“You weren’t raised this way!” I said, more to Jack than to her. “There’s no reason . . .”

She stopped and turned. She gave me a long, leveling look, not like a defiant daughter, but like one woman assessing another.

“You should be happy,” she said. “Now you can have him all to yourself. That’s what you’ve always wanted, anyway. Now I’m out of the way.”

“That is not true and you know it!”

“Yes, it is. It’s just the way you are.”

“The way I am? And what is that, Regina?”

“You’ve always gotten whatever you wanted. You’re pretty and you’re selfish—”

“Regina, they can’t make you beautiful! That’s what it comes down to, isn’t it? Like the time you were sick when you were little, and you wanted to punish people for something that couldn’t be helped. That’s what you’re doing now—punishing us.”

“If that’s what you want to think.”

“Do you know what you’re doing to your father! You did all this behind our backs, you lied to me! You made me think—”

“You thought what you wanted to think. That’s not my fault. Besides, if you found out, you would have stopped me. Now you can’t. You’ve always gotten what you wanted; now I’m going to get what I want.”

“Is this what you want? To be shuttled around from one to the other, to be used like—like an appliance!”

“I like it here,” she declared. “We’re all the same here. No one’s any better than anyone else. You could never stand that. You have to be superior. You and her.” She sneered at Gloria.

Gloria snatched the bait. “What you’ve just shown, Regina, is that she is superior to you.” She struck the spot. Regina made a slight movement forward before checking herself. “And I’ll tell you something else. It’s easy to please a crowd. But try it with one person; it takes guts and it takes work.”

“Save your sermons,” she said, and went up the stairs.

Through my tears, Vivian was a smiling blur slowly bending forward in her chair. “I’m glad you came tonight after all. Better than putting it off until the end of the week. Who knows”—she chuckled—“you might have had Frank locked up by then. That would have been a little messy. I’d better go help her get her things together.”

“You can’t have her,” I whispered. My fingers pushed forward under the flap until they found the metal.

“She hasn’t decided whether she wants to finish out the semester at school. If she does, she’ll stay with you until June. When the warm weather comes, she can wear those Indian tops that hide everything.”

“I won’t let you.” I won’t let you do this to Frank. I gripped the handle and dragged it toward me.

“If she decides to quit, she can come here immediately. I’ve already gotten her a doctor, so that’s taken care of. That do-gooder Miss McPhee might try to poke her nose into this, but I think Regina can handle her. I’m sure the two of you will behave yourselves. You should know by now I don’t make idle threats.”