Slowly, her lips curl into a melancholy smile. She tilts forward and sets her mug down as well. Then she looks at me with surprising gentleness. “Oh, let’s have it out and be done with it. The night was dramatic enough already. If I didn’t go into cardiac arrest at that dinner table while French curses were being flung across the room, I’m sure I can handle this. I’m not some wilting flower. Speak now. What is it?”

Her demanding tone draws the truth out of me.

“I’m not happy with the way things are,” I blurt. Then, more gently, I continue, “It’s…” I shake my head and start again. “I’ve tried so hard to fall in line, to simply exist in whatever manner you’d like me to, but I’ve come to realize that I can’t. Not anymore.

“For so long—since I was a child, in fact—I’ve been so terrified of displeasing you. I worried if I spoke up or went against your wishes, you’d assume I’m filled with too much of my mother’s flaws and not enough of my father’s virtues.”

“Lainey, I—”

“Please. Let me finish,” I rush out desperately. I hold a hand up, palm open. “I have felt your hatred for my mother as if it were hatred for me, and it’s a hard thing for a child to feel so wrong, merely for existing.” I let both hands fall onto my lap, trying to keep them from shaking with adrenaline. “The simple fix has always been to ensure my own happiness takes a back seat to yours, but it’s made life too hollow. Tried as I have to shirk her looming shadow, I’ve made peace with the fact that I will always be my mother’s daughter.”

For most of my speech, my eyes were anywhere but on her. My bottom lip quivers as I gather the courage to meet her gaze.

She looks on sadly, shaking her head. “It breaks my heart to hear you say that. I feel I’ve truly failed you if you believe I don’t see you for exactly who you are—a wonderful, kind young woman with a heart of gold.”

She sighs.

“Lainey, if I may, I have no doubt you’ve gathered up a great deal of courage to be able to stand before me and reveal the secrets of your psyche, but I’m much more perceptive than you give me credit for. I’ve seen the unhappiness in you lately, that wild spirit struggling to be free.”

I open and close my mouth, my shock momentarily stealing my tongue.

“Now tell me, do you have some plan you’ve concocted? Are you going to backpack solo across Europe? Hike the Appalachian Trail? Oh dear, are you set on getting a nose ring?”

My brows furrow. “I…hadn’t thought about it.”

“The nose ring?”

“Any of it.”

She looks relieved. “I see.”

“To be honest, I’m uncomfortable even talking about this. I don’t want you to think I’m ungrateful or silly…or that perhaps I don’t realize all the ways my life could have been harder.” I pause to mull it over. “The thing is, I’m not looking for some great big change. I genuinely enjoy my life here in Boston with you, only…I think I’d like to stretch my legs. I want more independence. I want to be in charge of my schedule and social life. I want to take on more hours at Morgan’s. Oh! And I want my paychecks to be deposited in a bank account that I manage.” My voice takes on a determined edge as the ball gets rolling. “And I don’t like going to your clubs for those lectures. I hate those snooty old places, but I absolutely must continue to be by your side when you go to the opera and ballet. And no more of you and Margaret picking my outfits for me like I’m a doll!”