But it was the only currency my sister understood, and I had a daughter to protect, and I had spent too many years being the reasonable one while Gwen took and took.

That was over.

My mother, for once in her life, did not defend her.

She simply said, quietly, that she understood.

And, for the first time I could remember, she did.

Chapter 16 — Maya’s Birthday

Three months later, the golden late-afternoon sun was shining across our backyard, and our family was hosting a small barbecue to celebrate Maya’s sixteenth birthday.

By then, the rest of it had unfolded, quietly and lawfully, without any further help from us.