She was glad she'd done it on the day before Christmas because she 
couldn't have handled the kids afterward. Her face swelled up just like they 
said it would, especially around the lips and eyes where the 'site density was 
greatest. They gave her creams and drugs, and she used them. The day after 
that, her mistress double-taked when Miranda came upstairs to fix the children 
breakfast. But she didn't say anything, probably assuming she'd gotten slapped 
around by a drunken boyfriend at a Christmas party. Which was hardly Miranda's 
style, but it was a comfortable assumption for a New Atlantan woman to 
make.