Bell did not block her path.
Morgan walked down the steps, but before she reached the car, Judith spoke from the doorway.
“Why?”
Morgan stopped.
Judith’s voice trembled.
“Why would you do this to Elise?”
Morgan turned slowly.
“We were trying to protect her.”
“From what?”
“From being abandoned again.”
“She wasn’t abandoned.”
“You weren’t there,” Morgan said.
“I was working.”
“You were always working.”
I stepped forward.
“You took every difficult part of my life and turned it into proof that I didn’t love my daughter.”
Morgan looked at me.
“You didn’t know what she needed.”
“Then you should have asked.”
Her mouth tightened.
“You think sending money and making calls makes you a mother?”
“No,” I said. “I think listening to her does.”
The rain tapped against the porch roof.
For a moment, no one spoke.
Then Tessa got out of the car.
She looked older than she had in the photographs I remembered, but not frightened. Tired, perhaps. Tired of holding a position she no longer knew how to defend.
“We didn’t hurt her,” she said.
“Then why did she say you took turns?”
Tessa’s face changed.
“I don’t know what she means.”
Bell’s voice remained even.
“Both of you will need to come with me.”
Tessa glanced at Morgan.
Morgan looked at me instead.
“You don’t understand what we were trying to prevent.”
“Then explain it.”
