The first photo showed a small child with a profusion of dark curls holding a sheep by a blue ribbon-festooned halter. The second featured the same child, younger, held in the arms of a woman who was clearly Morgan’s mother. The family resemblance was almost uncanny. A taller man with Morgan’s broad shoulders stood behind them with his arms around his wife’s waist. Happy families are all alike, she thought, a line from a college English class floating into her head. The other two photos were of an older Morgan. Lillian and Morgan smiled out of one, dressed in graduation robes with the Cornell sign behind them, and the last could have been taken yesterday. Stevie, Lillian, Angie, and Morgan stood in front of 16 Bay Road surrounded by their dogs. James hissed in Angie’s arms.

She wondered again what it would be like to have friends like that. She set it back down on the dresser. Kraken sighed deeply and stretched out further on the bed.

Morgan’s bedside table caught her eye.

A lamp with a sheep-patterned shade adorned the top. She checked to make sure the shower was still running, then opened the top drawer, curiosity overriding guilt. A pair of reading glasses. A dog-eared reference book. Notepad. And at the bottom a small velvet box and another photo frame. This one was turned face down. She eased it out, careful not to disturb the drawer’s contents, and held it up to the light.

Morgan stood with one of the most beautiful women Emilia had ever seen. Her smile lit the frame, and her face radiated warmth and kindness. Morgan gazed at her with total adoration.

She put the photo down as if it had scalded her. You shouldn’t have snooped, she told herself, but that look on Morgan’s face cut through her. Nausea boiled in her gut. Morgan was hers. She opened the velvet box with shaking hands. Two rings nestled in their grooves. One had a small diamond set with sapphires, and the other was comparatively plain, just a simple golden band with a tiny stone set in the center. Both looked like they’d been worn.

The sound of running water stopped. She shut the box and the drawer hastily, but couldn’t resist opening the bottom drawer, wondering what other shattering things she might find.

Three dildos stared up at her. Jealousy still reigned supreme among her emotions, but her body reacted to this new find regardless, with a deep pulse of desire. All were a deep blue. She stroked the middle one, passing over the smallest, and then turned to the third and largest. Ridged silicone met her fingers and she felt herself give at the thought of it entering her.