marker connected to Emily?”
“Yes.”
“And you let me believe he left because he couldn’t stand being married to me.”
“I knew guilt was part of it.”
Before I could answer, Lily appeared in the doorway.
“Mom?”
Her eyes landed on the box.
“What is this?”
For thirteen years, two men had decided what truth I could handle.
I wasn’t going to do that to Lily.
“Sit down.”
I told her about Carl’s result, the letters, and Dad keeping them.
When I finished, she looked at Dad.
“You knew he was writing?”
“Yes.”
“Did he ask about me?”
“He did.”
“And did you answer him?”
“Sometimes.”
Lily’s face changed.
“So he got to ask about my life while I wasn’t even allowed to know he was asking?”
Nobody had an easy answer.
She picked up the letter marked Age Twelve.
“Can I open this?”
“It’s yours, Lil. You can do
