“To understand that I have to first tell you about Aunt Ketty and Hugo. His father was the island’s only blacksmith, so their family always had steady business. Their house was larger than almost any on the island, in part to accommodate so many children. Hugo had six brothers, and they were all big, strapping boys, their mother’s pride and joy. She was a diminutive woman, standing no taller than her sons’ chests, and everyone marveled at how she’d managed to produce such massive offspring.

“As the youngest of seven, Hugo was the baby of the family, and his mother was always packing his lunch before Watcher duty, sometimes bringing it to him during his shift if he left it at home. Ketty and I would giggle about this. There was certainly no one at home packing our lunches. And Hugo, believing that everyone adored him as much as his mother, seemed to think Ketty’s giggling meant she liked him, because he started singling her out at every gathering, bringing her gifts, and generally making his intentions clear.

“At first, Ketty seemed indifferent to Hugo’s clumsy advances. But as our parents began hinting that an affiliation with Hugo’s family would be very good for everyone involved, she had begun to take him more seriously. Hugo was a perfectly decent suitor, but I had always seen my sister as a wild thing, carefree and independent, not someone who would willingly be tied down.”

Leelo couldn’t help thinking of Sage then, of what her mother had done by betrothing her to Hollis.

“As Ketty and Hugo started to spend more time together, I was often dragged along against my will as a chaperone. That was how I met Hugo’s quiet, fair-haired best friend, Kellan. He somehow seemed younger than the rest of us, and shy, but then, so was I. Ketty liked the idea of the four of us marrying together, in one grand ceremony. And I loved Ketty. The idea of marrying best friends was comforting. We would always be close. And it wasn’t so scary to think of marriage and children when my sister would be going through it with me.

“We were all married two years later, in that grand ceremony Ketty dreamed of. It wasn’t until a few years after that that Hugo started drinking too much and his cruelty emerged. By then, we were both pregnant, and even your father couldn’t calm Uncle Hugo when he’d had too much drink.”

Leelo felt a stab of pity for her aunt. Things might have been different if she’d married someone else. Different for Ketty and for Mama.

“Was there a part of you that wanted to go with Nigel when he left?” she asked.

Mama wrapped her arms tighter around Leelo, like she was trying to keep her from leaving. “Yes, of course. But I knew that I couldn’t.”