CHAPTER 13
I drove us back, as Siân was having difficulty seeing through the tears.

“Did you know, Lainey? Did you know what they planned?”

CHAPTER 11
Sarah was falling apart, slowly but inexorably. I had watched her as she exploded into life at university, then pushed her to make her life real. Her style would never be mine, but she had become the archetype of a hard-rocking biker girl. Not the cliché I had once heard described as a 'back warmer' by a certain type of male motorcycling sexist, but a rider in her own right. She had grown into exactly the right type of woman for that, long and lean, and the short skirts she liked worked well combined with her rather stunning legs.

CHAPTER 9
Christmas was a good one, but quiet, and I was a little disappointed because I was still trying to live with Mam's request not to rub her nose in things. I was with my family, I was loved, and especially so by my father, but there was still a Siá¢n-shaped hole in things.

CHAPTER 7
It turned into a good solid evening, enough beer passing my lips to relax my tensions but not so much that all carefulness went back to the bar with the empty glasses. Vicky was far more entertaining than I had expected her to be after the revelations in the toilets, but Siá¢n still seemed to be on guard, paying careful attention to everything Kev came out with. The man himself seemed to think that he was the centre of the world, as why else would three women be so rapt?

CHAPTER 5
That was the start of a new life indeed. Each time I had visited her at university, she had been clearer and sharper in the focus of her femininity, truer to herself. Up until the funeral, it had all had to be folded away and kept in storage whenever she came home. Now, the bird was free, and I had to keep a careful watch on where and how high it flew. I had Kevin to watch, for starters. Then again, her tastes seemed to be heading more in the direction of the shortest skirts she could get away with. The genie was well and truly out of the bottle, and that container was in the local recycling bin and headed for a crusher

CHAPTER 4
A little later I left the three of them to find what accommodation they could, and it struck me just then how natural my sister was. I had almost threatened her into doing what we had just started, for I knew it would not soon be finished, but she sat there, skirt and heels and stuffed bra, and every move, every little nuance, was woman. If I could see that, then so must our parents.

CHAPTER 3
It became a routine for a while, the run up to Aber. I would finish work after the right combination of shifts and jump onto bike or into car, heels and other trapping gear packed ready in advance. Two and a half girls would greet me with hugs and squealing, and after I had replenished my depleted stocks of tannin we would be off and out.

CHAPTER 2
Beginnings…

I had watched my brother so carefully all those years ago, but now I could hardly remember him. Sarah was so clearly Right Here and Now that I sometimes found false memories arriving, where she had been a young girl rather than a non-boy. That first day, in a dress; I mean, I knew she was going down the girl route, but there she was, filling my eyes in stereoscopic womanhood.

CHAPTER 51
We stayed the night, as planned, but Mam took her toy boy along with Ian and Von back to our place. Much as he would normally have loved to talk army games with Fossy and Stewart, he was just too drained. He had pulled himself together for Hays, it seemed, and that was all he had left.

CHAPTER 49
We flew back two days later, work calling for most of us, and Ian due his ‘moderation meeting’ with Ellen and her shark. It had been a heated discussion, Von setting her stall out in front of her son and, to my delight, his new friend. This was Von as I had seen her that day at the Quay, full of fight and passion, but this time for good reason.

CHAPTER 47
He held up so well I started to believe we were turning the corner rather than hitting the end of the road. Whitsun was good to us, and we had an extended family break at Mam’s, Von now being almost as much a part of the family as the rest of us, and of course Rachel was along, more relaxed now than I had ever seen her.

CHAPTER 45
We were in red. That was Larinda’s choice, not gowns but sharp suits, red, with little pill-box hats with a wisp of a veil just for the convention, and it was Simon’s idea that solved our problems.

CHAPTER 43
Terry was standing just inside the door.

“It’s odd, Jill. He’s always been easier with women. Less threat, I suppose”

I kissed his cheek. More evidence, if I needed any, of my acceptance.

“Thought I’d leave them to themselves for a while, like”