Elle sniffles. “It’s just—I thought Grandma should know. That we found Aunt Marley. And that you’re with Tony. And that Dad didn’t win the court case.” All at once it dawns on me what Elle is trying to get to. Marley’s face mirrors my thoughts, and I know she sees it, too. My mother—our mother—somehow found the strength to break free of the chains of her own family. Her mother, her grandmother, her mother-in-law, all were suppressed and beaten down by life and their husbands. Love for her daughters gave Mom the strength to break free from indoctrination and violence, to create a reality in
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