Between Sisters - Kristin Hannah [0]
Title Page
Dedication
Quotes
Acknowledgments
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-one
Chapter Twenty-two
Chapter Twenty-three
Chapter Twenty-four
Chapter Twenty-five
Chapter Twenty-six
Chapter Twenty-seven
Chapter Twenty-eight
Chapter Twenty-nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-one
Epilogue
By Kristin Hannah
Copyright Page
For my sister, Laura.
And for my father, Laurence.
And, as always, for Benjamin and Tucker.
I love you all.
“We do not see things as they are,
we see them as we are.”
—ANAÏS NIN
“If love is the answer, could you please rephrase the question?”
—LILY TOMLIN
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Thanks to Dr. Barbara Snyder and Katherine Stone . . . again; thanks to Diane VanDerbeek, attorney extraordinaire, for her help with legal matters; and finally, to John and Diane and the wonderful crew of the Olympus: Thanks for a fun-filled and memorable boat trip.
CHAPTER
ONE
DR. BLOOM WAITED PATIENTLY FOR AN ANSWER.
Meghann Dontess leaned back in her seat and studied her fingernails. It was time for a manicure. Past time. “I try not to feel too much, Harriet. You know that. I find it impedes my enjoyment of life.”
“Is that why you've seen me every week for four years? Because you enjoy your life so much?”
“I wouldn't point that out if I were you. It doesn't say much for your psychiatric skills. It's entirely possible, you know, that I was perfectly normal when I met you and you're actually making me crazy.”
“You're using humor as a shield again.”
“You're giving me too much credit. That wasn't funny.”
Harriet didn't smile. “I rarely think you're funny.”
“There goes my dream of doing stand-up.”
“Let's talk about the day you and Claire were separated.”
Meghann shifted uncomfortably in her seat. Just when she needed a smart-ass response, her mind went blank. She knew what Harriet was poking around for, and Harriet knew she knew. If Meghann didn't answer, the question would simply be asked again. “Separated. A nice, clean word. Detached. I like it, but that subject is closed.”
“It's interesting that you maintain a relationship with your mother while distancing yourself from your sister.”
Meghann shrugged. “Mama's an actress. I'm a lawyer. We're comfortable with make-believe.”
“Meaning?”
“Have you ever read one of her interviews?”
“No.”
“She tells everyone that we lived this poor, pathetic-but-loving existence. We pretend it's the truth.”
“You were living in Bakersfield when the pathetic-but-loving pretense ended, right?”
Meghann remained silent. Harriet had maneuvered her back to the painful subject like a rat through a maze.
Harriet went on, “Claire was nine years old. She was missing several teeth, if I remember correctly, and she was having difficulties with math.”
“Don't,” Meghann curled her fingers around the chair's sleek wooden arms.
Harriet stared at her. Beneath the unruly black ledge of her eyebrows, her gaze was steady. Small round glasses magnified her eyes. “Don't back away, Meg. We're making progress.”
“Any more progress and I'll need an aid car. We should talk about my practice. That's why I come to you, you know. It's a pressure cooker down in Family Court these days. Yesterday, I had a deadbeat dad drive up in a Ferrari and then swear he was flat broke. The shithead. Didn't want to pay for his daughter's tuition. Too bad for him I videotaped his arrival.”
“Why do you keep paying me if you don't want to discuss the root of your problems?”
“I have issues, not problems. And there's no point in poking around in the past. I was sixteen when all that happened. Now, I'm a whopping forty-two. It's time to move on. I did the right thing. It doesn't matter anymore.”
“Then why do you still have the nightmare?”
She fiddled with the silver David Yurman bracelet