Her Aunt sounded as if Diane had recently been cured of critical illness as if she suffered from impossibly frail health - if not physically, then emotionally, which was a greater insult. She gritted her teeth and prayed for calmness before she replied.

"I'm fine, I suppose you want to talk about your birthday. I'll be glad to send you the flowers you needed but of course, make sure to pay it on time." No need delaying the unavoidable. She preferred to deal with the unpleasantness now and be done with it.

"Well, yes …" Rose Go said, her disappointment rasping through the telephone lines. "I would really like it if we could have a family reunion this year. With your mom and your Aunt Cecille and Uncle Horace, it'd be awkward with you and your cousin …"

Diane's jaw stiffened. "We can have a real reunion then."

"Oh, Diane does that mean you're willing to put aside the past and reunite with Janice and …"

"We can have a family reunion," she replied without feelings. "We'll do exactly as we have for the last previous years. Janice and her husband can spend your birthday with you since she is your daughter and Mama and I will visit you and Aunt Cecille after your birthday."

Her aunt's frustration was noticeable. "I see."

"We don't have to visit you on your birthday," Diane returned, unwilling to be influenced by her Auntie or anyone else, aside from her mother. Really, it was pathetic. She had visited her aunt and uncle annually. As if she needed to do this when her aunt wished. Disregarding the fall-out with her elder cousin, Diane made an effort to keep the closeness of her mother and her sisters by bringing her mother to her aunt's home at least twice a year, as long as Janice, her cousin, was not there.

"Not come on my birthday?" her aunt echoed. "So sad… It's just that, well your Uncle and your mother and I are already fairly old, and we don't know when the creator will take us home. It will make us happy if you and your cousin would…"

"Auntie, stop it." This was not a topic Diane wished to discuss, not when she'd already been through it a hundred times. Playing the old, sick, and weak alibi to make her feel miserable and obey them. "We both know what Janice did, and …"

"You don't know everything."

"Listen," Diane returned, annoyed that her aunt a.s.serted on pursuing the hateful topic. "I've already warned you and I meant it. If you're going to call me to talk about your daughter Janice, then I'll hang up. I've got a flower shop to run."

"But it's been years."

"Four years and two months," Diane corrected.

It wouldn't take much brain work for her to figure it right down to the number of days. It would take a lifetime before she would forget what her own first cousin, whom she loved like a sister, had done. She didn't expect to forget, or not to forgive her cousin but the pain was still fresh like it newly happened in her mind.

Yes, true, Janice had attempted to repair the damage, but it was too late. Five times her cousin sought her forgiveness and the same number of times she rejected her apology. What Janice had done was completely painful and terrible. What they shared in the past was gone forever.

Even when they were in primary school, the two cousins had been competing. Janice was a year older and a half, so she had the advantage when it came to their heights and sports. But Diane took it as a challenge. The result, she made the volleyball varsity team in junior high and became president of the math club.

Their rivalry continued in their college years. Diane liked to think that their compet.i.tion brought out the best in them and enjoyed it. Until Diane started dating Dennis Espinosa.