My chest tightened.
“A photograph?”
“You. Uncle Paul. Maggie.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
Lily continued.
“Dad explained who you were. He told me the family situation was complicated and said I shouldn’t bring it up.”
Daniel leaned forward.
“I thought you already knew we were here, Rachel.”
I barely heard him.
I was looking at Lily.
“When did you realize I didn’t know?”
Her face crumpled.
“One day you looked at me when I put my hair up.”
I swallowed.
“And?”
“You looked so sad.”
The words were barely audible.
“That was when I understood.”
I covered my mouth.
Lily suddenly turned toward her father.
“You and Mom kept telling me the adults would deal with everything.”
Her voice began to rise.
“But nobody dealt with anything.”
Daniel lowered his eyes.
She was right.
A sixteen-year-old girl had been forced to carry the emotional consequences of a feud that began before she was old enough to understand it.
