"I had some friends in the city." Lori said solemnly. "Do you have some hobbies?"
"I play the piano and I do gymnastics." Winter said. She was supposed to have a class today, so at least one good thing would come out of coming here.
"That sounds interesting, you'll get along nicely with Luna and Lynn if she decides to start listening." Lori said bitterly.
"Lynn's the sporty one, right?" Winter asked and Lori nodded. "Why did she think I was Lincoln? Other than me having white hair."
"You do look a lot like him, so you will probably get confused by some people while you are here." Lori said. "She wasn't there when Lincoln told us about you, so she didn't know that you would be so similar."
"Why did she call me... Stinkin'?" Lincoln plus stink, Stinkin'. That makes sense, it's just not a nice nickname.
"Yeah... Lynn and Lincoln aren't exactly on speaking terms." Lori said. "She has always been... difficult, especially when it comes to showing love, but now she is just being a donkey."
"Why? Did he do something to her?" Winter asked. Whatever happened between the two of them, she wanted to avoid it.
"No." Lori said nervously. "I'm guessing you know what we did to Lincoln..." Winter nodded. "Well, Lynn blamed herself for it. But when Lincoln told her he wasn't related to us, she quickly started blaming him."
"Oh..." Winter said.
"Don't worry, Lynn has a thick skull, but it's not impenetrable, she'll come around to it." Lori said warmly. "And about what we did to Lincoln... we won't do it again, not to him, not to you."
She would have to take their word on it. Speaking of that event, there was someone she was yet to meet, other than Lisa. "Lori, can I ask you about my... our parents?"
"I thought you would..." Lori said, a great reservation detectable in her voice. "I can take you to see them if you want..."
"Really? Where are they?" Winter asked. She hadn't seen them anywhere, so she didn't know where they were. If only she had read the entirety of that article instead of stopping when she read about ten sisters.
"Well..."
Michigan State Penitentiary. All that was missing was for a thunderbolt to light up the cloudy sky. The concrete leviathan that was her parent's home was less intimidating than one would expect. The clear sky and bright sun greatly helped, but the mundanity of the building was the primary factor. When she imagined a prison, she thought of a scary building with twenty-foot-tall barb-wired walls and hundreds of guards patrolling every inch of the place, not a measly seven-foot fence with ten guys playing basketball while a guard casually strolled about. He even passes the ball back to them. Lori is surely at the wrong place.
"Here we are..." Lori said unsurely. "You know you don't have to do this. If you want to do this some other time, or not at all, no one will blame you."
"No, I came this far, I think I should." Winter said nervously.
"Okay. If you want to leave at any point, just tell me. I'm staying by your side." Lori led her in using the knowledge of this place from the previous visit for direction.
The meeting was going to be held through glass, over a phone. It wasn't the most ideal, but it was the best they could get, with their current circumstances. Winter was sweating like a dog until they brought Lynn and Rita out, after that she was too scared to even do that. Their will was broken and their spirits were destroyed. They looked defeated. She didn't know who they were before, but this surely wasn't it. For Winter, it didn't mean much. But for Lori, deep down, it made her just a bit happy. They messed up. Big time. So many times.
Upon seeing Winter, both parents froze in place. Was that... "Lincoln?" Rita said, a tear leaving her eye.
What happened to him? Now, most would think she is a terrible mother for what she just thought. While yes, she is, for a different reason, it wasn't for this one. If her son wanted to be her daughter, she wouldn't be against it, she just thinks he might be doing it for the wrong reasons. Does he think he has to be a girl to be loved? Is he doing it to get attention? Or did he always feel that way, but was never comfortable enough to tell them? She never saw him dressing like a girl for no reason. Sure, he modeled for Leni and had that attempt to go to "Take Your Daughter to Work" day. However, that was a means to an end, not an end in itself, or was it? They believed they knew their children, but clearly, they didn't even scratch the surface. Was he the only one? Lynn and Lana looked way more like they would want to be boys than Lincoln a girl. What else didn't they know?
"No. Mom, Dad, this is Winter, your daughter." Lori said.
"Uh... Lori, was that Lincoln?" Lynn Sr. asked.
"What, no! Gosh, what are you even thinking?! Lincoln was swapped at birth. This is Winter, the girl they confused him for." Lori said, wandering what thoughts ran through their heads. Looking at Winter, it was clear her little outburst scared out what little confidence she had.
"Y-You d-don't say..." Lynn Sr. said awkwardly, rubbing the back of his head.
"That is just... I don't know what to say..." Rita said.
Lori looked at two of them. They were sweating a shower. Those smiles, the scared wandering eyes, itchy back... She could go on, but it made the cogs in her head turn, and in all the wrong directions. "Neither did I." Lori said. "I forgot to ask Lincoln's parents, but how did you not see you took the wrong kid home? I'm just wondering, so I know not to repeat the same mistake one day."
"Well... uh... we didn't ask for the gender of the baby..." Rita said.
"Yeah, but the doctor would have surely told you when it was born." Lori said.
"... well... the nurse said he misspoke..." Lynn Sr. said.
"Or that we misheard." Rita quickly added. "I must have been so... exhausted from the birth that I hallucinated, but Lynn said he heard the doctor say it was a boy."
"Don't put this on me..." Lynn Sr. said through his teeth.
"Okay, but I vividly remembered that you decorated his room like the rest of ours and that the sign said: 'It's a girl.' " Lori pointed out. "Were you just short on cash, or were you so sure you were going to have another girl?"
"Of course! It's not like we would ever intentionally take someone else's kid b-" Rita put a hand on her husband's mouth.
Lori didn't bother continuing. Getting up, she saw Winter was nowhere to be found. Luckily, the guard pointed her to the bathroom.
"Lori! Wait! We can explain!" Rita pleaded, but to no one. She was long gone, likely never to return.
In the bathroom, Lori found Winter, crying in one of the stalls.
HOW COULD THEY!? Not only did they steal someone else's child, but they abandoned her! Why? Was she ugly? Did they just not want her? They were disappointed to have her. After five girls, they wanted a boy, but she wasn't. Instead, she was an ugly white-haired girl. Just another kid for the collection. Unlike Lincoln. Was he the problem? Did they just like him that much? Will his real parents feel the same? Once they see him, they will never want to be anywhere near her...
Winter cried even more. To the luck of Lori, and maybe her, she hadn't locked the stall, allowing Lori to enter. The older girl embraced Winter in a hug that made her only cry more.
"Let's go." Lori said solemnly. "I can drop you off at the McBrides if you want to."
Winter shook her head and left the stall.
For the next hour, Winter waited in on the front porch. Her eyes lifelessly looked at the road, patiently awaiting the return of the Whites. Lori sat by her, doing her best to console her. No one else tried coming out after they arrived, likely on Lori's orders.
What did she do? Did she cry too much? Did she have a particularly bad diaper? Was her smile not cute enough? Was it her hair? Were her eyes too blue? Did they think she was too small? Or was she just not a boy? That's it, isn't it? One thing they wanted, the one reason they had five kids even after Lincoln, a son of their own. Was that why they ditched Lincoln? He wasn't bad or troublesome, he was just not theirs. All he was, is a failed attempt to compensate for what she should have been. Do the Whites think the same? Is that why they were so eager to take Lincoln in? Why do they go the extra hundred miles for him? No one wants her. Not the Whites, not her real parents, not her sisters, not even Lori. She just feels bad for her. This isn't an older sister consulting her younger one, this was a stranger taking pity on another.
Suddenly, the Whites parked in front of the house. Immediately, they rushed to her. Sophia replaced Lori, while Walter started interrogating her on what happened. She heard the rest of the herd coming to defend the shepherd, but that didn't dissuade Walter. He was imposing enough to handle twenty people, eight girls and a senior would be no problem. Despite the noise being enough to be heard from the city, she didn't pay attention to it. As soon as Sophia stopped practically restraining her, Winter got up and went into the car. She didn't listen to anyone's calls, she didn't listen to Lincoln's questions, she didn't listen to the ruckus behind her. She wanted to go to the apartment and lay down, never to wake up.
