“What’s going on?
“No,” Lila said. “You did what gave you control.”
Ruth’s eyes narrowed. “You’re young, girl. You don’t understand the way of the world.”
“I understand lying perfectly well, Grandma.”
I kept my voice steady. “You told him I didn’t want him?”
“He had nothing,” my mother said. “No plan. No family worth joining. You had a future waiting.”
“He was my future.”
“You were seventeen and living in a dream world.”
“You don’t understand the way of the world.
“And you were my mother. You were supposed to talk to me, not act behind my back.”
Anne set her coffee down with a shaking hand.
“All these years,” she said, staring at our mother. “You let Emily believe he abandoned her?”
“I watched the mailbox for months,” I said. “You got to them first, didn’t you?”
Ruth’s chin lifted. “I did what had to be done.”
Anne stood. “No. You did what you wanted, and then you made us call it wisdom.”
For the first time in my life, my mother looked around the room and found no one willing to stand beside her.
“And you were my mother.
Julian stepped forward. “My father died believing Emily rejected him.”
I picked up the locket. “You didn’t save me from heartbreak. You handed it to me and told me to call it growing up.”
Then I looked her in the eye. “And you don’t get to sit at Lila’s wedding and smile like the woman who held this family together. Not until you tell the truth to everyone who believed Leo broke my heart.”
***
Outside, Lila stopped near the parking lot.
“I can’t marry you next month,” she said.
