“She’s gorgeous.”
Gabrielle turned to face Becca with a puzzled look.
“Meredith?”
“You two make a striking couple.”
Gabrielle broke contact with her teammate and smiled to herself before whispering,
“You think?”
“Of course. She clearly cares for you. I saw that today.”
“I care for a lot of people who I don’t love. It was probably her Christian duty or something.”
Gabrielle scoffed.
“Hey, don’t be like that.”
Gabrielle settled back in her seat pressing her back against the cold leather as the bus took off and allowed the silence to apologize for her derisive outburst. Her gaze found outside of the window again. This time, she wasn’t looking for Meredith, but rather a sensible reason as to why she would bother to show up if she held so much apathy towards her.
***
“Meredith, we need to talk!”
Roelle yelled just as the elevator doors closed on her. She rolled her eyes at her younger sister’s infantile tactics to avoid any conversation with her. First, she ditched her at the mall, took the Gothernberg tram instead and now this; speed walking through the hotel just to prevent the close proximity. Roelle sighed and made way for the stairs. She ran up six flights before getting winded and began to think things over. There was no way in hell she was running up thirty-two flights of stairs. She had already been chasing her sister halfway around town. With a sweep of the forehead and the yell of an expletive, Roelle walked her way to the sixth floor’s elevator and took a breather as the machine rode upwards. When the doors parted, she slowly walked towards Meredith’s room, gathering her thoughts. Not in a million years would she ever thought she would have to discuss such a matter with her baby sister, but the time had come and Roelle just prayed that God would give her the right words to say. With the click of the locks being pulled back, Meredith opened her door and glanced at her sister. The perspiration on the sides of her cheek and in the crevices of her breast told Meredith that she must’ve taken a great deal of effort to find her.
“Sorry you took the stairs.”
“Oh I didn’t,”
Roelle breathed in heavily as she walked past Meredith inside the hotel room and took a seat on her bed.
“only six….six too many but—that’s neither here or there.”
Roelle paused.
“Mer, I want to talk to you about Gabrielle…you and Gabrielle in particular.”
Roelle rubbed her thumbs across her palms.
“Just what exactly is going on?”
Meredith stood in the center of her room and focused her sight on the ornamental plaster ceiling. Strong, hot of tears threatened to pour out of her eyes at any moment, so her eyes rolled upwards as far as they could in hopes that the tears would stay put. Meredith never answered and a long silence began to grow with each second passing. Roelle sat patiently with her hands resting in her lap and a encouraging smile on her lips. Meredith adjusted her hat, stuck her hands in her jean pockets, and popped back and forth on her heels before finally making contact with her older sister. Her eyes were glazed and of a dark hue. Warm tears spilled and rolled down her cheeks, Meredith angrily swiping them away before they could reach her chin.
“If you already know then why do I have to say it?”
“Because!”
Roelle stood up.
“You have bottled this secret inside of you your entire life and look what it has done! You have so much anger in you.”
Meredith’s shoulders shook as she cupped her face to hide herself from crying. Roelle immediately hugged her sister and walked with her back to her bed. They sat down together and Meredith buried her head into her sister’s lap, stating her jeans with wet tears. Roelle kissed the top of her sister’s head and rubbed circles into her back as she listened to her constant sniffling and soft moans. They stayed like that for a while before getting into a comfortable position of laying horizontally with Meredith resting on Roelle’s chest. Roelle played with Meredith’s hair and waited for her sharp sniffs to stop.
“You know our Lord and Savior makes no mistakes.”
Meredith wiped her damp eyes and looked up at her sister.
“Then what am I?”
“You aren’t a mistake.”
CHAPTER TWENTY SIX
Georgia slept like she did everything else, neatly and precise. She was on her side. Her hands were clasped in a prayer position, tucked underneath her pillow. Keliah refrained from touching her smooth skin. She loved the way it lacked all her scorn that typified her demeanor and contorted her features into a mask of derision and anger. Keliah wondered if she knew how beautiful she was when the world wasn’t weighed on her shoulders and she wasn’t fighting every emotion that consumed her. With closed eyes, Keliah rested her head on Georgia’s chest, listening to her rhythmic heartbeat. She knew just how beautiful she was, but she wasn’t sure Georgia did.
***
The sun was harsh to Georgia’s soft blue eyes. She shunned her face away and buried herself back into
