hand into mine.
'You and I were born in the bayou, Gisselle. Years ago, Daddy would go there with our grandfather Dumas to hunt. He saw and fell in love with our real mother, Gabrielle Landry, and he made her pregnant. Grandpere Dumas wanted a grandchild, and Daphne couldn't have any, so he made a bargain with our other grandfather, Grandpere Jack, to buy the child. Only, there were two of us. Grandmere Catherine kept me a secret and Grandpere Jack gave you to the Dumas family.'
Gisselle said nothing for a moment and then pulled her hand from mine.
'You are crazy,' she said, 'if you think I’ll ever believe such a story.'
'It's true,' I said calmly. 'The story of the kidnapping was invented after I turned up here to keep people believing Daphne was our real mother.'
Gisselle wheeled herself back, shaking her head. 'I'm not a Cajun, too. I'm not,' she declared.
'Cajun, Creole, rich, poor, that's not important, Gisselle. The truth is important. It's time to face it and go on,' I said dryly. I was very tired now, the heavy weight of one of the most emotional and difficult days of my life finally settling over my shoulders. 'I never met our mother because she died right after we were born, but from everything Grandmere Catherine told me about her and from what Daddy told me, I know we would have loved her dearly. She was very beautiful.'
Gisselle shook her head, but my quiet revelation had begun to sink in and her lips trembled, too. I saw her eyes begin to cloud.
'Wait,' I said, and opened our adjoining door. I went to the nightstand and found Mother's picture and brought it to her. 'Her name was Gabrielle,' I said, showing the picture to Gisselle. She glanced at it quickly and then turned away.
'I don't want to look at some Cajun woman you say is our mother.'
'She is. And what's more . . . she had another child . . . we have a half brother . . . Paul.'
'You're crazy. You ARE crazy. You do belong in the institution. I want Daddy. I want Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!' she screamed.
Mrs. Warren came running from her room.
'What's going on now?' she demanded.
'I want my father. Get my father.'
'I'm not a maid around here.
'GET HIM!' Gisselle cried. Her face turned as red as a beet as she struggled to shout with all her might. Mrs. Warren looked at me.
'I'll get him,' I said, and left Gisselle with her nurse cajoling her to calm down.
Daddy and Daphne were down in the parlor. Daphne was sitting on the sofa, looking surprisingly subdued. Daddy stood in front of her, his hands on his hips, looking much stronger. I gazed from him to Daphne, who shifted her eyes from me guiltily.
'I told Gisselle the truth,' I said.
'Are you satisfied now?' Daphne fired at Daddy. 'I warned you she would eventually destroy the tender fabric that held this family together. I warned you.'
'I wanted her to tell Gisselle,' he said.
'What?'
'It's time we all faced the truth, no matter how painful, Daphne. Ruby is right. We can't go on living in a world of lies. What you did to her was bad. But what I did to her was even worse. I should never have made her lie, too.'
'That's easy for you to say, Pierre,' Daphne retorted, her lips trembling and her eyes unexpectedly tearing. 'In this society, you will be forgiven for your indiscretion. It's almost expected for you to have an affair, but what about me? How am I to face society now?' she moaned. She was crying. I never thought I'd see tears emerge from those stone cold eyes, but she was feeling so sorry for herself, she couldn't prevent it.
In a way, despite all she had done to me, I felt sorry for her, too. Her world, a world built on falsehoods, on deceits, and propped up with blocks and blocks of fabrications was crumbling right before her eyes and she couldn't stop it.
'We all have a lot of mending to do, Daphne. I, especially, have to find the strength to repair the damage I've done to people I love.'
'Yes, you do,' she wailed.
He nodded. 'But so do you. You know, you're not totally innocent in all this?'
She looked up at him sharply.
'We have to find ways to forgive each other if we're to go on,' he said.
He pulled back his shoulders.
'I'd better go up to Gisselle,' he said. 'And then afterward, I'd better go see my brother. I'll go to him as many times as I have to until I've gotten him to forgive me and to start his real recovery.'
Daphne looked away. Daddy smiled at me and then left to go up to my sister to confirm and confess the truth.
For a long moment I just stood there looking at my stepmother. Finally, she turned toward me slowly, her eyes no longer clouded with tears, her lips no longer trembling.
'You haven't destroyed me,' she said firmly. 'Don't think you have.'
