"Full disclosure, everyone", says Amanda. "I did bring up both my kids in the Christian faith. Tristan has an older sister, Barbara, who is living in Toronto with her new husband. She is a research assistant for an organization that is trying to develop a cure for cancer. You could say that I am very proud of her, because I am. We were abandoned by my husband, their father, soon after Tristan was born. He went off with another woman and they are living somewhere in South America. I haven't heard from him in years. Don't want to, but then when Barbara was on her own, I had to leave the profession because of burnout. I managed to keep everything together during my nursing career, then a girlfriend of mine wanted me to go into business with her and so together we run the Aphrodite Boutique. And that got me in trouble with the church, because they are a collection of rather conservative Baptists, and ever since I was drummed out of the fellowship they have been harassing me and nagging at me to shut down my house of sin and return to the fold. I think all of this must have impacted Tristan, who was just a teenager at the time.
"Barbara is such an unusual name these days", says Sarah.
"It is old-fashioned. You see, my mother died of cancer a month before she was born Her name was Barbara, and I wanted to honour her memory. My dad has been very good about staying close, and really helped me raise my kids."
"He gave Tristan the teddy bear?" says Carl.
"That is correct."
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