“Aber.”

“Abigala.”

“Oh, hell no.”

Ava steps in front of me, and Abigala blinks.  “You’re-”

“We’re not doing this here,” says Ava, shaking her head.  And then she takes my hand, and Abigala says incredulously, “Let go of him.”

“Oh, that’s not fucking happening,” says Ava with a snort.  “Go inside, go go go.”

Abigala’s mouth is open and she’s just staring at Ava, but my wife is fixing her with one of her infamous Ava glares.  After a moment she turns on her heel and goes into the house, and I hear Nua take a deep breath next to me, and then we follow.  

“Where’s my mother?” asks Ava once we’re inside.  “She’s the one we came to talk to, not you.”

“Aber,” says Abigala, looking at my hand in Ava’s, ignoring the other set of twins.  “Aber, I’ve missed you-”

She reaches out for me, but I pull my hands away, from both her and from Ava.  I’m overwhelmed, suddenly, I knew that Abigala was living here, but now that I see her, for the first time in months, god, it must be almost a year by now, but she’s standing in my mother-in-law’s living room, and I take a step away from both of them.  “Abigala, what…the hell?”

Her face falls, and she glances at Ava for a split second.  But my wife doesn’t miss it.  She sweeps her hair out of her eyes.  “Oh, I’m sorry, let me leave you two alone for a moment to talk, if you don’t want me here?”

“Ava,” I say again, and then another voice says, “That would actually be ideal, yes.”

“What is with this family and dramatic entrances?” mutters Nua under his breath as Miss Lilly steps into the room.  She smiles at her daughter, who automatically steps in front of her son.  “Mother.”

“You’re alive,” she says quietly, running her eyes up and down Ava.  The tension in the room hangs heavy in the air as she turns her gaze to the other twin.  “And so are you.  Welcome home, Penrin.”

“No thanks to you,” says Ava for him, and he takes her hand again.  Ava glances at him, then at me and Abigala, then says quietly, “Was this your big plan?”

Her mother tilts her head.  “Let me explain.”

“Okay.  Go.”

“Come with me,” says Ava’s mother gently.  “I have to show you some things.”

Chloe barks.  I take a deep breath, and Ava looks at me, and then once again reaches out for my hand.  

“Touching,” says Miss Lilly dryly.  “Ava, dear, please.  Come with me, Penrin, you too.  I must explain.”

“I want to talk to Aber,” says Abigala in a small voice.  Ava’s mother nods curtly, not looking at her.  Ava exhales hard through her nose.  “Five minutes.”

Lilly laughs slightly.  “That’s not enough time-”

“Five,” says Ava, louder, “minutes.”

Her mother runs her eyes up and down her, examining her again, then says, “Oh, Ava, you were always too stubborn for your own good.”

No one speaks for a moment, and then Lilly says, “Bayan, I was wondering where you went.”

“Don’t,” says Ava quietly.  Miss Lilly looks at her, a grin pulling on her lips, then says softly, “Five minutes.”

“Aber?” asks Ava, looking at me, and I look at her, then at Abigala.  She smiles slightly at me from the other side of the room.  I take a deep breath and nod.  

“Well, then,” says Lilly.  “Now that you’ve got his permission-”

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“Let’s not keep anyone waiting any longer,” says Ava, dropping my hand and storming from the room.  Penny is dragged along behind her, but he follows, and he glances back at us, at Bayan, before his mother slams the door behind her, leaving the rest of us in the room.

Abigala is staring at me.  Nua nudges me, and I swallow.  Abigala smiles at me again.  “Come on, let’s find another room.  The rest of you stay here.”

“Abigala,” I say quietly, and she wrinkles her nose at me, then jerks her head towards the hallway that Ava and Penny and their evil mother disappeared down.     

I glance over my shoulder at Nua, who’s sunk down to sit on the couch.  Sloan’s next to him, scratching Chloe under the chin, and she shrugs at me.  Nua shakes his head.  Bayan nods to me.  I turn back to Abigala, feeling heat rush through me as Abigala smiles at me.  I follow her.

Ava and Penny and Miss Lilly are already gone from the hallway when we go out.  Abigala goes up the stairs and down the hallways as if she’s walked them a million times before, and leads me into a very familiar room.  Once we’re inside she closes the door, then turns to me.  “Aber-”

“What are we doing in here?” I ask, and she smiles slightly.  “This is my bedroom.”

“No,” I say softly, and she blinks.  I furrow my eyebrows.  “You’ve been living here?”

“I…”

“This is Ava’s bedroom,” I say.

Abigala sighs, then moves over to the couch and sits.  I watch as she reaches for a bottle on the table.  She pours a liquid into a glass, then turns to me and holds it out.  “Come here.  Sit down.”

I do.  She gives me the glass and pours herself one, then takes a sip.  I don’t.  The room is the same, except for the fact that Abigala is sitting on the couch.  “Let me explain.”

“Explain what?  The four husbands?  Or the fact that you’re working with my wife’s mother to…to do what, exactly?”

Abigala touches my hand.  She’s familiar, she’s warm, she’s Abigala.  “Aber.”

“Abi,” I say, placing the glass down.  “Start from the beginning.  How did this happen?  How did all of this happen in, what, the past few months?”

Abigala smiles again, although it looks slightly pitying, as if I am a child.  “Aber, this has been going on for much longer than the past few months.”

The air is hard to breathe, suddenly, but it’s not from smoke, there is no smoke in here, because Ava has not smoked in months and she has not lived here for even longer and Abigala has been living here, apparently, Abigala has been living with Miss Lilly and sleeping in Ava’s bed.

“Do you know what our parents did?” she asks suddenly, standing up.  She goes around the table, then walks back and forth in front of it.  “They harbored boys, Aber.”

“Boys that ran away, boys that had to run away,” I say quietly.  “Underaged boys, who were stolen or sent away and forced into-”

“Aberworth, please,” interrupts Abigala.  “They harbored boys, boys who ran from their wives, their legal spouses-”

“Legality has nothing to do with this,” I say, anger flaring up, and Abigala shoots back, “Neither does love.”

I wince.  The words are too familiar in this room.  Abigala runs her hands through her hair, then exhales.  “Aber, there’s a reason why all of this is happening.  Why so many young boys have wives.”

“Population,” I say, “we’re all dying out, there are less and less girl babies and all males can’t have children after they’re twenty-five, that’s why twins is such a big deal.  I know, Abigala, I remember.”

“I…”  She paces a few more steps, then looks at me, her eyes wide.  “There has to be a better way.”

“Than forcing marriages?” I ask incredulously.  “I’d say so.”

“Than the way things are going now.  So many boys, deserting their wives like that, we’ve seen it first-hand.  There has to be a better way.”

“Abi, did you ever think about why they had to leave?  Or were you and Lilly just worried about getting them back?  Even if they were getting hurt?”

“Aber,” she says softly, she stops, she looks at me.  “I didn’t want you to get hurt.”

I scoff.

“I didn’t,” she insists, looking at me.  She downs the rest of her drink and slams the glass on the table.  “I begged her to make sure you were safe.”

“How could I be safe living in the same house as her?” I ask quietly. 

“I didn’t know you’d be in the same house,” says Abigala.  “I didn’t know she’d make you marry her daughter.  All she told me was that she’d keep you safe.”

“And why?” I ask, standing up as well.  “Why did she promise you that?”

Abigala blinks.  “I-”

“Why were you talking to her in the first place?” I ask quietly.  “When did you meet her?  How…when did this all happen?”

“I’d met her before,” answers Abigala.  “She had-”

“She works in the government,” I say over her.  “She works to get back boys who had to escape their wives.”

“Because they ran away, Aber,” Abigala says exasperatedly.  

“You’ve seen the boys at the shelter, Abigala,” I say softly.  “We grew up with them, they were our friends.  You know why they ran away.  How did Ava’s mother get her hands on them?  What did you do?”

“I didn’t,” says Abigala desperately, tears starting to stream down her face.  “Aber, they were married.  They had-”

“They had shit wives who didn’t care about them, and we gave them a home, a place where they could be safe, be protected for at least a little while, and you helped give all of that up.  For what, Abigala?  What did you do?”

She doesn’t answer before the door slams open, and Ava strides in, her mother on her heels.  “So she stole my bedroom, too?”

“Ava,” I say exasperatedly, and she puts her hands on her hips.  “You happy now, Aber?  Was it all worth the little trek into town?”

I grit my teeth, and she wheels back around on her mother.  Penny appears in the doorway, Bayan behind him.  “So now that we’re all all caught up, can you explain to me what exactly you’re planning to do?”

“I don’t get it,” I say, taking a step away from my sister.  “Wait, I still don’t get it.”

Ava sighs, turning back to us. “What didn’t you get from what she…”

She trails off, staring at Abigala, then licks her lips before finishing.  “What she didn’t tell you.”

“Will someone?” I say frustratedly, and Abigala says quietly, “Please.”

“Don’t talk to me,” says Ava, not looking at her.  She’s staring at me, and I’m staring back.  No one speaks for a moment, and then Ava exhales slowly.  “She traded you.  So she could take my place.”

No one protests as she stalks out of the room.  Abigala buries her face in her hands, falling onto the couch, and I look at her for a moment, and then follow Ava and her brother out.