Chapter 14 - LILY READS HER MOTHER’S LETTER
Grace had written Lily letters.
Birthdays.
Sixteen.
Graduation.
Wedding, if she wanted one.
And one labeled:
WHEN YOU ARE OLD ENOUGH TO ASK HARD QUESTIONS.
Lily was fourteen when she asked to read it.
I let her therapist help decide readiness.
The letter did not reveal another secret.
Thank God.
Grace wrote:
People who love you will sometimes fail you. Do not confuse love with infallibility, including mine or your father’s.
Then:
Truth should not require you to become fearless before speaking. Speak while afraid.
Lily stopped.
“Mom wrote that before Nora?”
“Yes.”
“That’s creepy.”
“Your mother was perceptive.”
She smiled.
Then cried.
We sat together.
No Blackwood stoicism.
No pretending grief has an expiration date.
Lily asked:
“Would Mom have figured Nora out?”
“Maybe.”
“You didn’t.”
“No.”
“Does that bother you?”
“Yes.”
“Still?”
“Yes.”
She squeezed my hand.
Then:
“But you believed me.”
I looked at her.
“After you had to scream across a dining room.”
She shrugged.
May you like
“I was loud.”
That she was.
