“So you watched us instead,” Emma said.
“Yes.”
Claire’s voice was so soft I almost missed it. “Why didn’t you ever mail the birthday letters?”
“Because mailing them meant I’d have to accept whatever came back.”
That answer hurt more than any lie could have, because it was honest. She hadn’t stayed away to protect our daughters. She had stayed away because rejection frightened her more than her absence could ever hurt them.
Emma stood up. “I thought there would be a better reason.”
Vanessa’s lips trembled. “So did I.”
You Know Now. He Knew Then.
Claire asked about the money. “Why save all of it? Why not use it?”
Vanessa glanced at me, then back at the girls. “At first, it was guilt. Later, it was because I knew I had no right to show up someday and ask your father to carry the cost of my mistakes on top of everything else.”
