ADVERTISEMENT
My mother immediately moved between us.
“Arthur is upset too.”
Dad struck the armrest again.
Harder.
Then he pointed toward the second floor.
“Dad?”
His breathing became faster.
He tried to speak.
“Aaa…”
My mother placed a hand on his shoulder.
“Don’t exhaust yourself.”
Dad angrily shoved her hand away.
That frightened me more than anything that had happened since I arrived.
Then my mother moved beside Clara’s coffin.
She placed a hand on the polished wood and began crying loudly.
“Why did you leave us, Clara?” she said.
“We all cared about you.”
And that’s when Lily suddenly pulled her hand out of mine.
Her little voice cut through the room.
“Grandma isn’t telling the truth!”
The entire room went silent.
Every conversation stopped.
My mother slowly turned toward her.
“Lily.”
My daughter pointed directly at her.
“Mommy didn’t leave us the way Grandma said!”
And when I looked across the room at my younger brother Derek, I saw the color disappear from his face.
I knew then that my daughter had just said something this family desperately didn’t want me to hear.
But I had no idea how much darker the truth was about to become.
ADVERTISEMENT
