Every one of you is on the ship as my guest, which means I can have all five of you removed at the next port and left standing on the dock in Nassau.
I would think carefully before you close that hand.”
His hand stopped in the air, an inch from my sleeve.
His mouth worked, but nothing came out of it.
After a moment, slowly, he lowered his arm.
I adjusted my dress, and I walked to the glass elevators, and I did not look back to see their faces, because for the first time in my life I did not need to know what they thought of me.
That, more than the penthouse or the wristband or the engine-room cabin, was the real change.
For thirty-three years, the thermostat of my entire inner life had been set by the expressions on those three faces.
I could read the smallest shift in my father’s jaw, the particular tightness that came into my mother’s voice before a request, the sulk that meant Brynn was about to need something.
I had spent my whole life facing them, watching for the weather, adjusting myself moment to moment to keep them warm.