Sybil at Sixteen by Susan Beth Pfeffer Page B

any happier with me if I sat here reading the paper and claiming to have no idea of what Sam must be feeling.”
    â€œYou are damned,” Evvie said. “That’s the first thing you’ve gotten right in a long time.”
    â€œDon’t say that!” Sybil cried.
    â€œIt’s all right,” Nick said. “Let her get it out of her system. If Evvie wants to vent her rage on me, I can handle it. I’m not the defenseless dolt Clark is.”
    â€œAt least Clark’s honest,” Evvie said. “He doesn’t pretend to care about somebody and then turn around and murder them.”
    â€œI have no idea what you’re talking about,” Nick said.
    â€œYou have every idea,” Evvie said. “Do you think I’m a fool? You must have known I’d figure out you were the one who set Linda up. Who else could find out where Sam had gone? Who else was petty enough to destroy a family just for twenty-five thousand? Not even a defenseless dolt like Clark would do something that evil. Only you, Nicky. Only the man who likes to call me his daughter.”
    â€œYou are my daughter,” Nick said, but the smile was gone, and Sybil could see pain starting to etch across his face.
    â€œMaybe I was once,” Evvie said. “I know I’ve forgiven you a lot of things over the years because you were my father, because of those damned birthday waltzes, and the way you’d introduce me to your friends, and the way you’d smile and say how proud you were of me. I can’t remember a time when you didn’t have a special look in your eyes just seeing me. I remember all those nights you’d tuck me in and tell me stories, or carry in those endless glasses of water I demanded, or chase away the monsters I knew were lurking under my bed. And I’ve forgiven you a lot over the years because of who you used to be. But not anymore, Nicky. I have too many grievances, you have too many sins. And this last one is beyond endurance. Forgiveness is no longer an option. It’s easier just to deny your existence than to try to make excuses any longer.”
    â€œThings will get better, Evvie,” Nick said.
    â€œNo they won’t,” she replied.
    â€œOf course they will,” Sybil said. “They always do. No matter how bad things get, things get better. Look at me. Nobody thought I’d ever be able to walk again, except Nicky, and then I learned how to all over again, and I’ve gotten better and stronger, thanks to him. And we didn’t have a home, and now we do, and soon Nicky’ll be on his feet again, and things will be the way they used to be.”
    â€œHow?” Evvie asked. “With the twenty-five thousand he got for killing Sam’s family?”
    â€œI don’t see how I can be held responsible for that,” Nick said. “I’m not the one who put the reward out for his mother. For that matter, the bank isn’t responsible for what she did in the first place. Sam’s life has been tragic, I’m not denying that, but the responsibility lies clearly with his parents and has nothing to do with me.”
    Evvie shook her head. “That’s your specialty, isn’t it, Nicky,” she declared. “Denying your responsibility. Letting other people do the dirty work, and then gathering the benefits. I’m glad I was too young to understand how your business dealings worked. You probably belong in prison a hundred times over for those deals you concocted.”
    â€œYou’re wrong,” Nick said. “I never did anything illegal.”
    â€œWhy should I believe you?” Evvie asked. “You think I don’t remember those midnight moves? I’ve carried with me all those lessons you taught me about what to say to creditors and how to make an impossible situation seem like a trifle. I lied for you a thousand times before I was sixteen, telling people you weren’t in, telling