Summary

In this short story, Ellen has come back to her childhood home to attend her mother's funeral. The reader gets the distinct feeling that she has been estranged from her mother. She begins to notice that their longtime neighbor, Mr. DeCuervo is particularly upset at her death.

Ellen's sister, Lizzie, also begins to receive some information that makes both sisters realize that they did not know their mother as well as they thought they did. Their father, still living, tells the girls that their mother, he, and Mr. DeCuervo had an arrangement. This arrangement involved them sharing Lila, the mother, and sometimes becoming a threesome. Their father makes them understand that it was a loving and caring relationship for decades. Ellen, who is engaged to be married takes a long look at her own impending marriage and realizes...