All throughout the day, various other family members and friends returned to the mansion as well. Mama and Daddy were overjoyed to see me and didn't blame me in the slightest for what happened.

"It really wasn't that bad," Daddy informed me. "We were in our own personal heavens, but since you weren't there, it wasn't really true and I'm glad we came back." After this, I left him to ponder that.

As I headed towards the front doors, I noticed my uncle and his party heading out the door.

"Are you leaving, Uncle Edward?" he smiled at me and lightly ruffled my hair.

"Yes, Chrissy. Your father is back. You have no need for me anymore."

"Yeah, but I can tell you what they do need," Megan said, coming up behind him. "Serious family therapy! Lettie told me the whole story, and they have got to be the most messed up people to walk the earth!" As I watched her disappear behind a wall, I began to think.

Mama scowled at Daddy and tightened her supportive grip on my shoulder. "Really, George, a therapist? She's your daughter, why couldn't you have dealt with it?"

Daddy's eyes widened. "For God's sake, Lillian, she was screaming like a banshee! What was I supposed to do?"

"Well for starters, Daddy, you could have told her everything was all right! I'm surprised she never hated me!"

I groaned and rubbed my hands against my temples. They'd been going on like this ever since we'd arrived, and it was giving me a headache. I turned around and faced them.

"Will y'all be quiet? There will be plenty of time to vent when we see Doctor Bright, but for now can we just behave like civilized human beings?"

They shut up immediately, and I allowed myself a deep breath. Finally, Rita called us.

"Christine, Doctor Bright will see you and your family now, in the calm room."

I knew where the calm room was because it had been where Doctor Bright had treated me all the times I'd been there.

The calm room was painted in light blue and had paintings of the ocean on every wall. The lights were always dim and nothing except classical music was ever played in the room. When we arrived, I knocked on the door and was greeted rather enthusiastically by Dr. Bright who was standing on the other side. He was tall and graying, as well as going bald.

"Teeny! I'm so glad to see you! Well actually, I hoped I'd never have to see you again, but I mean that in a nice way."

I smiled and hugged him back. I noticed Mama frown again at Daddy when she heard Dr. Bright's nickname for me.

When we were all settled in, Dr. Bright began speaking.

"All right, we are all here for family therapy. I have some simple rules and if you follow them, this should work smoothly. Only one person talks at a time, no one talks out of turn, and no one will call anyone names like liar, or say that whatever the other person is saying isn't true. Now, I've worked with Chrissy here for years and each one of you has been part of what she's told me, but the one she's told me most about is her father. George, would you like to speak first?"

Daddy nodded. He opened his mouth and then shut it again. "I'm afraid I don't know where to begin.

"Start at the beginning," Dr. Bright suggested.

Daddy nodded and took a deep breath. "I guess it all started with my parents. I was nearly born out of wedlock. My mother never really wanted children, least of all a little boy like me. When I got old enough, she sent me away to boarding school and never wrote. Other kids would get cheerful letters from their parents, but not me. Then, when I was in college, my mother murdered my father in cold blood. Split his head open with an axe.

"That really was a blow. I never saw my father because of school and the fact that he worked all the time. That was why I sought the spirit mediums. That's why I needed Madame Leota. And because of my mother," he paused to wipe away a tear that was falling down his cheek, "because of my mother not teaching me how to love, I did the same thing to my daughter that my mother did to me. I just didn't want to deal with her. That's why I sent her to you in the first place."

Looking emotionally drained, my father fell back onto his chair. Mama looked at Doctor Bright. "May I go next?" her voice was uncharacteristically cold.

"Of course." Dr. Bright nodded and she stood up and narrowed her eyes at my father.

"As emotionally distressing as your life is George, this isn't about you. It's about Chrissy-Lily. You abandoned our daughter to strangers. You abandoned her and you abandoned me. My brothers told me you were bad, and I didn't believe them. But now I'm starting to. You are a cruel, sadistic, manipulative, self-indulgent cad and I wish to God that I'd never laid eyes on you!"

Her voice built with every sentence, until with the last few it reached fever pitch. After Mama had finished, she turned away from the group and stalked out of the room crying.

As soon as she was gone, I felt myself rising out of my chair. I was angry. Daddy didn't deserve any of that. I left the room and came back with Mama in tow. I pushed her back in her chair and got up to speak myself.

"Now just a minute, Mama. Daddy didn't deserve that, and those who live in glass houses shouldn't cast stones."

Mama frowned at me. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"You talk about him abandoning me, and you berate him for it. But what about you?"

Mama stood up. "What about me?"

I felt my eyes begin to water. "You abandoned me, too!"

Mama shook her head. "I didn't abandon anyone. I died!"

I felt myself beginning to cry in earnest. "The only memories I have of you as a living girl are negative ones. You would sit in your garden all hours of the day and cry your eyes out because Daddy didn't love you, or Daddy wasn't paying attention to you. And if you would have listened to me, I would have told you that I loved you, that I needed you. But you couldn't even take the time out of your day to tuck me into bed at night. At least when Daddy came to pick me up when I was six, we spent time together, took vacations. And on the Christmas that I came back from here, Daddy bought a piano, and he and Emily and I would sing Christmas carols after dinner. These are good memories. But I don't have anything like that from you, so just watch what you say."

I looked at my father and saw tears running down his cheeks.

"Alas, my love, you do me wrong, to cast me off discourteously for I have loved you well and long delighting in your company."'

All of a sudden, Mama smiled, and she began singing with him.

"Greensleeves was all my joy, Greensleeves was my delight, Greensleeves was my heart of gold, and who but my lady Greensleeves."

Now they were both smiling and I was confused.

"What's going on?"

Mama held out her hand to me and drew me into a hug. "I know you don't remember Chrissy-Lily, but that was what your daddy and I sung you to sleep with when you were a baby."

I looked up at her. "I had a lullabye that both of you sang to me?"

She nodded. "It's been so long that I forgot." She looked at Daddy. "I'm sorry George."

He hugged her. "I'm sorry too, Lillian."

We hugged again, and just as we were getting into it, Lettie cleared her throat. "It's nice that they're reconciled, but what about me?"

I looked at her. "Lettie, you don't really have any problems. I mean, yes your mother is a psychotic murderess, but you freed yourself from her. You're fine."

She thought a moment, then looked up at me and shook her head. "No, actually I'm not fine."

Dr. Bright looked at her. "What's your story?"

"Well," Lettie looked around the room at all of us. "My story starts the day Lillian died. That was the day Daddy revealed me to Christine."

"And when you say 'Daddy', you mean-"

"George. Christy is my half-sister." Dr. Bright nodded.

"Well, it was the sight of me that caused her to come to you in the first place. I was the evidence that her father had cheated on her mother."

Before Lettie could start her next sentence, Mama was up again.

"George, you showed Lettie to Chrissy-Lily on the day I died? How insensitive can you be?"

Dr. Bright frowned at her. "Sit down, Lillian." Mama sat.

"Anyway, after Christy got back from therapy, we were best friends. My Mama was evil and murdered a ton of people including Christy and her parents, but thankfully in my youth, I had Christy to teach me right and wrong, so I wasn't greatly influenced by her.

"When I was ten, Christy left the house and went to be with the circus. She promised to write me, but she forgot and that really hurt. Mama saw how hurt I was and convinced me that Christy didn't care about me. As the years went by, I was molded into my mother's puppet. I killed people. First, my husband, who I only married for his money. It was what Mama did, so I didn't think it was wrong. Then I killed a couple of servants who wouldn't return my affections, and with them went the family dog, Hellhound."

Daddy looked up. "Lettie, you killed Hellhound?" he got a wounded look. "It's nice to know. He was my childhood friend. When he died, it hurt." Daddy sniffled.

Lettie looked very sorry. "But then, Christy died and came back. I was still mad at her for leaving, but then she came home with a good-looking guy named Michael, and I figured someone who can attract good-looking guys can't be all that bad, so I forgave her.

"Now, Michael is gone, Daddy's sold the house to amusement park people, and my mother is trying to take over our lives again."

After she finished, Lettie sat down, and Dr. Bright cast a weary gaze at Mama.

"Lillian, you may speak now."

Mama stood up looking livid. "Did you pay any attention to Lettie either? The poor girl had a nut for a mother. And while I don't condone the circumstances under which she was born, I still think you could've paid her some attention as well."

Daddy narrowed his eyes at her. "Lily, I would be most appreciative if for one moment, you could hold your tongue. I'm sure one of the first things they taught you at finishing school is that ladies should be seen and not heard, and we've heard enough from you to last us all an eternity. Now, if it bothers you how I ran my life and my family, you can just run back to your brothers in Georgia, and we will stay here and lead full and happy existences without you."

Mama's mouth opened, but no sound came out. No one said anything. Finally, the silence was broken when Rita tapped on the door.

"Excuse me Doctor, but there's a phone call for the Gracey family from Florida. It seems like there is a line of people outside their house waiting to take a tour, but no one's there, so it's very distressing to the heads of the park."

We all looked at each other.

"Oh, my God," Daddy said, "I forgot all about that."

Dr. Bright looked curious. "What's going on?"

I shook my head. "It's nothing Doctor. We just need to go."

"Well, is everyone all right?"

We all smiled. "Yes, we're fine now." And leaving a somewhat worn-looking Dr. Bright behind us, we went home, talking the whole way about how great it was to have all the baggage off our chests.

I obviously didn't write Greensleeves.