His paper crumpled when he leaned toward her. “You listen to me, Evelyn. As long as you live here, your mother and I are the final word. You may not see her point now, sometimes I don’t, but we have an agreement, one I still believe in. There’s a lot you don’t know about a great many things, most especially yourself. You’ve always been a good girl. Let’s keep it that way.”
“But you don’t know what she’s doing.”
“What makes you so sure of that?” He turned away, shaking out the newsprint. Evelyn stepped back with a feeling of doom so intense she couldn’t bring herself to face it.
Rather than confront her parents with their collusion, she swallowed herself whole and gave in without even internal argument. She wore whatever clothes her mother bought, the lacy bras and cute shoes, and she at
