Not only had Sammy never loved Rosa; he was not capable of loving her, except with the half-mocking, companionable affection he always had felt for her, a modest structure, never intended for extended habitation, long since buried under heavy brambles of indebtedness and choked in the ivy of frustration and blame. It was only now that Joe understood the sacrifice Sammy had made, not just for Joe’s or for Rosa’s or for Tommy’s sake, but for his own: not a merely gallant gesture but a deliberate and conscious act of self-immurement. Joe was appalled.
