Archive of Our Own ^beta

Hannah wasn’t the strangest person Zoë’s sister had ever dated, all things considered. That honor would go to the man who tried to steal Grace’s underwear, with Travis in close second; Hannah maybe came in third. She was a little quirky, sure, but the primary reason was because the circumstances under which they had gotten to know each other were unusual, what with Zoë accusing her of murder and everything.

In Zoë’s defense — not that she needed one — Hannah looked really, really guilty at the time, and she didn’t try very hard to seem like she wasn’t. Well, she did say she didn’t do it, and she said it more than once, but that’s exactly what the killer would say. And you couldn’t blame Zoë; she was just trying to protect Grace, who looked just as guilty as Hannah, if not more. Zoë had to put her family first. And if she was honest, Hannah was more than a little quirky, and false murder accusations aside, Zoë wasn’t sure they would have been best friends.

But Hannah was family now, being Grace’s former sister-in-law and her current girlfriend, and they both had tried to protect Grace during the murder investigation in their own way. Which is why when Aniq suggested they host a combination “Sorry I Accused You of Murder/Sorry I Almost Got Your Girlfriend Arrested” lunch, Zoë begrudgingly agreed.

“It’ll be good,” Aniq said. He’d been running around all day tidying their apartment and making sure they had enough gouda and brie for a cheese platter, which he always insisted on when they had people over. His anxiety was unnecessary, but sweet.

“You love Grace, Grace loves Hannah, Hannah loves Grace, she’ll love you,” Aniq said. He paused, his face growing pensive as he tried to reverse the calculation. “And vice versa, but with you loving Hannah because Grace loves you. Simple math.”

“And where do you fit into all of this?” Zoë asked, amused.

They stood in front of the mirror in their bedroom getting dressed. Aniq tied and untied his tie a few times before ultimately deciding to go without it, and Zoë put on earrings that Grace had given her for her birthday a few years before. Maggie was with Brett for the day; Zoë had deemed her presence at a murder-related lunch, however tangentially related to said murder, inappropriate. She smoothed down the wrinkles on Aniq’s shirt, not because he needed it but because she wanted to. Her engagement ring stood out against the dark blue fabric.

“I guess you could add me onto the end, because you love me…so they’ll both love me? You know, I’m not sure. But it’ll be good.” He kissed her. “Promise.”

Zoë leaned her forehead on shoulder and sighed. “If this is a disaster, you owe me.”

Aniq gave her a pinky promise. “Deal.”

Grace and Hannah arrived a few minutes later. Dating Edgar had at least made Grace more punctual. Aniq opened the door, and Zoë heard them exchange greetings with him from where she stood arranging plates in the kitchen. When Hannah and Grace entered the room, Grace made a beeline for Zoë, giving her a quick hug.

“Hey, Zo,” Grace said, pulling away. She gave Zoë a quick once-over. “You look nice. Cool earrings.”

Zoë smiled. “Thanks, so do you.” She glanced at Hannah, who stood in the doorway, looking around. Grace walked back to Hannah's side and took her hand, then raised her eyebrow pointedly at her sister.

Zoë cleared her throat. “Hi, Hannah.”

“Hi,” Hannah said, raising her free hand in a small wave. She was dressed head to toe in orange except for a white sweater that looked like it belonged to Grace. “You have a beautiful home. I especially liked the paintings in the hallway. Very avant-garde.”

Zoë paused, trying to see if Hannah was just buttering her up, but it seemed like she meant it. And even if she didn’t, she was trying. “Thank you.”

“I brought you a small engagement gift,” Hannah said. “Aniq has it.”

“Yes,” Aniq said, appearing behind Hannah and Grace. He tried to squeeze around them, but they moved to accommodate him, and after some awkward sidestepping he ended up walking between them, forcing their hands apart. “Excuse me, sorry. Um, Hannah was kind enough to give us a bottle of wine and some flowers from her garden. I put them on the table by the door. Here’s the wine, if you want to put it in the fridge.”

“Grace told me you like lilies, so I made a bouquet.” Hannah looked at Grace when she said her name, her face softening into a gooey expression. Grace smiled at Hannah and took her hand again, entwining their fingers. It was cute; Zoë allowed herself to be charmed by them for a moment.

“And don’t try to act like you don’t,” Grace said to Zoë, smirking, “because you made a big deal about it when Brett bought you daisies instead for your anniversary.”

Their charm instantly evaporated.

Grace’s eyes lit up. “Ooh, is that gouda? Here, Hannah,” she said, tugging Hannah toward the cheese platter. “Try some.”

Aniq put his arm around Zoë, looking pleased. “I told you it was worth splurging on that cheese from Trader Joe’s.”

“I wouldn’t call it splurging,” Zoë said.

“Hey, an extra ten cents is an extra ten cents. And if I remember correctly, weren’t you the one who argued with the cashier over our receipt?”

“She charged us for someone else’s order! Not the same thing.”

“Zoë’s still yelling at cashiers, huh?” Grace said, eating another piece of cheese. Almost half the platter was gone. And Zoë thought Hannah was the one she had to worry about.

“I don’t yell at cashiers,” Zoë said, rolling her eyes. “If anything, I lightly argue. And it’s happened two, three times, tops.”

Over Grace’s shoulder, Hannah said, “Isabel yells at service people too, if it makes you feel better. I don’t think she’s ever been to Trader Joe’s, though.”

“It doesn’t, but thank you, Hannah.”

Hannah gave her a thumbs up. While the cheese platter disappeared, Zoë dug around in the drawers for a corkscrew, curious as to what wine was in the Minnows cellar. God knows it was probably hundreds of years old and costs thousands of dollars, minimum.

“Hannah, I have to ask,” Aniq said. Zoë could see him in her periphery scratching his chin. “Um, those flowers aren’t poisonous or anything, right?”

“I wouldn’t ingest them, if that’s what you’re asking,” Hannah said. “And maybe don’t bring them around any pets. But Grace assured me you don’t have any.”

“Gotcha. Just gonna hold off on that puppy adoption, then.”

“You’re getting a puppy?” Grace asked, raising her eyebrows. “I didn’t know that.”

“He’s joking.” Zoë pulled out the corkscrew and put it over the wine bottle, pulling out the cork with a small pop. “Hannah, do you know what wine this is?”

Hannah titled her head. “No idea,” she said. Grace moved Hannah's hair off her shoulder and behind her ear. “Isabel recommended it, so it’s probably great quality, but not the best wine we have. She doesn’t like sharing.”

"Figures."

Isabel's stinginess aside, the wine was amazing. It was almost enough to forgive Isabel for all she put them through during the murder investigation. If anyone needed to host a "Sorry I Accused You of Murder" lunch, it was her.

Still, Zoë and Aniq's lunch was at least semi-successful. Hannah wasn't a bad conversationalist; she listened carefully whenever anyone spoke, and she always had something to say, even if it was about taxidermy mice or the finer points of French regional dialects. And Grace looked happy. That was more important than anything. If she and Zoë bickered, it was lighthearted, nothing like the bitter arguments they had when she was dating Edgar. And Aniq's presence was comforting; he was always there with a hand on Zoë's back or her shoulder, and if she was about to run out of water or wine, he anticipated it and had a refill ready.

Toward the end of lunch when they were all seated and finishing up the chicken parmesan Zoë had made, Aniq made a sound like he was trying to clear his throat, but he overdid it and ended up descending into a mild coughing fit. Zoë patted his back while Grace got him a glass of water.

“Sorry,” he said when he’d recovered. “Ahem. Was just trying to get everyone’s attention.”

“You did,” Hannah said, not unkindly.

“Well, in light of the…theme, I guess, of our lunch, Zoë and I just wanted to issue a formal apology to you, Hannah for, uh, accusing you of murder and almost getting you arrested.”

He nudged Zoë slightly under the table. She raised her glass to Hannah and Grace. “Yeah, I'm sorry about that.”

Hannah blinked at her. “Oh, you don’t need to apologize.”

“I accept your apology on her behalf,” Grace said, sipping her wine.

"You were just trying to protect Grace. And you didn't have all the information. I understand."

"That doesn't mean it's okay to jump to conclusions," Grace said. Her tone wasn't angry, but even. After a moment she sighed; it was Hannah who took her hand now. "But you did solve it together, so thank you. One of us would be in prison if you didn't. And I do appreciate you, Zoë. I could've done better, too."

"I know, and I appreciate you," Zoë said, trying not to tear up. This wine was making her soft. She nodded at Hannah, who smiled back at her.

"I think we all did the best we could," said Aniq. He pushed back his chair. "Anyone want cake?"

"What flavor?" Hannah asked. "I've been in a vanilla mood lately."

"Then you're in luck. I'll be right back. Or, actually," Aniq said, glancing at Zoë, "want to help me? The knife is pretty heavy."

"Okay."

Hannah followed Aniq out of the kitchen, leaving Zoë alone with Grace. They looked at each other across the table. Grace's mouth twisted and she looked down, then sighed before looking back up at Zoë.

"Look, Zo, a lot of weird stuff happened. Hopefully it will never happen again. But I love you, always."

"I love you, too, Grace." The tears returned; Zoë couldn't blame it on the wine this time. She dabbed at her eyes with a napkin. "And—while questionable decisions were made by all parties involved—I'd never want to hurt you. Or Hannah. She's, um—what did Isabel call her, an odd bird?"

Grace laughed a little. "Yes. Her version of a compliment."

"Well, either way, it's really nice, seeing you like this."

"Same," Grace said. She leaned back in her seat, observing Zoë. "I feel like your wedding with Aniq is probably going to be the best wedding a Zhu bride has been in for the past decade."

Zoë snorted. "Is that your version of a compliment?"

"Hey, take it or leave it," Grace said, grinning. Eventually her grin faded, turning into something small and soft. "I know this is all a little strange, but it works, right?"

"Yeah, it does," Zoë said. They smiled at each other.

Aniq and Hannah's voices grew louder as they made their way back to the table from the kitchen. It sounded like they were talking about the difference between vanilla cake with vanilla frosting, and vanilla cake with chocolate frosting; Aniq was arguing on behalf of the latter, but Hannah didn't seem to care either way as long as vanilla was involved.

"Also, that knife actually was kind of heavy," Hannah said as they walked in. "I thought you were just trying to get me out of the room."

"I know, right?" Aniq placed the cake down on the table. "I mean, I was, but thank you for your help. Everything okay in here?"

"Yeah, it's great," Zoë said. She tried to convey how much she appreciated him by using her eyes. Aniq smiled.

"Well, thanks to Hannah's genius knife-handling skills—"

"Thank you," Hannah said, sitting back down.

"—Our cake acquisition was also successful. Can I interest any of you in vanilla cake with chocolate frosting?"

"We'll take some," Grace said. She took two pieces of cake from Aniq and placed one down in front of Hannah. There was that gooey expression again; their charm lasted a little longer this time.

Zoë reached for Aniq's hand when he sat next to her. He rubbed the ring on her finger.

"Dig in," he said.

~

Murder or not, Grace was rich now. Well, for the most part she was; Edgar's bitcoin had turned out to be fraudulent, but even minus those assets, the Minnows were wealthy. Like, Rockefeller rich. One of the first things Grace decided to do with her money, after giving the King of Bing a sizable investment, was buy a house and move out of her apartment.

Grace had lived there for years, and would be the first to admit it was crappy, but she liked her independence, which Zoë understood, so she kept her own comments on said crappiness to a minimum. When Grace told her she was moving out, Zoë was overjoyed; when Grace asked for her help moving, she was less so.

"Why can't you just hire movers?" Zoë had complained. "You can definitely afford it."

"Not everything has been finalized with Edgar's estate, I still need to be careful with my spending until the SEC finishes their investigation," Grace said. She paused. "Wow. That sounded like something Isabel would say. Gross."

After some more back and forth, Zoë had agreed to help her, which is why she now found herself holding a bunch of boxes while climbing up seven flights of stairs. The elevator had chosen that morning to go out as if it knew she was coming. Zoë didn't think her day could get any worse; she was wrong.

Panting, Zoë stood in front of Grace's apartment, fumbling with her copy of the keys. When she finally opened the apartment door, victorious and sweaty, she shuffled inside, only to find Hannah and Grace necking on the couch like a couple of teenagers.

Grace was in Hannah's lap, her shirt missing; she had her hands fisted in Hannah's hair, and if Zoë didn't know better, her tongue was in Hannah's mouth.

"Oh, my god!" Zoë spun away from them as fast as she could, which still wasn't fast enough. "What are you doing?"

"Spending time with my girlfriend in what I thought was the privacy of my apartment," Grace said. When Zoë turned back around, she had climbed off of Hannah and was pulling her shirt on. "What are you doing?"

"I'm supposed to be helping you move! Or were you too busy necking with your girlfriend to remember?"

"'Necking'?" Grace scoffed. Her hair was sticking up unevenly. "What are you, eighty? Just say making out. And don't be a prude."

"What are you, sixteen?" Zoë shot back. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, exhaling through her nose. "Hi, Hannah."

"Hey, Zoë." Hannah's face was flushed and her t-shirt was untucked, and like Grace her hair was out of place. She at least had the decency to look a little embarrassed that Zoë walked in on them, but there was a faint smile on her face. God, Zoë needed to get out of here. "Sorry about that."

"Don't apologize," Grace said. "We didn't do anything wrong."

Zoë dropped the boxes she was carrying on the floor. "I'm going to go get coffee. When I come back, this—" she gestured at them wildly with her hand, "—needs to be over."

"Don't worry, I'm pretty sure you killed the mood."

"Then I need time to forget this happened," Zoë said. She turned sharply on her heels. "See you in thirty minutes to an hour."

"Well, if you're giving us an hour," Grace said. Zoë could hear the grin in her voice.

Nope. Nooope. Not today, not ever. Maybe she would reschedule to tomorrow just to be safe. Maybe she would move to another planet. She could probably persuade Isabel to buy her a ticket on one of those rich people rockets, maybe even blackmail her for it. That was a federal crime, and Isabel was formidable in her own right, but it was a risk Zoë was willing to take to make sure this never happened again.

"Knock next time!" Grace shouted after her. Zoë closed the door with more force than necessary and started googling the nearest Starbucks.

~

Zoë was hesitant to introduce Maggie to the Minnows. Well, Hannah specifically; she wasn't sure meeting Isabel would ever be on the table. Maggie had never met Edgar, thank god, though she was supposed to; she'd ended up sick with a cold that day, and though Grace tried to get Edgar to make extra time for her, he was a stickler for his schedule and refused. As if Zoë needed more reasons not to like him.

Hannah wasn't Edgar. She was actually a pretty decent person, Zoë was discovering, strangeness and all; she was honest, but not off-putting like her brother, just earnest and open with herself. But the last thing Zoë needed was Maggie getting interested in archery, or magic, or god forbid, taxidermy. Gardening wouldn't be too bad, but Zoë did not need any poisonous plants growing anywhere in her house, minus the lilies which actually were quite beautiful. And knowing Brett, he’d find a way to poison himself, or worse.

But she couldn’t put it off forever. Eventually, it happened when she least expected it.

Zoë had Maggie with her for the majority of the time; Brett really only stepped in on weekends, or on off-days during the week when Zoë needed help. They’d developed a pretty good routine together when Zoë needed to run errands out of the house; Maggie got to pick what they listened to or watched in the car as long as she didn’t run around or wander away in the store, and if she behaved the whole time, then she’d get a treat at the last stop they went to. That day, the last stop was Grace’s antique store.

With Edgar’s money, Grace had been able to move out of the co-op and buy her own storefront, but she was still in the process of moving in and hadn’t opened yet. Zoë had fallen in the habit of sitting and gossiping with Grace or listening to music as she unpacked, and if Maggie was with Brett then she would drink wine. Zoë had visited Grace the day before and left her phone charger, and she was on her way there now to pick it up. When they arrived, Zoë gave Maggie another rule to follow.

“Don’t touch anything without asking Aunt Grace first,” Zoë warned. A bell above the door rung as they entered the shop.

Maggie squirmed, clearly itching to touch everything in sight. “Where is Aunt Grace?”

Zoë wasn’t sure. At the co-op, Grace was usually knitting behind the front desk or arranging items for display, but the desk was empty, and it was difficult to see beyond the jumble of boxes and books and furniture. Zoë pulled out her phone to call Grace to make sure she was actually here, but before she could, the bell chimed to signal the door opening behind her.

“They said it was from the nineteenth century, but that doesn’t make sense,” Grace said as she walked in. Her hands were full; she was carrying an open box of small ornate clocks, and she had to hold the door open with her foot to keep it from closing. She smiled when she saw she had company. “Oh, hey! What’s up, Maggie?”

Zoë was going to ask who Grace had been talking to, but the answer became apparent when Hannah followed in after her, holding a similar box that contained animal figurines based on the giraffe that poked out of the top.

Maggie, ever the model of politeness, pointed at Hannah and loudly asked, “Who’s that?”

Grace put the box she was carrying on the floor and turned to take the other one from Hannah. “This is Hannah, my girlfriend. She’s helping me unpack.”

“Hi,” Hannah said. She considered Maggie for a moment, then said thoughtfully, “I like your headband.”

Maggie’s headband had been a whole ordeal that morning. Zoë didn’t know a better way to describe it than loud; it was bright pink, and Maggie had emptied a bottle of glitter on top and glued pipe cleaners on top in a shape that had started as koala ears but gradually morphed into alien antennae with googly eyes. Zoë wasn’t anti-headband, per say, and she liked that Maggie was creative, but every time she wore it when they went out, a piece of it inevitably fell off, and Maggie would spend ages retracing her steps to try to find it.

“Thank you,” Maggie said. She raised her eyebrows at Zoë as if to say I told you so. “Mom didn’t want me to wear it, but it’s my favorite. I made it myself.”

“Oh,” Hannah said. She looked at Zoë with a searching expression; it took Zoë a second to realize that Hannah was checking for her approval or displeasure.

“Hannah’s right, it’s gorgeous,” Zoë said, poking Maggie on her neck. Her daughter jerked away, laughing. “I change my mind.”

Grace had stacked the boxes in a corner and now stood behind the front desk, shuffling things around. “I hope you two weren’t waiting too long. Give me a sec, I know it’s around here somewhere.”

Grace could have told Zoë that Hannah was here; it clearly wasn’t spur of the moment like Zoë’s arrival was. But at the same time, Grace didn’t have kids, so it’s not like it would’ve occurred to her as something worth saying, and Zoë had never shared with Grace her apprehension about Maggie meeting Hannah. Grace had invited Zoë and Maggie to join them on outings before, but when Zoë declined, it had genuinely been because they couldn’t make it, so she didn’t need to go through the awkward motions of lying, then getting called out for lying by Grace, then trying to lie better, then arguing about it when she failed.

“I’ve heard your name before,” Maggie said to Hannah. She’d moved closer now, emboldened by Hannah’s compliment, and was looking up at her curiously.

“It’s a very common name,” Hannah said. “I’d be surprised if you didn’t.”

“No, I think I heard Mom talk about you. She said…what did she say? Mom, what did you say about her?”

“Yeah, Mom,” Grace said, looking up. “What did you say?”

Zoë resisted the urge to cover her face. To be honest, she didn’t know what Maggie was talking about, but this was the worst possible time to find out.

“I don’t know, honey,” Zoë said, ignoring her sister. “I probably just said Hannah was dating Aunt Grace, but you knew that already.”

“No,” Maggie said. “That’s not it. Let me think about it.”

Maggie wasn’t going to let this go; neither was Grace, who was eyeing Zoë suspiciously from behind the counter. Hannah didn’t seem to care; she’d moved from the entryway to where Grace had stacked the boxes and was pulling out the figurines, arranging them by animal, then color, then size on a nearby shelf. Maggie followed, still staring up at her.

“I’m going to ask you some questions to figure it out,” Maggie said.

“Okay,” Hannah said.

“You can ask me questions too, so it’s fair. But I’m going first. What’s your full name? And you have to tell me all of it, including your middle name.”

“Hannah Cornelia Minnows.”

“Okay, it’s your turn now. Ask me a question.”

Hannah pulled a rhinoceros out of the box, thinking. “If you could have any superpower, what would it be?”

“I would fly, that’s easy. Is your brother Aunt Grace’s dead husband?”

“Maggie,” Zoë said sharply. “Have some manners, please. You don’t have to answer that, Hannah.”

“It’s okay. Yes, his name was Edgar. And I’m adopted, so he was my adoptive brother, not biological. Where would you go if you could fly right now?”

Maggie rocked back on her heels, a habit she picked up from Grace. “Hmm. I’m thinking.”

“Take your time,” Hannah said. “Can you give me that koala?”

Grace tapped Zoë on the shoulder, making her jump. She had been so caught up in watching Hannah and Maggie that she had forgotten why she was there.

“Here’s your charger.” Grace glanced at them, then leaned closer to Zoë. “What did you say, really?”

“I have no idea. It could’ve been anything.”

“Anything,” Grace repeated. “What does that mean?”

“Relax,” Zoë said. “I don’t talk bad about Hannah behind her back. I mean, I don’t remember doing that. Anything I might think about her, you know already. She probably knows, too.”

Maggie seemed to have settled on an answer. She crossed her arms and said firmly, “To my friend Angela’s house. I was trying to choose between her and my friend Janet. My turn again. What does biological mean?”

They went on like that for a while, passing questions back and forth until Zoë wondered if Maggie remembered why she was asking Hannah questions to begin with. Hannah answered everything Maggie asked, telling her that she could understand German, but not speak it, and she didn’t have any pets but she had a niece who was a lizard. Hannah's own questions for Maggie became increasingly inventive, asking her if she believed in ghosts or what color she'd get rid of if she had to change the spectrum.

“This is going better than I expected,” Zoë admitted. She leaned on the counter, observing the impromptu game of twenty questions as Grace organized papers behind the desk.

“What did you expect?”

“I don’t know, I didn’t want Hannah to like, bring up one of her hobbies and get Maggie sucked into it. I would do anything for Maggie, but there are some things I just don’t want to deal with, and most of Hannah’s hobbies fall in that category.”

Grace hummed. “You should have more faith in her.”

Zoë didn’t say anything. Grace was probably right; this wasn’t the day after Grace’s wedding, where everyone was on edge and Zoë was sniffing out potential clues or lies to prove that Grace didn’t kill Edgar. This was a normal day where a little girl met her aunt’s girlfriend, and where said girlfriend’s strangeness was a bonus for Maggie, not something Zoë needed to be on alert about.

“I got it!” Maggie shouted. Hannah had just told her that she was a natural blonde. “I know what Mom said. She told Daddy that you’re a magician.”

“I—what?” Zoë gaped, looking from Maggie to Grace to Hannah and back. “When did I say that?”

Maggie sighed as if she bore the weight of the world on her shoulders. “Oh, Mom. It was when Daddy said he was throwing a party for his friend and needed someone who could do magic, and you said Grace’s girlfriend Hannah was a magician, but it didn’t matter anyway because you didn’t know why Daddy was still friends with that man.”

Maggie’s hands started to move fervently as she imitated her parents. “And then Daddy was like, ‘Jeez, Zoë, it’s none of your business who I’m friends with!’ And you were like, ‘It is my business if Maggie and I have to be around him!’ And then Daddy got huffy, and you hung up. Remember?”

“I—” Zoë did remember now. Brett had been so obnoxious. “You’re right.”

Grace laughed. “You’re such a hypocrite, Zo. Just so you know.”

“I didn’t know you remembered I practiced magic,” Hannah said, sounding flattered. To Maggie, she said, “It’s true. I became a very accomplished magician when I was a child.”

Maggie gasped. “You have to show me.”

Oh, god. Zoë needed to stop this before it snowballed and her daughter was trying to pull a rabbit out of a hat. “Hannah’s busy, sweetheart, not right now.”

“I have time,” Hannah said. She saw Zoë’s expression. “Um, maybe I don’t have time.”

“I got what I came here for, Maggie,” Zoë said. “It’s time to go.”

Maggie protested, but when it became clear that Zoë wasn’t going to relent, she started moving toward the door, dragging her feet so that she walked as slow as humanly possible. She waved as she left, looking morose. “Goodbye, Aunt Grace. Goodbye, Hannah.”

Zoë shook her head. Her daughter would be back to normal the moment Zoë strapped her in the car and she was able to watch the Little Mermaid for the thousandth time. She leaned over the counter to hug Grace. “Bye, I’ll see you later. Bye, Hannah.”

“Wait!” Maggie pulled her hand off the door handle. “I can get a treat, right? Can I have Hannah’s koala?”

“Oh, It’s not mine,” Hannah said. “It belongs to Grace.”

Grace looked amused. “Sure, Maggie. Be careful, it’s fragile.”

Maggie darted over to the shelf where Hannah had stacked the figurines. Hannah pulled it off the shelf for her and passed it down. With a little more pep in her step, Maggie walked back over to the door.

“Thank you,” Zoë said to Grace, then looked at Hannah. “And thank you for answering all of her questions. I’m sure that wasn’t easy.”

Hannah smiled. “My pleasure. I liked them, it wasn’t hard at all. And I’m available for any magic-related inquiries in the future.”

"I'll keep that in mind."

Maggie pulled on the door. “Let’s goooo, Mom!”

As Zoë started the car—in a rare stroke of luck, Maggie had elected to watch Beauty and the Beast instead—she watched through the store window as Hannah walked over to the front desk. She leaned over it, saying something inaudible to Grace, and when Grace laughed, Hannah kissed her. Their faces stayed close together when she pulled away, and when Hannah spoke, Grace laughed again.

Hannah was probably the best Minnows for Maggie to meet, dead or alive, Zoë acquiesced, excluding maybe Roxana. Maggie would have loved her.

~

Zoë walked in on them again. 

It was different this time. They weren’t necking, or making out, or whatever you wanted to call it. And it wasn't at Grace's apartment. It was at her parents' house.

Vivian and Feng were hosting dinner, and everyone in the family was invited, including Hannah and minus Brett. Aniq still wanted to impress her parents, but he fretted less than before, and Zoë had made her father promise he wouldn't make any bad driving jokes that night on the basis it would set a bad example for Maggie.

When Zoë and Aniq arrived with Maggie, Grace and Hannah were already there. They were seated on the couch with Feng between them, and Zoë heard what sounded like King of Bing TikToks playing from Feng's phone. Hannah looked a cross between intrigued and confused, and Grace mouthed "help me" at Zoë when she walked into the room.

"Hey, Dad," Zoë said. His face lit up when he saw her and he crossed the room to pull her into a hug.

"Hey, Zoë. Hey Maggie!" He squeezed Maggie tightly, and she laughed loudly before he let her go. "Hi, Aniq," Feng added, nodding at him.

"Hi, sir, uh, Feng," Aniq said. He held up the bag in his hand. "Zoë said you asked us to bring ice?"

"Come with me," Feng said, leading Aniq into the kitchen. As they entered, they passed Vivian, who was exiting. She greeted Aniq then went to embrace Zoë and Maggie.

"Hi, little one," Vivian said to Maggie. "How are you?"

"Good! Mom said I could get a bowl of bing."

"If we behave," Zoë said, exchanging an amused look with Vivian.

Vivian took Maggie's hand and twirled her around. "You're a good girl, aren't you?" she said, and at Maggie's insistence she twirled her around again and again.

Zoë left them to their spinning dance routine and went to sit by Hannah and Grace. They were talking to each other quietly, but they stopped when Zoë approached.

"How's it been going?" Zoë asked, sitting down across from them.

"Oh, the usual," Grace said. She had Hannah's hand in her lap and was playing absently with her fingers. "Mom frets, Dad overshares. Hannah's been a good sport about it."

Next to her, Hannah shrugged, smiling a little. "It's not so bad. Family gatherings for me involved watching Isabel and Edgar play Scrabble in silence, which actually was kind of fun depending on who was winning, but I digress."

Zoë had to ask. "Who was more fun?"

"Oh, Isabel," Hannah said. "Edgar won most of the time, so whenever she was in the lead she made a big deal about it, and she let me hold her drink. Very exciting for a twelve-year-old."

"Um," Zoë said. Hannah shrugged again.

"We'll unpack that later," Grace said.

Everyone moved to the kitchen shortly after to eat. The conversations around the table were animated; Vivian and Feng prodded Zoë for wedding details, and Aniq spoke with Maggie about what she was learning in school, putting on his Kevin Koala voice to make her laugh. Grace stepped into the conversation with her parents more than once to give Zoë a breather, which she was grateful for, though she knew it would turn into an IOU later.

Only Hannah seemed withdrawn. She spoke whenever a question was directed at her, but she didn’t initiate often, instead observing the discussions around the table in silence. Despite her lack of participation, though, it was clear she was listening, and more than once Zoë caught her smiling at a joke one of them made. Zoë chalked her behavior up to nerves; it was her first Zhu family gathering, and her family could be a little much. Sometimes Zoë just wanted to sit back and watch, too.

After dinner, everyone separated to different parts of the house; Aniq helped Vivian wash dishes in the kitchen while Feng entertained Maggie in the living room, and Hannah and Grace spoke in lowered voices in the corner on the couch. Zoë packed leftovers to take home, going back and forth from the two rooms periodically to change the music on the stereo. During one of her trips to the living room, her father changed the music to an old track Zoë and Grace used to dance to when they were younger. Zoë laughed, turning to say something about it to Grace, but she and Hannah were gone.

"Zoë," Aniq said. He poked his head out of the kitchen. "Your mom wants to know if you can get her hair pin, says it's in her room?"

"Yeah, sure."

Zoë went upstairs and slipped into her parents' room at the end of the hall, grabbing Vivian's hair pin off the dresser. On her way back to the stairs, she paused, hearing a strange noise coming from behind a closed door. The room it was coming from used to belong to Zoë and Grace. Zoë hesitated, then doubled back.

Someone was crying. Was it Grace? Zoë pressed closer to the door, placing her hand on the knob. Just as she was about to walk in, she heard someone speak.

"I got you, it's okay. I got you." The voice was low and soothing. A beat passed, then, "Do you want to talk about it?"

That sounded like Grace. Did that mean Hannah was the one crying? Zoë felt like she should leave, but something kept her frozen in place. She had never seen Hannah cry before. Not even when they found Edgar's body, or during the murder investigation, when she had every right to get upset. Zoë wondered if it was something her family had done, but that didn't make any sense; did it?

"I'm sorry." Hannah's voice was quiet. Zoë had to strain to hear. "I just—it's not a big deal."

"I've cried because my takeout order was late. I cry when I see a puppy on the street. I won't judge you, I promise."

There was another moment of silence interspersed by soft crying. It stretched on for a long time. Just as Zoë was about to leave, Hannah spoke.

"I'm not used to this. Being around—I mean, your family is so wonderful, Grace. And Edgar and Roxana and Alexander are gone. And even when they were alive, we didn't—I didn't think it bothered me—"

Her voice lowered and cut off. When Zoë could hear her again, it was only bits and fragments.

"...I still...sometimes it just...I know she cares...I didn't..." Hannah blew her nose, then said a little louder, "I'm sorry if I ruined dinner."

"Oh, you didn't, Hannah." Grace's voice was muffled. Zoë imagined her pressing her face into Hannah or wrapping her in a hug.

"It's okay to feel upset," Grace said. "I would, too. I love you. I know that doesn't make everything okay. But I love you, and you can always talk to me."

"I love you, too." It was the clearest thing Zoë had heard Hannah say.

It was quiet after that. Zoë started to become aware of how long she had been standing outside the door. She backed away, trying not to make any sound, and slipped downstairs.

The Minnows were a weird family. Zoë had never questioned it beyond giving Hannah a strange look whenever she shared an aspect of her upbringing like that Scrabble thing, but the more she thought about it, the fact that Isabel never told Hannah she loved her, much less cared about her, until very recently was a little concerning. Zoe's own family certainly wasn't perfect, but they had always tried to be there for each other. She didn't know how she would have gotten through her marriage with Brett without being able to cry to her mom, or vent to Grace, or laugh with her dad.

Her thoughts must have shown on her face, because Aniq pulled her aside when she entered the living room.

"Is everything okay?" he said.

"Yeah, it's fine. Just, um, stubbed my toe walking down the hall."

Aniq gave her a searching look, but when she shook her head, he nodded at her, taking the hair pin and stepping away. They would talk about it later.

"Zoë!" Feng called out to her from where he sat playing Go Fish with Maggie on the carpet. "Can you please tell my beautiful granddaughter that when I ask if she has any fours, she has to give me her fours?"

"But I don't have any!" Maggie said. Her toothy grin betrayed her lie.

Grace and Hannah reappeared about ten minutes later. By then Maggie had beaten Feng twice, once by cheating and once fairly. Zoë sat with them, watching and laughing, but when Grace and Hannah entered the room, she sobered quickly. Hannah's eyes were puffy, but she tried to smile when Zoë caught her eye. Grace led Hannah over to the couch and sat down close to her.

"Got any sixes?" Maggie asked. She and Feng eyed each other. After a long pause he sighed and threw the rest of his cards down. Maggie cheered, pulling them toward her to make a large pile.

"Can I have my bao bing now?" Maggie said.

"Anything for the winner," Feng said. He winked at Zoë then stood, walking to the kitchen to prepare it for her.

"Aunt Grace, do you want to play? I've gotten a lot better. You won't beat me this time."

"Actually," Zoë said, interrupting before Grace could say anything, "Maggie, do you want Hannah to show you some magic tricks?"

"Really?" Maggie and Hannah said at the same, Maggie with excitement and Hannah with surprise.

Zoë nodded. "Really."

Maggie jumped up and ran to Hannah, practically vibrating. "Can you pull a coin out of my ear?"

Hannah's smile was genuine. "Yes," she said. "I can also make you levitate, if you want."

"Yes! Please!"

Zoë was probably going to end up regretting this, one way or another, but as Maggie pulled Hannah off the couch, they both looked so delighted that Zoë decided she could handle Maggie trying to pull quarters out of her ears for at least a little bit.

"Zoë," Grace said. Zoë looked up at her from where she was still seated on the floor. Her expression was serious. "Thank you. I mean it."

"No thanks necessary. Besides, this way you won't have to get your butt kicked at Go Fish."

"Oh, please. I've never gotten my butt kicked at Go Fish, and I never will."

Zoë picked up the cards. "Wanna bet?"

In the background, Zoë heard Maggie gasp then say, with far too much excitement, "Do it again!"

As Zoë dealt out cards, she thought to herself that maybe she'd give Brett an extra night with Maggie tomorrow and buy a magic kit on her way there; out of the kindness of her own heart, of course.

~

Zoë didn’t spend a lot of alone time with Hannah.

They certainly tried to talk one-on-one; more than once Hannah tried to ask Zoë about her art, but when Zoë would start to explain it, someone else would walk in and cut them off, and the conversation never picked back up.  Zoë wanted to ask Hannah about her interests, too, but there were so many of them that she didn’t know where to begin, and her mind always fell back on taxidermy, which she did not want to hear about under any circumstances, ever.

The finally got a chance during a trip to the beach. Maggie took off in the water the moment they arrived, Grace in tow, and Zoë and Hannah sat on chairs in the sand. Aniq had stayed with them for a little bit, but his stomach growled with increasing volume until it became so loud it forced him to wander off in search of something to eat.

Zoë looked at Hannah, raising her sunglasses slightly. They’d been sitting in silence for about twenty minutes while Hannah flipped through her book and Zoë dozed in the sun, but the heat was starting to make her restless. She might as well try to talk to Hannah now; better late than never.

“What are you reading?” Zoë asked. Hannah didn’t respond; Zoë coughed.

Hannah looked up. “Oh, you’re talking to me? It’s called Letting Go: The Pathway of Surrender. I found it in our library a while ago but never finished it.”

“Is it good?”

“Not really.”

Hannah went back to reading. Zoë was a little offended. The book wasn’t even good, but she’d rather read it than talk to Zoë for five minutes?

Zoë tried again. “How’s your mom?”

“Who?”

“Isabel,” Zoë clarified.

“She’s okay. She’s been doing a lot better since she stopped taking a bunch of Adderall at night. She even offered to attend one of my archery tournaments as long as there wasn't a lot of people there and she could leave early. I told her I didn’t participate in tournaments and that I only did archery for fun, but it’s the thought that counts.”

Hannah sounded fond. Zoë didn’t share the feeling, but she understood; Isabel was the only family that Hannah had left, adoptive or not, and it made sense that she would show her affection for Hannah in odd ways, instead of doing something normal like hugging her or just stepping outside the house to see her shoot arrows.

Zoë waited for Hannah to ask her a question—maybe, “How is Vivian?”—but Hannah only flipped another page in her book. Okay, so she didn’t want to talk to Zoë. That was fine, Zoë didn’t want to talk to her, anyway.

Five minutes passed before one of them spoke again. It was Hannah this time, which was good, because Zoë wasn’t about to embarrass herself again by trying to bond with her.

“How did you know you wanted to marry Aniq?” Hannah asked. She didn’t look up from her book.

Zoë was caught off-guard. “I—Hannah, are you thinking about proposing to Grace?”

Hannah looked up then. “No,” she said. “I’ve never really been a fan of marriage as an institution, and I doubt Grace would want to get married so soon. Besides, as Isabel says, Grace has all the benefits of being a Minnows without any of the drawback, so marrying me wouldn’t change her life substantially.”

“What are the drawbacks, exactly? Your family does whatever they want, currently and historically.”

“Isabel dislikes attending galas and speaking to politicians,” Hannah said. “I’ve never been in the public eye, though, so I don’t really do that, but it doesn’t sound fun.”

Zoë nodded slowly. They still needed to revisit why Hannah asked her about marrying Aniq. “Wouldn’t that make you a Minnows without any of the drawbacks?”

Hannah was quiet for a moment. “Those are the problems for Isabel,” she said finally. “Not for me.”

Zoë winced. She’d messed up. There was a reason Hannah was constantly bringing up the fact she was adopted. Hannah returned to her book.

“Look,” Zoë tried one last time. “I know we’re not BFFs—”

“BFFs?”

“Best friends forever.”

“Hmm,” Hannah nodded. “Makes sense. Please continue.”

“But I’m glad you’re in Grace’s life, despite the circumstances. And if there’s anything I can do to help you, let me know. It helps Grace, too.”

Hannah smiled. “I’m glad she’s in my life, too. And I like you, Zoë. You’re a very special person. Everyone who knows you values their relationship with you, including me.”

“Thank you,” Zoë said, surprised by the compliment. “To answer your question about Aniq…I’ve been married before, and it was awful. I went against every instinct telling me to get out of the relationship because I wanted to make it work. I thought if I quit, it meant I was a failure."

Zoë smiled to herself. "But with Aniq, I’m not afraid to make mistakes, and if I do, we work through them together. With him, I’m allowed to be every version of myself, not just a mom or a wife or a teacher, but Zoë. And I want to make him part of all of my life. Does that make sense?”

Hannah nodded. Zoë waited for her to follow-up with an explanation about why she asked the question in the first place, but she didn’t, just picked up her book again. Zoë didn’t feel slighted this time, or like she had offended her. The quiet felt…normal. Almost friendly.

By the time Grace and Maggie returned from the water, wet and laughing, Aniq had brought back sandwiches and fries for everyone to share. While they ate, a seagull swooped in and flapped around Aniq’s head, and finding it hilarious, Maggie tried to throw fries at seagulls whenever Zoë wasn’t looking. Grace laid with Hannah in her chair, resting her head on Hannah’s shoulder. Both of them had their eyes closed. Zoë would think they were sleeping, if not for the fact that Grace was moving her fingers over Hannah’s stomach, making her laugh quietly every now and then.

“Wow,” Aniq panted, walking up to Zoë. He held a giggling Maggie under his arm. “Maggie is fast. Does she do track? She could probably make the Olympic team in a few years.”

“I want to be in the Olympics,” Maggie said excitedly. Aniq put her down and she ran toward Zoë, grabbing her arm.

Zoë pulled Maggie close. “I’ll look into it. No promises, though. I don’t think they let little girls who feed seagulls compete, it’s a safety risk.”

“I’m going to take some of this stuff back to the car,” Aniq said, picking up a bag and a couple of towels. He motioned his head toward Hannah and Grace. “Should I…?”

Zoë shook her head. “They’ll come when they’re ready.”

Zoë glanced over her shoulder at them as she and Maggie followed Aniq. Grace had lifted her head off of Hannah's shoulder and was looking up at her. Zoë couldn't see Hannah's face from where she stood, but she watched as Hannah stroked Grace's hair, brushing it back behind her ear. Grace wore that gooey expression now; her smile was small, almost shy, and her eyes moved up and down over Hannah's face slowly. She looked as if she had all the time in the world to sit there and take Hannah in.

"Mom!" Maggie shouted, sprinting ahead.

"I'm coming, Maggie!"

Zoë spared them one more glance before jogging after her daughter. Let them stay in their bubble for a while; she would see them soon.