Sisters, sisters, there were never such devoted sisters

Eve sat down quickly. She put her bag on the floor at her feet and put her hands on her lap. A tray of Earl Grey tea appeared and she smiled. The waitress nodded at her in conspiratorial silence.

“Thank you. Fancy you remembering. It must be, what, five years now?”

“It’s my business to remember customers and you always had the same thing so it was easy. It’s nice to see you again.”

“Yes. It’s nice to be back.”

Nice. Truth was Eve wasn’t sure how she felt. The five years since she was last here had seen such changes in her life she hardly knew who that other person was.

She poured the tea.

“Excuse me, is your clock right?” Eve had checked her watch all morning and the cafe clock showed three minutes past 11 to her in 11 o’clock.

“Hello Eve. I recognised your voice.” The tall dark haired woman strode across the cafe floor to where Eve was sitting.

“Espresso please, and are those croissants I see in the window?” The stranger sat down.

“Well, how are we going to do this?” She tipped her head to one side and the long thick Raven hair flowed down over her bare shoulder.

“I don’t know,” Eve said. “I’ve never been in this situation before Lillian.”

Her sister smiled. “It is pretty unique. Tell me, is this what you want?”

“What I really really want?” Eve teased.

“If you like.”

“What I really really want is to settle this, once and for all. I’m not taking the blame any more Lillian. I’m not going to be the family punchbag any more.”

“That’s funny, I felt I was.”

“What do you mean,” Eve was being defensive she knew.

Lillian reached out her hand, raised a questioning eyebrow and, seeing something welcoming, took Eve’s hand. “I mean, I felt I was the punchbag when you all stopped talking to me, shut me out of the family.”

Eve stirred her tea, then cleared her throat.

“Yes, I can see how it must have been for you. When you ran, I felt like I’d lost my other half. You were always the one who stuck up for us both and you left me. For crying out loud Lillian, I was just a kid. All I had was you and you ran out on me as well as on Adam.”

“But did you have to marry him?” Lillian’s voice rose in a sneer.

“Look Lillian, that was then. I know better now. I got all the blame for both of us. Remember, I followed you in his bed, I know what you put up with because I accepted it where you ran out.

Well that’s in the past. I finally got up to speed and got rid of him, but it cost me my kids.” Eve looked down at her cup.

Lillian reached out again. ” Oh, sis.”

“It was years before I realised it was their decision, it wasn’t me going, it was being with Adam in the first place. It’s taken me some time to see it but I’m only answerable for me, not what other people decide I’m to blame for.” Eve swallowed hard. “So Lillian, if you still want it, how about we quit blaming each other as well as ourselves and see where it takes us?”

The waitress cleared up the dishes and took them to the kitchen hatch.

“We love a happy ending don’t we?”

“Very very much we do.”

Hestia turned from the hatch to smile at the Crow Girls pouring the contents of the sugar bowl into their pockets “for later”.

Now, just Asherah to see to. Hestia’s nurturing touch often brought harmony to the most troubled of households.