Others had asked why a grown woman could dictate whether their father walked another daughter down the aisle.

“Your family is having a conversation it should have had years ago,” Marianne told me.

“That sounds exhausting.”

“It is.

But the important part is that you don’t have to manage it.”

She looked toward the frame Frank had made.

“Your father is not a bad man, Clara.

But he has spent so long confusing Vanessa’s anger with danger that he’s forgotten the difference.”