They all call me Marie. My name is Marietta, but no one seems to hear. No one cares. They let me keep my last name, though. Bisset. Marietta Bisset. The French girl who's called Marie Bisset. I never married, I didn't want them to make me give up the last part of my personality.
Irene would never do that, though. She always calls me Marietta. When she plays with my hair, and when we have meetings...
"Never Marie. Always Marietta."
She told me that when she met me. It was a few years ago, before Anna died. Irene is the closest family I have now. We're all like family, our gang. Albeit with the arguments and occasional fist fights, but we're a family. Nothing can change that, nothing will change that. Can't be changed, simple as that.
Most of us aren't American. It's why we bond. Everyone's mostly Italian, with me being French, and a few Irish. We'll talk about it sometimes, but not that often. Makes everyone miss home, Irene especially.
Oh! And there's Jonathan. He's Irene's husband, but... to be honest, everyone kind of pretends he just isn't there. No one wants him there, but we'll have to deal with him anyway. Better to deal with that than to lose Irene entirely. He's acceptable, at least, when he's in front of us. Irene's told me about what happens when we're not around, though I do try to be with her quite a bit. She's lovely, what happens to her is unfair.
She has a kid, too. He calls me Aunt Marie. He's sweet, his name is Thomas. He's a good kid, with a good mom.
I'd like them as my family. Both of them, they're kind, and gentle. Irene's rough around the edges, sure, but who ain't? Thomas is just a boy, he's a young one, too young to deal with what we do.
Even when we're all apart... we're still a family, I guess. Stuck together for life with no way out.
Deeper in, or you're a dead man. As Irene likes to say, two can keep a secret if one of them is dead.
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