And in our house, the strongest pressure had always come from his mother.

Adeline had a way of deciding what was true and then simply proceeding as though everyone had agreed, and Nolan had spent his whole life being proceeded over, and had learned that the path of least resistance was to let her be right.

When she decided I was the problem, he did not have to be convinced.

He only had to do what he had always done, which was nothing — nothing to stop her, nothing to protect me, nothing to protect his own son, just a quiet, weightless agreeableness that let the strongest person in the room have her way.

I used to think a man like that was harmless.