Maggie turned in the direction of the cold voice and saw Janie and her husband Rick, and their parents, Cece and Tom Wright.

“Janie, Rick, Mother, Daddy. Hello,” Maggie said tightly. The look on her mother’s face told her it wasn’t going to be a pleasant conversation.

“Hey, honey.” Her father bent down to kiss her cheek. “Sorry,” he whispered into her ear. She braced herself for what was coming next.

“I had no idea you’d actually have a date for this but as you’re here I’ll go ahead. Since you’ve decided to be so mean and jealous of your sister, you’re no longer invited to Thanksgiving dinner. Perhaps if you spend the day thinking about how you can be a better sister, you can come to Christmas dinner.” Her mother’s voice was so cold it hit Maggie like a slap and she winced.

Rick looked distinctly uncomfortable as did Tom but neither man said anything.

Maggie just sat there for a moment as she pushed the pain away and gathered her strength and self respect. Inhaling deeply she looked her mother straight on. “If that’s how you feel, Mother. Have a nice evening.”

“Wait just a darned minute, Cece Wright!” Polly stood up and came over to Maggie, putting a hand on her shoulder. Kyle held her hand on the other side.

“Yes, Polly? I suppose you’re going to butt in?”

“You can keep your snotty comments to yourself. Maggie’s coming to dinner with our family on Thanksgiving, where she’s loved and appreciated. Christmas, too. If you refuse to see what an exceptional daughter you have, well, you know, I’ve always wanted a daughter, what with four boys and all. You should be ashamed of yourself.”

Maggie could feel the Chases build a protective wall around her. Shane stood on the other side of Polly, Matt on the other side of Kyle. Edward and Marc were on the other side of the table but had stood as well.

“Margaret should recognize her betters. She needs to accept that her sister is prettier and more successful than she is and stop being so bitter about it,” Cecelia snapped.

Maggie had had enough. She stood up. “Mother, you don’t know anything about it. I am not bitter that Jane Marie is pretty! I don’t know why you keep saying that, it simply isn’t true. But pretty isn’t everything! You treated me, my whole life like nothing else mattered but pretty. Well what about when pretty goes away? What about when pretty only is on the surface? What about when she’s like you? Pretty on the outside but cold and heartless on the inside?

“I told myself that if I could just do well in school that you’d appreciate me. That if I behaved and never got in trouble you’d love me, but it never happened. When I was nine and you told me that you wished you’d never had me because I left you with a C-section scar, I tried to tell myself that you didn’t mean it that way but you did. And I understand that now. I accept you for the monster you are, Mother.”

Kyle looked at his family and they all bore the horrified look he had. This woman told her child she wished she’d never had her, because of a scar? She’d just told her child in front of others that she wasn’t as good as her sister because she wasn’t as pretty?

“How dare you talk to Mom like that!” Jane Marie spat out. “You’re jealous of us both. Jealous of what we have!”

“This is so ridiculous I wish I could laugh. Janie, I’m not jealous of you. I am happy you are lovely and have a nice husband and a good life. I won’t, however, let you or anyone else make me feel inferior anymore. I’m done with being the family scapegoat. You all enjoy your night and Thanksgiving dinner.”

Janie grabbed Maggie’s arm then and towered over her. “You think you can hold a man like Kyle Chase just by opening your legs for him? I was a virgin on my wedding night. Too bad you can’t say the same thing.” The ugly words came out in a hiss.

Maggie looked at her sister, shock clear on her face. And then she narrowed her eyes. Kyle knew what was coming so he sat back and waited.

“How dare you say that to me, Jane Marie? You of all people. You sure you want to go down that road? Rick isn’t the only one of us who knows that’s a lie,” she said in a voice so quiet and low that it made the hair on Kyle’s arms stand up.

“How dare you say that! I was a virgin. You are just, again, jealous that you can’t get a man to marry you or even to date you without putting out.”

Maggie sighed. “Okay then, why don’t we give old Charles a call, shall we? You remember him right? My old grad school advisor who was also my boyfriend? You know, the man who rucked your precious pleated Anne Klein skirt up around your waist and f**ked you on my couch while you thought I was out on a walk? Don’t sell your bullshit about being a virgin to me, Jane Marie. I saw your legs wide open, to my boyfriend, so I know the truth.”

Jane Marie paled. “You…you, saw? You knew and never said anything?”

“What could I have said, Janie? How could I have conveyed how betrayed I felt? I mean, my whole life people told me how much prettier you were, I convinced myself that you were. That I couldn’t hold a man if you were after him too. I know a lot better these days. I’m a different person now.”

“What is she talking about?” Rick asked.

“Now all of you go on and have a nice evening. I’ve said all I needed to say and I feel ever so much better. Just think, now you can have the family you always wanted, Cecelia. Since you already pretend I don’t exist, it shouldn’t be hard.”