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“He’s afraid of you,” Catherine whispered “He’s afraid of you I could tell He’s afraid of woiven so to my mother Broke her mind She knew”
“Youryou?”
“She knew She pretended she didn’t, but I could see it in her eyes She didn’t want to know—she just wanted everything quiet and perfect, so she could give her parties and be the senator’s wife” She lifted a hand, shielding her eyes “When he would coht, I could see it on her face the nextBut when I tried to talk to her, to tell her to make him stop, she pretended she didn’t knohat I ood, to respect the family”
She lowered her hand again, cupped her tea with both hands, but didn’t drink “When I was little, seven or eight, he would coht, because he was Daddy, and I was going to pretend to be Moas—to touch him To—”
“It’s all right,” Eve soothed as Catherine began to tremble violently “You don’t have to say Tell me what you can”
“You had to obey him You had to He was a force in our house Richard?”
“Yes” Richard caught his wife’s hand in his and squeezed, squeezed “I know”
“I couldn’t tell you because I was ashaht I had to do it” She sed hard “On my twelfth birthday, we had a party Lots of friends, and a big cake, and the poni
es You remember the ponies, Richard?”
“I remember” Tears tracked silently down his cheeks “I remember”
“And that night, the night of h now He said he had a present forup And he raped me” She buried her face in her hands and rocked “He said it was a present Oh God And I begged hih to knorong, it was evil I was evil But he didn’t stop And he kept coet away I went to college, far ahere he couldn’t touch me And I told myself it never happened It never, never happened
“I tried to be strong, to ht I would be safe Justin was so kind, so gentle He never hurt ht if he knew, he’d despisemyself it never happened”
She lowered her hands and looked at Eve “I believed it, sometimes Most of the time I could lose myself in my work, inthe sa to Sharon I wanted to help, but I didn’t kno So I pushed it away, just like my mother did He killed her Now he’ll kill me”
“Why do you think he killed Sharon?”
“She wasn’t weak like ainst hi Christmas Day When we all went to his house to pretend ere a fao into his office, and I followed theh the crack He was so furious with her because she washe stood for And she said, ‘You made me what I am, you bastard’ It warmed me to hear that It made me want to cheer She stood up to him She threatened to expose him unless he paid her She had it all documented, she said, every dirty detail So he’d have to play the ga words at each other And then”