The Deal, the Dance, and the Devil by Victoria Christopher Murray

forgiven me because she’d always wanted twins. But still, sometimes, the memories of how Marilyn had tossed me out so easily hurt.
    Then—I felt it. The touch. I looked down to where I’d laid my hand on Ruby’s shoulder; her hand was atop mine. I rushed around and hunched down in front of her.
    “Ruby?”
    Her eyes were on mine—still empty. I stayed there for a moment, hoping that the love that I’d felt in that touch would come once again, through her eyes, through her voice.
    But there was nothing more.
    “Do you know how much I love you?” I asked Ruby as I stayed crouched down in front of her.
    Still nothing.
    “That’s all right,” I said, thinking that if she did hear me, I didn’t want her to feel my disappointment. “It’s gonna be all right because Adam and I and the children will always be here. Even if we have to move you to another room. But having a roommate might be fun. Someone you can talk to, someone—”
    “What are you doing!”
    My head snapped back and I jumped up.
    Adam marched toward me, his lips pressed into a thin line, his eyes squinted into thin slits.
    “I was just talking to your—”
    He pushed past me, dropping the already dripping sundae that he carried onto the dresser.
    Behind him, our children’s eyes were wide with surprise, maybe even a bit of fear, because I’m sure they couldn’t remember the last time their father had raised his voice.
    “Ma,” Adam began, “don’t listen to Evia. You’re not going anywhere.”
    Alexa said, “Grandma’s leaving—”
    “No!” Adam exclaimed. He turned back to Ruby and stroked her hand. “It’s gonna be all right,” he kept saying, he kept stroking.
    I’d been just talking, rambling, really. I would never do anything to upset Ruby, didn’t Adam know that?
    But I stayed quiet. Mostly because of the children, who still stood with their backs pressed against the wall, silent and tentative, their eyes moving between their father and me. The ice cream they held slowly melted in the heat of the tension, dripping into tiny puddles on the carpet.
    The silence stayed for just a while longer before Adam announced that we were leaving. We gave our kisses and said our good-byes to Ruby, and headed back to our car. Back to the city. Back to our home.
    Leaving all of that peace behind.

Chapter 13
    I N THE TEN YEARS THAT WE ’ D been the five Langstons, there had never been a time when we’d driven together for more than thirty seconds in complete silence.
    Until today.
    There was no music piping through the speakers, no mindless chatter from our daughters. There was not even the constant electronic beep-beep-beep from Ethan’s games.
    Just strained silence.
    Except for one question that came from our most sensitive child. “Is everything all right?” Alana asked after we’d driven the first forty-five minutes with only the rolling hum of the spinning tires filling the car.
    I didn’t answer right away, waiting for Adam to reassure our children, since he was the one who’d brought all this tension. But when their father said nothing, I turned around with a fake smile and reassured them myself. “Everything’s fine.”
    The twins and Ethan lowered their eyes, as if they couldn’t look at a mother who would lie so easily.
    The minute we pulled up to our home, the girls and Ethan bolted from the car, into the house and upstairs to the protection of their bedrooms.
    I, though, wasn’t about to run from anything.
    Before Adam could get away, I said, “Are you going to tell me what’s bothering you?”
    He didn’t even look at me when he jumped out and slammed the door so hard that the windows rattled.
    Now my calm was gone, too. “That’s a real grown-up way to handle this,” I stomped behind him. “So, you’re just gonna walk away?”
    Adam whipped around so fast that he startled me. “Okay, you want to talk about it?” His eyes were like red-hot flames against the frosted air. “You had no right to say that to