A frown covered his usually impassive face. His narrow eyes tightened into slits and his head whipped toward at my mother. "Rose?"
She shrugged, perfect in her usually garb of shirt, jeans and slippers. "I don't know what she's talking about. You know she's ... "
I swore she was about to say I'd always been a drama queen, but she caught herself in time.
Now the two of them stared at me as if they could read my mind simply by looking at me.
Kofi's advice rang in my ears. He made good sense. I'd never have a better opportunity to get this out of my system. Now was the time to clear the air. Holding my mother's gaze, I spoke to my father. "Daddy, can you leave us alone?"
He got to his feet, touching my mother's shoulder. "Just promise me you won't come to blows."
Smiling, I propped my jaw on my fist. "I promise it won't come to that."
When Daddy disappeared, my smile did too. I studied Mom without speaking, watching her as she studied me. She wouldn't believe what I was going to tell her, but I didn't care. I was at the point where I believed I could be happy if I stopped living in the past so much, and I wasn't about to let my mother take that away from me.
"Christopher Chen."
Her eyes widened when I spoke. Then she frowned. "What about him, except for the fact that you let him get away?"
My snark came back and I let her have it. "Thank God for that. He wasn't as great a catch as you and Aunt Amy made him out to be."
"Why d'you say that? What are you accusing him of?"
"I'm not accusing him of anything." Spite curled my lips. "I'm about to give you some hard facts."
"You never said he did anything to you, so why are you bringing him up now?" Mom’s hand went to her neck and her breath quickened, as if she anticipated me proving that her hero had feet of clay.
I dragged in a deep breath and squared my shoulders. Now that the time was here to get this thing off my chest, I examined my hands as if they held answers. Try as I might, I couldn't quite gather the words I needed. Sighing, I raised my head.
Mom's elevated eyebrows signaled that I was killing her with my silence. Spite made me think she deserved to wait, but it didn't give me any pleasure.
"He raped me."
If I didn't know better, I would have thought my mother's blood had solidified in her veins. Nothing moved, except for her eyes. She blinked rapidly and then swallowed as if something was stuck in her throat. "Regina ... what?"
"You heard me." I threw a glance at the doorway, although I knew my father wouldn't think of eavesdropping on us.
"Why ... when?"
"After he took me out on our third date that summer, he thought he was entitled to my body."
Mom shook her head as if she couldn't process what I was telling her. Her mouth opened and closed, but no words came.
I expected her to flare up as she normally did, so I couldn't understand her reaction.
"This is a serious accusation." She folded both hands and took a deep breath. "Are you sure, Gina?"
Her words fell on me like a heavy load. "This is the thing. You've always thought I was stupid."
"How can you say that? We don't get along but ... " Her words dried up and she wrapped one hand around her neck. When she spoke again, her voice was low. "I didn't ... you were withdrawn and then impossible to deal with, right around the time when ... "
"Yes, Mom. Right aroundthattime."
Her eyes were glossy when she picked up the thread of her thought. "You never said anything ... why?"
"Would you have believed me?"
She didn't answer. Instead, she stared into space as if rational thought had deserted her.
