“Outside.”
I started toward the garden corridor.
Then Nora caught my arm.
Half the family stood whispering near the ballroom doors.
“Annie, you need to know what happened before you see her.”
I turned.
Nora glanced toward the ballroom.
“They had this little family ceremony after the vows.”
“What family ceremony?”
“A unity candle.”
I already hated the sound of that.
“Annie, you need to know what happened before you see her.”
Nora continued.
“Ryan and Lina had one candle. Amelia had another. She was supposed to light hers from theirs.”
“Why?”
Nora gave me a tired look.
“Apparently it was supposed to symbolize their new family.”
Of course. They wanted Amelia beside them as proof of their new family.
“She was supposed to light hers from theirs.”
Nora said, “Lina told Amelia that lighting the candle meant they were all becoming one family.”
I looked at her.
“And?”
“Amelia asked where you go.”
I gripped the edge of the chair.
“What?”
Nora repeated it.
“She said, ‘If this makes us one family, where does Mom go?’”
“Amelia asked where you go.”
I clamped my hand over my mouth.
Nora continued before I could speak.
“Ryan crouched down and told her you weren’t going anywhere, that you’re still her mother.”
“Then?”
“Then Amelia asked why you weren’t included in the family part.”
I couldn’t answer that either.
Apparently neither could Ryan.
“Then Amelia asked why you weren’t included in the family part.”
Nora gave a helpless little laugh.
“And then your mother tried to fix it.”
“Oh God.”
“She told Amelia that grown-ups sometimes have different families.”
I already knew what came next from the look on Nora’s face.
“Amelia looked at her and said, ‘You told Mom family supports family.’”
“She told Amelia that grown-ups sometimes have different families.”
I sat down on a chair beside the corridor.
Nora crouched in front of me.
“Then she asked why Lina didn’t have to support you.”
I stared at the floor.
“Then she asked why Lina didn’t have to support you.”
My nine-year-old had apparently taken one sentence my mother had used against me for months and asked the only question none of them wanted answered.
But Nora wasn’t finished.
