He sighed and nodded his head, and she walked to the dining room. There was a slew of people making drinks and picking through cheese and crackers and little sugared cookies. She made herself a vodka tonic and her father a coffee. She took it to him, kissed him on the cheek, and rounded the living room. She talked to Natalie’s brother about his kids, chatted with one of her father’s friends about North Carolina, and graciously received condolences. She was beginning to feel strong and capable. Yes, she could never crawl back into her mother’s heart, but neither could her mother root around in hers. For the first time in a long while, she felt in control.

She pressed her palm into her left buttock and tested the bruises. They had calmed some, but the tenderness was still there, and she wasn’t sure what to feel. When Devesh had first begun to beat her, she wore her bruises like a prize. Now, they seemed an unreturnable gift, something she was unsure would fit, something she was unsure she even wanted.

Her little cousin Alex came up to her and wrapped his arms around her waist.

“Hey, tiger,” she said. He was Tyler’s size, and she put her hand on his head and felt comforted.

“I want to play with the pinball machine,” he said.

The last time he had been here, she had taken him upstairs and held him while he tried to hit the tiny metal ball with the paddles. His arms had been too small to reach both buttons, and she had played one side while trying to hold him, and he had giggled and squirmed and eventually been happy with lying on top of the machine and watching the lights.

“Let’s go,” she said, and led him to the stairs. The front stairway was long and sloping, with landings in between each flight, and she watched Alex lope up the stairs. She followed behind and sipped her drink. She was surprised by how much she had drunk, and yet she’d stopped feeling the buzz of the alcohol at least an hour ago. The only effect that lingered was a kind of soft bordered edge to the world. People slid out of sight, and everything looked spongy and supple.