His father’s gaze snapped onto his, and there was anger on his face, confusion beneath the anger, fear beneath the confusion. His mother gasped, clapped a hand to her mouth.

“She knows you forbid me to talk to her, and she suggested we elope. She said she wants to take me away from the House”—he paused—“and away from you.”

“She… she can’t!” his father exclaimed.

His mother began quietly sobbing.

“She thinks she can,” Stormy said, but he was suddenly uncertain as to whether his parents were upset because they didn’t want to lose him—or didn’t want to lose her.

He took a deep breath. “Is she more important to you than me?”

“No!” his mother said, shocked.

“Of course not, son.”

“Then what if I told you that you had to choose? What if I said it’s either her or me?”

His father’s face clouded over. “She’s trying to break up the family.”

“Who would you choose?”

“It’s not that little slut who’s causing all the problems,” his mother announced.

Stormy turned to her. “Who is it, then?”

“It’s the bone monster,” she said, eyes widening.

His father stared at him silently, looking lost.

“Would you choose me, Dad?”

A tear rolled down his father’s right cheek. “I would if I could.”

Stormy smiled at them sadly. “I love you,” he said. “I love you both.”

For a moment, his mother’s gaze was lucid, his father’s expression softened. “We love you, too,” his mother told him, putting her arms around him. His father nodded.

A chime rang out, a deeply resonant almost churchy sound. The doorbell.

“Billingham!” his father bellowed.

His mother pulled away from him.

Another chime.

“Billingham!”

Stormy sighed. “I’ll get it,” he said.

He walked out of the den and down the hall to the foyer. The doorbell rang again, and he sped up, unlocking and opening the door.

A girl was standing on the porch in front of him.

Donielle.

He caught his breath at the sight of her. He was an adult now and she was a child, but the feelings she evoked within him were the same as those engendered all those years ago. His heart was racing, and there was a pleasant tingling in his groin. Despite everything he knew, despite everything that had happened, the attraction was still there, and his first impulse was to reach out and grab her hands and hold them in his. He wanted to touch her, but he held back, remained holding on to the door. “Yes?” he said coldly.

“Oh, Stormy!” She rushed forward, threw her arms around him, and against his will his body responded. Beneath his jeans, his growing penis pressed against her midsection, and she held him tighter, rubbing herself against it.

Stormy grabbed her arms, pulled her away from him.