Girl in the Shadows (Shadows 2)

"My mother's not thinking straight about this at

the moment. It'll be all right, once I finish here. which

I have to do very soon, actually sooner than I had

planned."

"It'll be all right? Is that what you think? I'm

happy for you." "I just meant--"

"Look. Tyler, this all sounds stupid to me.

You're not a child. Just stand up to her."

"It's not a matter of that. It's a matter of

respect," he said.

"Right." I looked down at the control for

Destiny and slipped it into my hand. "What do you

think. Destiny?" I asked the doll, and threw my voice

to have her speak

"We have a mama's boy here," Destiny said. "Very funny. An obedient son is not a mama's

boy. April. My mother comes from a different world

and she hasn't lost her tradition and her sense of what

she was taught is right and is wrong. It's how I was

brought up," he explained. "Our first duty is to our

parents. We don't desert them because they're old or

sick and we respect their wisdom,"

"You should be telling Echo all this, not me. -

Why come to me with these explanations and excuses.

anyway?" I asked.

He looked away and then he sat forward, his

head down. "It's not only what happened in the mall.

I'm ashamed about how I behaved here with you. I

shouldn't have done what I did."

"I didn't mind it," I confessed with a

/> nonchalance that brought his eves up sharply. "Look. I