"That's another thing that's going around." He subsided only because it
seemed easier to get it all over with at once. "Go ahead then, say what
you have to say."
"You think I don't understand. You think I can't relate to what's eating
you up inside. You're wrong. I was raped when I was ten years old."
Shock jolted his heart, pain squeezed his soul. "Jesus, Anna! Jesus, I'm
sorry. I didn't know."
"Now you do. Does it change me, Ethan? Aren't I the same person I was
thirty seconds ago?" She reached for his hand again, held it this time.
"I know what it is to be helpless and terrified and want to die. And I
know what it is to make something of your life, despite that. And I know
what it is to have that horror in you always. No matter how much you've
learned, no matter how much you've come to accept it and know it was
never, ever your fault."
"It's not the same."
"It's never the same, not for any two people. We have something more in
common as well. I never knew who my father was. Was he a good man or a
bad one? Tall or short? Did he love my mother, or did he use her? I
don't know what parts of him were passed to me."
"But you knew your mother."
"Yes, and she was wonderful. Beautiful. And yours wasn't. She beat you,
physically and emotionally. She made you a victim. Why are you letting
her keep you one? Why are you letting her win even now?"
"It's me now, Anna. There has to be something twisted, something sour
inside a person to make them the way she was. I came from that."
"Sins of the fathers, Ethan?"
"I'm not taking on her sins, I'm talking about heredity. You can pass on
the color of your eyes, your build. Weak hearts, alcoholism, longevity.
Those things can run in families."
"You've given this a lot of thought."
"Yeah, I have. I had to make a decision, and I made it."
"So you decided you could never marry or have children."
"It wouldn't be fair."
"Well, then, you'd better talk to Seth before too long."
"Seth?"
"Someone has to tell him he's never going to be able to have a wife and
children. It's best if he knows that early, so he can try to protect
himself from becoming emotionally involved with a woman."
For a trio of heartbeats he could only gape at her. "What the hell are
you talking about?"
"Heredity. We can't be sure what bad traits Gloria DeLauter passed down
to him. God knows she's got something twisted inside her, just as you
said. A whore, a drunk, a junkie, from all accounts."
"There's nothing wrong with that boy."
"What difference does that make?" She met Ethan's furious stare blandly.
"He shouldn't be allowed to take chances."
"You can't mix him in with me this way."
"I don't see why. You both come from similar situations. In fact, there
are far too many cases that come through social services nationally that
slip into parallel categories. I wonder if we can pass a law to prevent