Chapters 12-14 Summary

Paula manages to make it back home before a swarm of news reporters surround her house, wanting to talk to the family of Charlo Spencer. Paula is only dimly aware of what is going on around her, and she finds her sisters, Carmel and Denise, picking her up off of her kitchen floor. Paula is aware that the house is filled with the children of the three sisters, but her primary thought is how to tell Nicola, who is at work. By the time Nicola arrives, she has already had to push away a crowd of reporters, so she knows that something has happened. When Paula tells her that her father is dead, Nicola shrugs, exhibiting the same indifference that Paula thinks is her most self-preserving feature.

Paula and her sisters argue about their memories of their past. Carmel, the oldest...