I almost laughed because it seemed microscopic compared with everything
else.
She cried.
“I humiliated you because of your scar.”
I touched the curved line beneath my shirt.
“The scar that exists because I gave birth to Aaron.”
She nodded.
“I didn’t know.”
“No.”
“But even if it had meant nothing, I shouldn’t have said it.”
That mattered.
PART 28 — HELEN’S GUILT
Helen struggled too.
She believed she should have exposed the truth decades earlier.
Maybe she should have.
I was angry.
For a while, I could barely speak to her.
But she had also been manipulated by the same family authority figures
who manipulated me.
Eventually I told her:
“I wish you’d told me.”
“I know.”
“I may always wish that.”
“I understand.”
“But I don’t want to lose another sibling to this secret.”
She cried.
So did I.
PART 29 — AARON CALLS ME
Aaron did not know what to call me.
