The Family by Marissa Kennerson Read Free Book Online Page A

clearing. Buoyed by the fresh air and her love of riding, she grinned and galloped forward, her long hair streaming behind her, dirty blond in the quiet afternoon light.
    “Hey, beautiful girl,” Ryan said as Twig pulled Sapphire up beside his horse. Twig blushed. “Come on, princess. I know it’s your birthday, but let’s get going.”
    Twig saw Avery sitting atop a sweet but serious yellow-haired stallion named Phoenix, Sophie at her side.
    “Mom?” Twig couldn’t believe her eyes. She couldn’t remember the last time she and Avery had gone out on a ride together, and after this morning, she hadn’t expected to see her mother for the rest of the day. She must have made the effort for Twig’s birthday. Twig was deeply touched. She looked at Ryan and Sophie, and they smiled back at her.
    “Race you!” she challenged. The three of them tore out toward the forest, catching up to the rest of the group.

11
    The trees stood tall, stamping the blue sky with dark green silhouettes. There were eight of them on horseback, including Twig, Ryan, Sophie, and Avery. Ryan tore off in a blaze of dust. Ryan’s color was orange: bright, clear, and fiery. He was the strongest rider among them. He looked so able and grown up as he flamed ahead of her. A flicker of excitement ran through her, settling in her breasts and giving her the chills. It’s not that she had feelings for Ryan. Not those kinds of feelings. It was just the whole picture: Ryan, his horse, and his confidence, the light of the sun and the sudden dampness in the air. It was inspiring.
    Twig thought back to Rose and Thomas and their kiss the day before. She thought about Adam and how he’d pressed his mouth against hers. Would it always feel like that—awkward and slightly wrong? Could she imagine kissing him back? Did she want to? If she was really honest with herself, did she want to be with him that way? She loved him. She loved him deeply. He was gorgeous and charming, and, truth be told, exciting. But to lie with him? The thought terrified her and made her a little sick.
    Twig could have kissed Ryan a hundred times. It was forbidden before marriage, but they’d had opportunities to do it in secret. Ryan just didn’t exude that kind of energy toward Twig, as close as they were. They hugged, but it wasn’t sexual.
    Ryan liked boys. No specific boy in the Family, but he knew he was homosexual. Adam said there was nothing wrong with Ryan’s feelings, that they were natural for him, part of his fabric. It was a roll of the dice whether people came out homosexual or heterosexual, but when he came of age, Ryan would have to change. The Family needed heterosexual couplings for procreation, and that was that. Adam said if he didn’t strictly enforce this rule, they would die out. He simply couldn’t recruit enough new members to keep them thriving as a group. If you lived in the Family, you needed to be in a heterosexual coupling—period.
    But then, there were sisters like Avery and Evelyn, who were both single. The logic didn’t quite click for Twig. Why hadn’t Adam remarried her mother or Evelyn? Were they too old to make babies now, so it didn’t matter? And would Tina soon join them?
    Evelyn was a miserable woman, but she was one hundred percent committed to the Family, committed to Adam. According to Evelyn’s lore, she had lost her husband in a war between the United States and Iraq. She was pregnant with Rose at the time of his death. That was when she had joined the Family.
    Neither Rose nor Twig had fathers. They didn’t ever talk about it, but it was something they shared, and it was why their mothers had been housed together. Twig’s father had left Avery when he found out she was pregnant, which is when Avery joined the Family. Evelyn and Avery were the only two single women over the age of eighteen in the Family, and for reasons Twig did not know, Adam had never remarried them, not even when new members joined the compound.
    “Come on,