Chapter 14 - Sophia Asked the Question I Couldn't
Victoria looked smaller without pearls and champagne silk.
Sophia sat beside me.
She didn't touch the cookies on the table.
For several minutes, nobody spoke.
Then Sophia asked:
“Why didn't you call Daddy?”
Victoria looked at me.
I said nothing.
This answer belonged to Sophia.
“Because I was scared.”
“Of Daddy?”
“No.”
“Of Mommy?”
Victoria's eyes filled.
“Of what I'd done.”
Sophia thought about that.
“Did you kill Mommy?”
My mother's face folded.
“I grabbed her when I shouldn't have. She fell while we were fighting over papers. I didn't want her to fall.”
Sophia's voice became smaller.
“But you didn't help her.”
Victoria looked down.
“Not quickly enough.”
“Because you were cleaning?”
“Yes.”
Sophia's next question destroyed whatever defense Victoria had left.
“Were the papers more important than Mommy?”
“No.”
“Then why did you act like they were?”
Victoria couldn't answer.
Sophia moved closer to me.
Afterward, my mother asked whether she could hug her.
Sophia said no.
Victoria nodded.
That was the first boundary I'd ever seen my mother accept without negotiation.
Before leaving, she placed Rachel's bracelet on the table.
The blue stone caught the light.
“I should've returned this eleven months ago.”
Sophia didn't reach for it.
I did.
My mother stood.
She looked at me once.
“What happens now?”
“The truth happens without you controlling it.”
May you like
For the first time, Victoria didn't argue.
And the following week, the findings from the reopened examination of Rachel's death and the foundation records moved beyond our family's ability to contain them.
