“Anna’s lost it!”
His face went pale. “That’s Elena’s handwriting.”
“There are dozens, Dad. All sealed. All addressed to Lily and me.”
“I can explain—”
Dad turned to Jean. “She disappeared without a word, without a note… but you’ve been hiding letters from her all this time?”
“This one is from last week.” I held up the most recent letter. “Jean manipulated Mom. She convinced Mom that you wanted a divorce and were planning to ruin her and have her committed because of her mental health. I heard her on the phone, Dad. Bragging about it.”
“That’s Elena’s handwriting.”
Dad’s face went stony.
“See? I told you she’d lost it,” Jean said. “Yes, I kept the letters. I thought I was doing the right thing. But all this nonsense about me conniving to chase Elena away? It’s the rambling of a mad person!”
Dad shook his head. “I never told the girls about Elena’s struggle with depression.”
Jean paled.
“The only person I ever mentioned that to was you, back when we were working together, before Elena left. Oh my God, it’s all true, isn’t it?” Dad glared at Jean with tears in his eyes. “Get out of my house, Jean.”
“It’s the rambling of a mad person!”
Jean took a step back. She glanced between Dad and me, and seemed to realize that she’d lost.
“Fine, I’ll leave,” she snapped. “But you’ll regret this. All of you! I’m the best thing that ever happened to this family.”
She spun on her heel and stormed away.
Dad sank onto the floor beside me. He took the most recent letter from me with shaking fingers and turned it over.
“The return address is two towns over.” He looked at me. “Let’s get Lily and go. Now.”
She’d lost.
We drove to the store where Lily worked. After some convincing, her manager allowed her to leave early.
We drove in silence and eventually pulled up outside a small house with a neat garden.
I knocked on the front door. The woman who answered it looked like me and Lily, just older. She stared at us in shock for a moment, then burst into tears.
“My girls! Is that really you?”
I pulled her into a hug. “It’s really us, Mom.”
And for the first time in 15 years, I felt chosen.
I knocked on the front door.
