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"I didn't get in trouble back in West Virginia, and I won't get in trouble here. I won't be in Cape Cod very long," I promised confidently.

He grunted. "Good. hold you to that. Do your chores, do well in school and mind Sara, then we'll all be fine." He reached for his pipe and stuffed new tobacco into it.

"I didn't even know until today I was going to be staying here," I said.

His eyes widened. "That so?"

"Yes. I thought we were coming here only to visit."

He nodded, thoughtful. "Haille always had a lot of problems with the truth. It was like hot coals in her hands."

"Why don't you like my mother? Is it only because she didn't have ancestors that went back to the Pilgrims?"

"We're all sinners," he said. "Our first parents, Adam and Eve, caused us to be cast from Paradise and wander the earth struggling with pain until we're granted mercy. No one's better than anyone else."

"She said you treated her poorly because she was an orphan," I threw back at him.

"That's a no-account lie," he snapped.

"Then why didn't you and my daddy talk all these years?"

"That was his doing, not mine," Uncle Jacob said. He lit his pipe.

"What did he do?"

"He defied his mother and father," he replied, a hard edge in his voice. "It says in the Bible to honor thy mother and father, not defy them."

"How did he defy them?"

"Your mother never told you?"

"And my brother, he never said nothing about it either?"

"Nothing about what?" I asked.

He tightened his lips and pulled himself back in the chair. "This ain't a proper conversation for me to have with a young woman. The sins of the father weigh heavily on the shoulders of his sons and daughters, too. That's all I'll say about it."

"But . ."

"No buts. I've taken you in and asked you to behave while you stay. Let's leave it at that."

I held back my tears.

He lit his pipe again, took a few puffs, and looked at me. "Sunday you'll meet my parents. We're going to their house for dinner. You be on your best behavior. They ain't happy I took you in."

It was as if an electric shock had passed through me. What sort of grandparents were these? How could they hold a grudge so deeply?

"Maybe I shouldn't go," I said.

He pulled the pipe from his mouth sharply. "Of course you'll go. You'll go anywhere this family goes as long as you're living under this roof, hear?" His eyes seemed to sizzle as they glared at me.

"Yes, sir," I said.

"That's better." He rocked gently but continued staring at me.

I started to rise from the chair.

"It ain't proper to leave without first asking permission."