Sam couldn’t answer.
I remembered every Christmas I’d asked whether Lily might visit.
Every birthday Sam told me to leave her alone.
Every time I’d wondered what I’d done wrong.
Lily looked at Vanessa.
“Mom, you knew?”
Vanessa shook her head.
“No, sweetheart.”
Patricia suddenly spoke.
“Well, Rachel was never your mother anyway.”
Vanessa turned.
“Enough.”
Patricia stared.
“Vanessa!”
“No. You don’t get to use my daughter to punish another woman.”
Lily looked at her grandmother.
“Did you know Dad was lying?”
Patricia looked at Sam.
“You told me Rachel was the reason Lily stayed away.”
Sam said nothing.
Patricia stared at him.
For eight years, she’d blamed me for the distance her own son had created.
Lily wiped her cheeks.
“You never asked me, Grandma.”
Nobody answered.
She set the wrapped present on the table.
“I bought you this, Dad.”
Sam reached for it.
