taught her to see. It took her a long time to stop.”
Claire stopped reading. She looked at Max.
Edward finished it for her. Quietly. Not loud. He didn’t have to be loud. The whole tent was silent.
“So here’s a mirror for you, Max,” Edward said. “I made it myself. Took me three weeks. Take a good long look. And when you’re done, ask yourself if the man you see deserves any of the people in this room.”
Nobody moved.
Nobody said a word.
Max stood there in front of the mirror. Red-faced. His reflection stared right back at him.
And I smiled.
I didn’t mean to. It just came. Up from somewhere deep in my chest, somewhere that had been locked up for eighteen months.
I looked at that mirror. At those seven words carved into beautiful dark oak. At the dovetail joints at the corners. I knew
