ME: What if he did it? What if he hired those men to rape me? Does he deserve my loyalty?

L. BASCOMBE: There is a maxim in our law that states that a man is innocent until proven guilty. Your father is innocent of these accusations, Lucy. Until such time as a court of law convicts him, he is innocent.

ME: If he is innocent, my testimony can’t hurt him.

L. BASCOMBE: But if he did it, your testimony could put him in prison for life. How would you live with yourself if that happened? Imagine being responsible for putting your own father in jail. How will you deal with that?

ME: I wonder how he has managed to live all this time knowing what he did to me. And not only live, but thrive. He seems happier now than he has ever been.

L. BASCOMBE: Would you take that from him? Would you dash the cup of happiness from his lips?

ME: What about my lips and my cup of happiness?

L. BASCOMBE: Tell me, Lucy—were you a difficult child?

ME: What do you mean?

L. BASCOMBE: It’s not a trick question. Were you or were you not a difficult child? Did your parents find you challenging to deal with? Was parenting you a chore for them?

ME: My mother loved me. She didn’t find me difficult. She enjoyed being my parent.

L. BASCOMBE: Your mother is dead. What about your father?

ME: He seemed to resent me. My mother and I annoyed him. The farm annoyed him. He complained a lot.

L. BASCOMBE: Now we’re getting to the crux of it. You were a burden on your father, Lucy. Your very existence was an annoyance. Can you blame him for arranging to have you raped?

ME: Are you really saying this? Are you thinking it?

L. BASCOMBE: I don’t know, Lucy. Am I?

* * *

Lucy: You were right. They asked me to testify.

My text messages to Eugene often go unanswered for hours. Sometimes days. Today, the answer arrives in less than a minute.

Eugene: Which side asked you to testify?

I consider making him wait for an answer, but I don’t have the patience.

Lucy: Both.

Eugene: I see. And which one are you going to choose?

Lucy: I haven’t decided yet.

Eugene: Would you like to talk about it?

Lucy: Yes, please.

And that’s how it comes about that I have one last date with Eugene. He thinks he is coming over to help me wrestle with the thorny question of which side I should throw my weight behind in my father’s trial. I think he is coming over so I can have sex with him. We’ll see which one of us is right.