Read Online What She Left Behind by Ellen Marie Wiseman - Free Book Online

nothing wrong with me.”
    “I see,” Dr. Thorn said, scribbling on his pad. “How then, do you think you came to the Long Island Home?”
    Clara sat in a wooden chair, her ankles crossed between the seat, her hands folded in her lap. She dug her fingernails into her palm and tried to look calm. “My father isn’t used to me standing up for myself. He thinks women should be seen and not heard. This is his way of silencing me, of trying to prove he can control me. He’s trying to force me to do something I don’t want to do.”
    “Isn’t it a father’s job to do what’s best for his children?”
    “Yes,” she said. “It is. But he’s not doing what’s best for me! He’s trying to force me to marry a lousy, no-good . . .” She paused, stomach churning, worried she was saying too much. “What did my father tell you about me? Why did he send me here?”
    “He said you had some kind of breakdown. He’s worried that you’re not thinking clearly.”
    “That’s absurd,” she said. “He just can’t handle the truth.”
    “And what is the truth, Clara?”
    “The truth is my parents care more about money and power than their children.”
    “You seem to have a lot of anger toward them for sending you here.”
    Clara sat up straighter. “Of course I’m angry!” she said, raising her voice. “Who wouldn’t be?”
    Dr. Thorn nodded and wrote something down in his notebook. He asked the next question without looking up. “Do you believe your father is plotting against you, Clara?”
    Clara stiffened. “No,” she said, shaking her head. “Plotting is too strong a word. My father thinks sending me here will teach me a lesson. He doesn’t approve of the man I love. He thinks when I go back home I’ll go along with his plans.”
    Dr. Thorn set down his pen. He took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes, then folded his hands on the desk and gazed at Clara, searching her face. “Sometimes,” he said in a quiet voice, “when we get anxious or upset, we imagine things. Your father says you accused him of killing your brother.”
    “That’s not true!” she said. “My brother committed suicide because he thought he had nothing to live for. My father ruined him and my mother let it happen.”
    “Do you hold your parents responsible for your brother’s death?”
    “They could have handled things differently,” she said. “Instead they went to extremes like they always do. Instead of talking things through like normal parents, they got rid of him!”
    “And now you think they’re trying to get rid of you too.”
    “That’s not what I . . .” Clara stopped talking and tried to slow her thundering heart, suddenly realizing her words could be twisted around and used against her.
    “Is something wrong?” Dr. Thorn said, lifting his eyebrows.
    She shook her head.
    “Why don’t you finish what you were saying?” he said.
    She looked down at her hands, feeling her eyes flood. “You’re not listening to me,” she said. “You’re only hearing what you want to hear. You’re twisting my words and making it sound like I’m unstable.”
    “You seem to be very suspicious of people,” he said. “Your parents, the man they want you to marry. Even me.”
    “How would you feel if the tables were turned, Doctor? Wouldn’t you try to explain yourself and ask to be released if you were perfectly sane?”
    Dr. Thorn closed his writing pad and put his glasses back on. “The patients here at the Long Island Home are only allowed to leave with a release from me, or at the request of the admitting party, in this case, your father.”
    “So what would happen if I just packed up my suitcase and left? What if I just walked down the driveway and out the front gate?”
    Dr. Thorn smiled and sniffed, as if suppressing a laugh. “I suppose you could try,” he said. “But the Long Island Home consists of fourteen acres and it’s quite a walk to the front gate. We’d stop you before you got very far. Besides,