Chapter 8: Amy’s Voice
Amy agreed to a recorded interview with Ruiz only after Frederick’s nap schedule aligned and her sister could sit in the hall.
She spoke without embroidery. Teresa controlled the pantry. Teresa controlled the thermostat. Teresa called Amy lazy for pregnancy recovery and called Frederick’s fever “attention-seeking.” Amy had believed that telling me would force a choice I would fail. “I thought I’d lose the house either way,” she said. “If I stayed quiet, I kept a roof. If I spoke, she said Connor would send me back to my mother.”
Ruiz’s pen paused. “Did Connor ever say that?”
“No,” Amy said. “She said it for him.”
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I listened to the summary later and felt something clean and sharp. Amy had been living under a ventriloquist act. My job was to make sure no one spoke through my mouth again.
That night Amy stood at the sink by choice and washed two cups. I dried. Frederick chewed a teether on a mat. The domesticity was radical.
