Darling Girls

On the trip to Port Agatha, the sisters bicker over the presence of Norah’s dogs. Jessica receives a reminder to contact Debbie, and Norah gets another unwanted text from Kevin. Norah tells Alicia and Jessica the story of what happened on her date the day before, eliciting shock from Jessica.

The narrative shifts to the earlier timeline, stating that one day, the three young foster sisters sat on the couch in their pajamas in Miss Fairchild’s living room while Miss Fairchild herself attended a community meeting in town. Suddenly, the girls heard a knock at the door, terrifying them. The person at the door was the postman, who required a signature for delivering a package for Holly Fairchild. Norah claims to be Holly Fairchild and signs for the package, causing the girls to break out into peals of laughter.

The novel returns to the present day. Twenty minutes from Port Agatha, Alicia decides to check on Theo, Aaron’s new foster brother. She chats with the foster mother, and when she hangs up, she feels odd, remembering how the social workers ignored her and her sisters when they lived at Wild Meadows. Alicia has considered adopting a child but has decided not to because she believes she herself to be irresponsible.

The sister meet with detectives Patel, Hando, and Tucker in Port Agatha. Detective Patel assures them that they have some brief questions, but the women are still nervous. The detectives take them inside the station for their interview, causing them even more stress when they realize that they will be interviewed separately. Detective Tucker interviews Alicia, who explains how she first came to Wild Meadows. When Detective Tucker inquires about the nature of her relationship with Miss Fairchild, Alicia states, “You can’t have a relationship with a monster” (122). Detective Tucker expresses surprise, so Alicia begins to tell her story.

The narrative jumps back to the childhood timeline. At night, Norah told the other girls that it was her birthday: She was turning 12 years old. Jessica and Norah both revealed to Alicia that they had rarely celebrated birthdays. Alicia described what birthday parties are like. The girls started dancing to celebrate, but silently, to avoid angering Miss Fairchild.

The next day, Alicia returned from school to find her social worker, Sandi, waiting for her with Miss Fairchild. Sandi informed Alicia that her grandmother had passed away that morning. Alicia stood frozen in shock as Sandi tried to comfort her. Afterward, she lay in bed all afternoon, weeping. To comfort her, Norah told her that her previous foster home placements had been even more abusive than the situation at Wild Meadows. The three girls agreed to always consider each other sisters.

In the present timeline, Norah is interviewed by Detective Hando, who asks her how she came at Wild Meadows. Norah explains that her mother died of a drug overdose, causing her to enter the foster care system. Detective Hando asks if she liked Miss Fairchild, and Norah labels her awful and violent.

In the childhood timeline, Jessica sat on the couch one Saturday, watching television. Miss Fairchild had left the girls alone for the afternoon, and Alicia wondered out loud what they should do with their newfound free time. Norah and Jessica reacted with surprise, as Miss Fairchild had strictly forbidden them from going outside when left alone. Alicia suggested that they all ask the man they could see through the windows whether he would allow them to ride his horses.

After some consideration, the man, whose name was Dirk, allowed them to ride the horses. When they finally left, the girls made Dirk promise to not tell Miss Fairchild about the afternoon they’d had together. However, when they returned to the house, they found Miss Fairchild waiting for them. Miss Fairchild was furious because the girls had not gotten permission from the horses’ owner. Alicia admitted that riding the horses was her idea. To defend her, both Jessica and Norah also pled responsibility. Miss Fairchild sneered at them, then ordered them to choose which of the three she would punish. When the girls didn’t respond, Miss Fairchild chose Norah randomly and dragged her by her ear toward the basement door. She shoved Norah into the pitch darkness and locked her in for hours. Finally, Jessica and Alicia were permitted to free her.

The narrative returns to the present. Detective Patel’s questions are making Jessica nervous about the suspicion placed upon her and her sisters. After asking about Jessica’s own relationship with Miss Fairchild, Detective Patel questions her about Norah’s long history of violence. The questioning continues for over four hours. Finally, Jessica heads outside, where she finds Norah and Alicia waiting. Detective Hando has asked the sisters to spend the night in town, as the questioning will continue in the morning.

Jessica now has several phone messages from clients whom Debbie has contacted regarding the missing pills. Jessica recognizes that the situation is a problem she can no longer ignore.

The chapter shifts to the first-person narrator in Dr. Warren’s office. The narrator continues the story of John and her mother. After beginning a relationship with John, the narrator’s mother began to see him constantly, and she also spent copious time with the ladies from church, causing the narrator to become jealous. Eventually, the narrator’s mother announced that she and John would soon get married. When the narrator objected, her mother shocked her by calling her a selfish brat. Dr. Warren is pleased with the narrator’s vulnerability.

The sisters stay the night at the Driftwood Cottages. As they walk the dogs, Norah receives another text from Kevin, who threatens to go to the police about the assault unless Norah sends him a nude selfie. Feeling weak and powerless, Norah sends Kevin a photo of her raising her middle finger.

After walking for an hour, the sisters end up at the gates of Wild Meadows. However, instead of the familiar farmhouse, they see a pile of soil and debris and a large hole ringed by police tape. They start down the driveway until a policeman stops them and explains that the area is an active crime scene. When they tell the policeman who they are, the sisters learn that three additional foster children have arrived. Norah reasons that the other foster children “must be the babies” (153).

The narrative returns to the childhood timeline and explains that the girls sank into a “sad, new reality” (155) following the day with the horses. Norah became angrier and more violent after being locked under the stairs and got into daily fistfights at school. However, her new behavior led Miss Fairchild to keep locking her under the stairs as punishment. To make Norah’s life easier, Jessica and Alicia hid a flashlight and a book beneath the stairs so she could have some entertainment.

One day, Miss Fairchild, holding a newborn infant, called Jessica to the living room. She asked Jessica to look at the baby and admire its beauty. The baby’s name was Rhiannon; last night, the baby had been removed from her parents, who were addicted to drugs, and was now officially placed in Miss Fairchild’s care. Jessica was surprised, knowing that a baby would not fit into Miss Fairchild’s rigid routines. The other two girls entered the room, and Miss Fairchild introduced them to Rhiannon.

Three days after Rhiannon arrived at Wild Meadows, she was still crying constantly, upsetting the older girls. Miss Fairchild became upset and tired. To relieve her, Jessica offered to take care of the baby for a night. Jessica and Rhiannon fell asleep on the armchair together.

When Jessica awoke, Miss Fairchild was standing in front of her. Jessica remarked that she “found the off switch” (160) and then immediately regretted the comment, as Miss Fairchild interpreted it as a slight and became coldly angry. Miss Fairchild told Jessica that she would henceforth be responsible for Rhiannon’s care and would no longer attend school.

A week later, Miss Fairchild was acting as if Rhiannon didn’t exist, and Jessica was fully responsible for the baby’s care. Norah had joined Jessica in caring for the child, and both girls felt exhausted after a week of skipping school. The following week, Scott returned to take Rhiannon to her home, and none of the girls were sorry to see her leave. Just as they fell asleep on the couch, Miss Fairchild woke them and told them to complete the chores they had neglected while the baby was at the house.

Two weeks later, when the girls came to breakfast, they discovered another baby in Miss Fairchild’s arms. This baby, Bianca, was older than Rhiannon and had been placed with Miss Fairchild after her stepfather punched her in the eye. Miss Fairchild sent Jessica to the pharmacist to buy gauze and bandages. When Miss Fairchild remarked that it was unimaginable that someone would hurt a child, none of the girls responded.

As with Rhiannon, Miss Fairchild soon tired of the child and foisted her own responsibilities onto Jessica, Norah, and Alicia. A few days later, just like Rhiannon, Bianca was collected. More babies came, and Miss Fairchild always found a reason to reject them and force the girls to care for them. Miss Fairchild’s behavior worsened, and she would actively criticize the girls during the day and drink heavily at night. Scott regularly returned to the home, seemingly more concerned with Miss Fairchild’s abilities to cope than with the welfare of the children.

The narrative returns to the present timeline. After the sister introduce themselves to the now-grown infants whom they once cared for, all of the women retire to a pub. Jessica introduces herself and tells the women that she stayed with Miss Fairchild from age 4 to 14, while Norah was there from age 10 to 13, and Alicia from age 12 to 13. Rhiannon introduces herself and reveals that her parents did not have a drug addiction; instead she was in foster care for two weeks because her mother made a careless mistake. The next woman introduces herself as Zara; however, she had a different name and Wild Meadows but does not know what it was. The third woman introduces herself as Bianca and tells them that Miss Fairchild was just one of 16 foster care placements she had as a child.

As they talk, the bartender delivers the drinks. Norah finds him handsome, and when he offers to take her dogs outside to play with his, she becomes flustered—an unusual feeling for the ever-confident Norah. Meanwhile, Zara wonders who the bones might belong to and asks the sisters whether they killed anyone at the house. The sisters laugh, but Zara is genuinely curious to know the answer.

Norah realizes that she recognizes the bartender from her childhood; his name is Ishir. She approaches him, and he reminds her that his parents owned the local grocery store, where he worked as a child. Norah begins reminiscing with him about the past.

Norah tells Ishir that one day, Miss Fairchild dispatched Norah to the grocery store to pick up several items. Norah was admiring a candy bar when Ishir came over to talk to her. At the time, she told him that her foster mother forbade candy, but he insisted on giving her the chocolate for free. The young Norah thought that his kindness was a trick, but now, in the present moment, Ishir insists that he had given it to her because she was “the most beautiful girl in [the] entire school” (170).

Ishir asks if Norah and her sisters are in town because of the bones, and she confirms this. He tells her that he recently returned to town to care for his mother, following the death of his father. Norah feels charmed by Ishir and is excited to keep talking to him.

The narrative returns to the childhood timeline and explains that Miss Fairchild’s behavior became increasingly more erratic. After telling Alicia to feed rice crackers to the newest foster infant, Miss Fairchild then reversed this directive and screamed at her, calling Alicia stupid for feeding babies rice crackers. On another occasion, she blamed the three girls for the babies’ crying.

One night, Miss Fairchild went on a “night-time rampage” (173). After Jessica finally coaxed Suzy, the newest foster baby, to go to sleep, an intoxicated Miss Fairchild burst into the bedroom and switched on the light. When Jessica asked her to turn out the light, Miss Fairchild became angry and woke the baby. The next night, she exploded into the room at two in the morning, demanding to know what was happening. All three girls had been asleep and sat up in surprise. She shouted at them until the baby woke up, then left the room. The next night, even though Scott had collected Suzy, Miss Fairchild tried to burst into their room again, but Norah had blocked the door with furniture, infuriating Miss Fairchild. Norah screamed that Miss Fairchild was a “psycho bitch” (176) and was surprised when Miss Fairchild stopped trying to enter the room. None of the girls slept well that night, for they were anxious about how Miss Fairchild might respond in the morning. However, when they headed down the stairs in the morning, they couldn’t find her anywhere.