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at what his father does for a living, for Christ's sake! And I know perfectly well you are privy to the gossip bandied about concerning what that odious man does to his wife.”
    “And his son,” Bronnie stressed, her teeth clenched. “Or did you forget what Sean's father did to him when he defended me to Father Goodmayer all those years ago?”
    Deirdre shook her head. “I haven't forgotten, but it doesn't matter.”
    “It matters to me!” Bronnie said, coming to her feet. “I love Sean Cullen, Mama. I've loved him for a long, long time!”
    “You are too young to know what love is.”
    “He said you'd do this one day. He knew you would!”
    “Then he isn't as stupid as he acts.”
    “There is nothing stupid about him!”
    “Don't you dare raise you voice to me, Bronwyn Fionna!”
    “I won't have you talking about Sean like that.”
    “You watch your tone, young lady. We've never had to ground you before, but there is always a first time.”
    “Then do it! It won't stop me from loving Sean Cullen and it won't stop me from seeing him every chance I get!”
    “He'll be eighteen next month,” Deirdre said. “I checked with his homeroom teacher, Mrs. Daniels, to make sure when his birthday is.”
    “What has that got to...?”
    “And you are still underage. In the eyes of the law, he will be an adult and you are a child. He could be arrested and charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor.”
    “You wouldn't.”
    “Try me.”
    “He hasn't done anything wrong,” Bronnie said, tears welling in her eyes.
    “You are not to see him again. Is that understood?” When Bronnie did not reply, Deirdre stood up. “If you do, he will be the one to pay for it. We will have him arrested and he will go to jail. That, I can promise you.”
    Tears streaked down Bronnie's pale cheeks. “Why are you doing this?”
    “He is nothing more than a passing fancy. A teenage rebellion your father and I should have put a stop to long before now.”
    “I love him!” Bronnie sobbed.
    “You think you love him. I'll concede he is a handsome young man, but the world is full of handsome young men. When you go on to college—”
    “I'm not going to college!”
    “Yes, dear, you are going to college,” DeeDee emphasized. “And you'll meet a young man whom you will be very proud to bring home to introduce to your father and I. When that happens, you will know what true love really is.”
    “You might take me out of Sean's arms, but you'll never take him out of my heart! I will love him with my dying breath! If I can't be with him, I won't ever be with another man!”
    “Then you'd better prepare yourself for the Carmelites, sweetie, because I'd rather see you spend your life in a convent than shackled to a nobody like Sean Cullen!”
    * * * *
    Bronnie fled the room before she could say something she might later regret. As much as she loved her mother, she neither respected nor liked her at the moment. Flinging herself down on her bed, she pulled her old teddy bear to her and buried her face in the slick fur.
    Her sobs shook the bed.
    * * * *
    Deirdre went to the phone and dialed the hospital. It was rare that she had an argument with her daughter. Those times when she had, the argument had been over the Cullen boy and Bronwyn's obsession with him. Such arguments brought on migraines and now Deirdre felt one pulsing over her right eye.
    “Sylvia, let me speak to Dr. McGregor, please,” she told the switchboard operator.
    “I'll see if he's available, Miss DeeDee,” the operator replied, recognizing Deirdre's voice.
    Lighting a cigarette while she waited for her husband to come on the line, Deirdre fanned the smoke out of her face and massaged the pain over her eye with the heel of her hand.
    “What's up?” her husband asked when he picked up.
    “You have got to do something about that boy.”
    Dermot didn't need to ask whom Deirdre meant. “Did you talk to her?”
    “I did and I got the reaction we