There will never be room for excuses in your life again. In fact," and Chanazene's calm voice edged to venom, "I think the word excuse is the worst, m...st useless, word ever invented."John Phillips subsided. Clearly his protestations were not being heard, heeded and barely even noticed. "I have here, excepts, of your emails, Mr. Phillips. The respondents have notarized that they received them and in most cases, provided me with copies of them on their own computers. Copies sent and copies. "I laughed. "All right."Have you forgiven your parents? Josh asked Wanda after sipping some ice tea?No. What my parents did to me isn't forgivable. Gloria says she's all right with that.What Gloria thinks doesn't matter anymore.Why not?What matters is what you think, what you feel. That said, Gloria is a wonderful woman, caring, loving, and very, very wise. Personally, I'll listen carefully to any counsel she offers me, but in the end, I'm responsible for myself, so I must decide what's right. How could this be? How could this possibly happen? When we were eighteen years old we demanded to know the truth from our parents. My Mama told me that Charles’s father, Emmet Tate, had been a few years older than she and seduced by his charm and good looks and wealth. And they both swore never to let the truth be told to me and Paul for they didn’t think we’d become childhood sweethearts instead of just being friends. When Charles and I met up at the bench one hot summer’s day by the swamp. I poured out a snack for Hobo and the Proper Villain. Pilar would feed them again before she left for the Brookside cookout.Adam padded back to my bedroom, watched indifferently as I undressed, took a quick shower. I pulled on a bra, looked at Adam, “Daddy.”It was mid-November, but temperatures were still in the low 70s so I opted for a white V-neck, just a hint of cleavage. I was still nude from the waist down when Chip called, “How’d it go?”“Monday will be the key day. They’re testing the.