My mother opened her eyes, and they were sharp as broken glass.

“Are you still,” she said, “going to sit there and dictate to me how much I am allowed to feel?”

And for the first time in the whole of his life, in front of all of us, my father had nothing to say.

Chapter 16 — You Fix It

Over the following days the full shape of the financial betrayal came clear.

The sixty thousand dollars was gone.