Ralph had wanted her to quit cleaning houses so that she could watch Penelope and give the girl what neither of them had known: a parent alive and devoted to them. But Penelope was old enough to watch herself; she went to school; she was fed; she was clean; she needed nothing else. Mirella was the one who needed things. At least, she didn’t have to ask Ralph for an allowance, like a child, and she could see what she had accomplished at work each day, each year, as her little stockpile of savings grew steadily in the bank.
