I was shaking with rage. "Why should I?"
"This is what Grandpa left me!"
My mother planted her hands on her hips and shouted, "Because I'm your mother, that's why!"
"By law, everything your grandfather left belongs to me. What makes you think any of it is yours?"
"After all the years I raised you, fed you, clothed you, and now you want to fall out with us over a little money?"
"Your brother is the one who carries on this family. Without a place of his own he'll never get a wife. Can you take responsibility for that?"
Cicely Pruitt put on her sweet, coaxing voice. "Carrie, just give it to him."
"Mom and Dad had it hard raising us. You should think about them a little!"
"Besides, you're about to marry Tom Fox. His family's loaded. A little money like this means nothing to them."
My father chimed in too. "Tom's family is well off. Once you marry in you'll live the good life. Helping your family out is the least you can do."
"That money, you're handing it over today. Whether you want to or not."
I gritted my teeth. "I won't."
My father's hand cracked across my face. "You've got some nerve!"
The slap landed hard. My cheek burned, and the corner of my mouth split open.
Tears welled up, and I forced them back down.
So this was what family meant.
To them I had never been a daughter, never a sister. Just a tool they could squeeze whenever they needed something.
I drew a slow breath and said in a low voice, "Take the card if you want. But I'm the only one who knows the PIN, and you'd better not push me."
That one line pushed them over the edge.
They locked me in the house. They took my phone and my ID.
They were afraid I'd quietly move the money, afraid I'd run to Tom and tell him everything.
That night my mother brought in a plate of food and coaxed me with fake concern. "Carrie, just listen to your mother and tell us the PIN. We're one family. Why make it ugly like this?"
I answered coldly. "Give me back my card and let me out."
Her brow knotted and she snapped, "Why do you have to be so stubborn!"
"Let me be straight with you. You remember the Walter family's son?"
"The one who runs the building-supply plant. He's divorced, sure, but he's got money, and he's willing to pay three hundred and eighty thousand in bride price to marry you."
"Your father and I talked it over. We think it's a fine match..."
My head snapped up. "You're going to sell me?"
My mother looked annoyed. "Sell? Don't make it sound so awful!"
"They're a respectable family. Marry in and you'd be the boss's wife. More people want that than you'd believe. Don't be so ungrateful."
I burst out, "I'm not marrying him. I already have a boyfriend!"
She sniffed. "Tom's a good catch, but you're not good enough for him."
"Cicely likes Tom too. She's the one who's a real match for him."
"You're the older sister. Would it kill you to give a little to your sister?"
It hit me like a bolt of lightning. I shook all over, my lips trembling, no words coming out.
Seeing me silent, she took it as agreement, gave a satisfied grunt, and turned and walked out.
The next afternoon Cicely came in carrying a glass of milk, her face full of put-on concern. "Carrie, eat something. What if you make yourself sick?"
I ignored her.
She sat on the edge of my bed and rattled on. "Mom and Dad really do want what's best for you. Sure, Walter's divorced, but he's rich!"
"And once you're married off, Grandpa's old house can be transferred to our brother, and my dowry can come out of it too..."
She'd said too much, and clapped a hand over her mouth.
I said coldly, "So you had it all planned out?"
"Take my money, take my fiancé, and take the old house Grandpa left me too?"
Cicely's mouth curled before she could stop it. "Well, you're the older sister, aren't you? Contributing to this family is only right."
"Besides, it's not like Mom and Dad are your real parents..."
She cut herself off mid-sentence, then shot up in a panic. "I didn't say anything!"
She spun around and ran, leaving me sitting alone on the bed, my head roaring.
Cicely's words tore through my mind like a thunderclap.
Every moment from all my years growing up flashed past me at once.
Mom and Dad always taking my brother and sister's side, always giving me the hardest work, always stingiest with me, never willing to buy me even a single new piece of clothing...
So it was never that I wasn't good enough. It was that I was never their child at all.
No. I couldn't just sit here and wait for it to happen.
I had to get out. I had to find out the truth about where I came from.
