“I understand; I just feel differently about it. If she makes you that uncomfortable, we won’t have her here.”

Over breakfast, Sylvia reversed her tactics. She directed all her attention to me, asked questions about teaching, about Regina’s­ long illness and how I coped with it, then complimented me on my taste in fixing up the house. Frank listened to it all without a trace of “I told you so,” something I both admired and resented. Relief came when he and Regina left to take Sylvia home. I needed the house to myself and I worked quickly to set it straight. I emptied ashtrays, vacuumed the rug, washed the wineglasses, and removed the candle stubs from their holders. It was the clean-up after the invasion, a grand sweep to wipe out every trace of the enemy’s occupation. I sprayed Lysol until the air was thick with it.

When Frank and Regina returned, I was washing up the breakfast dishes and humming as I envisioned the three of us spending this lazy day working in the yard. Frank gave Regina a Popsicle, then went up to change into his yard clothes. She sat down at the table behind me.

“Regina, don’t slurp like that.”

She continued to slurp, but more quietly. “What’s repressed?” she asked.

“Repressed?”

“Uh huh.”

“Where did you hear that?”

“Sylvia. She told Daddy you were repressed. What’s it mean?”

“It means ‘quiet.’ ” And I told myself to keep quiet but asked her anyway: “And what did Daddy say?”

“He didn’t say anything.”

“What else did Sylvia say?”

“She said I could come to her apartment for a whole day and play with her cats.”

Over my dead body.

I made plans to take Regina with me and stay at my parents’ while Frank was in Chicago. Neil was just back from Vietnam; I thought being around him would reassure me that Frank’s trip was meaningful and necessary. But the day before Frank left, Gloria called from Los Angeles to say she was flying in to see her mother. (Her father had died two years earlier.) I grabbed at the opportunity of inviting her to spend a few days at our house. Pat was not coming with her, but she was bringing their three-year-old son, Brian. At first she hesitated at my offer, but when I said Frank would be gone, she readily accepted.