Chapter 17 - LILY READS ABOUT RUTH
At ten, Lily asked for Ruth’s letter.
We read it together.
She cried at:
I loved you, and loving you made admitting what I had done harder.
“Did she love me?”
“Yes.”
“Did she kidnap me?”
“She helped keep you hidden after Nora brought you.”
“Is that kidnapping?”
“Legally, people were investigating that when she died. She admitted she had no right to keep you.”
“Was she bad?”
I hated simple categories.
“She did something very wrong. She also took care of you in many loving ways.”
“That’s confusing.”
“Yes.”
“Do I have to pick?”
“No.”
She kept the rabbit on her bed that night.
The letter went back into the archive.
No ritual.
Then:
“Did Mom love Nora?”
“Yes.”
“Even after Nora was mean?”
“I think Amelia spent years feeling she owed Nora.”
“Why?”
“Nora helped raise her.”
“Does helping someone mean they owe you forever?”
“No.”
“Good.”
Family therapy had turned my daughter into an interrogator.
May you like
I was proud.
Also exhausted.
