Page 9 of Strangers She Knows

“If you go to camp, you won’t be here having fun with your friends.” Max’s logic was impeccable.

Kellen clapped her hand to her forehead.

Max glanced at her as if confused. “Please. If you have something to say, say it.”

Stop talking.She shook her head, frantic to make him stop talking, frantic at herself for being unable to take command of her voice.

He took her head shake as a sign she didn’t want to speak, and turned back to Rae. “You’ll have the chance to see your friends, I hope really soon, but we’ve got to do this as a family.”

Great, Max. Throw some blame on me.Even if she could speak, Kellen wouldn’t have said that out loud. Kellen had come into Rae’s life when the child was almost seven. Before that, Max and his mother, Verona Di Luca, had raised her. Now, three years later, because of the time Kellen had spent in the hospital and in physical therapy, she still hadn’t assumed the complete role as Rae’s mother.

In a voice rife with tragedy, Rae declared, “You don’t love me anymore.”

Max rose and started toward Rae. “Of course we love you.”

Rae shot Kellen an accusing look. “I noticeMotherhas nothing to say.” She pointed a finger at Max. “Don’t come near me!” She stomped her foot, whirled and ran up the stairs, wailing loud, dramatic tears.

Max stared after their usually cheerful, loving daughter. “What the hell?” He turned to Kellen and spread his fingers. “What the hell?”

Breathe. Relax. Breathe.

Verona stepped into the doorway.

VERONA DI LUCA:

FEMALE, 67YO, 5'10", 130LBS, HANDSOME RATHER THAN BEAUTIFUL. A MATRIARCH OF THE DI LUCA FAMILY, MOTHER TO MAX AND HIS SISTER IRENE, GRANDMOTHER TO ANNABELLA AND TO RAE. AMERICAN WITH ROOTS DUG DEEP INTO ITALIAN TRADITION. IMPRESSIVE AND AUTHORITATIVE.

“Here we go,” Verona said.

“Here we go—where?” Max asked.

“Puberty has begun.”

“Puberty?” Max almost shouted. “She’s only ten.” He turned to Kellen. “She’s only ten, right?”

Kellen nodded—andbreathed.

“She’ll be eleven next year,” Verona said. “Don’t you remember your sister at eleven?”

Max froze, transfixed with alarm.

Verona said to Kellen, “She was exactly like that. A lovely child one moment, the next a temperamental, shrieking virago.”

In desperation, Max said, “But Rae is so mature. So calm. So capable. So kind. So—”

“So flooded with hormones.” Verona was enjoying herself. “When she was motherless, she was forced to mature early. Did you think you would never pay for all that maturity? Now she has a mother, everyone is well—” she nodded at Kellen “—and she can regress. She’ll be by turns rude, cruel, secretive—”

“Were you like that, Kellen?” Max asked.

Kellen shrugged her shoulders. Yes, the exercises had helped, the constriction had eased, but she still didn’t trust herself to speak.

“I certainly was.” Verona smiled like the wicked queen inSleeping Beauty. “Ah, Maximilian, how I will enjoy this.”

“Maybe not close up,” Kellen whispered. She could speak. Not loudly, but she could speak.

Max pointed up the stairs, then pointed at Kellen. “And you want to tell that demon the truth of what’s happening?”

He did have a point.

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