“Is she leaving?”
Grace stiffened against me.
I looked at my daughter, then at the girl David had entrusted to me in the most unfair way possible.
“No,” I said.
Grace’s breath caught.
“She’s staying.”
My daughter nodded as though the answer had always been obvious.
“Good.”
She disappeared back into her room.
Grace began crying again, but this time the sound was different.
It was relief.
I did not forgive David that night.
I did not suddenly understand every choice he had made.
Love does not erase betrayal, and death does not transform cowardice into courage.
But Grace was not the lie.
She was the person most wounded by it.
I could be furious with my husband without abandoning his sister.
I could mourn the marriage I thought I had while still protecting the family standing in front of me.
So Grace stayed.
