Rachel smiled weakly.
“Happy birthday.”
Hope didn’t move.
“I told you not to come.”
Those words changed everything.
“I told you not to come.”
Rachel had made it sound as if Hope wanted her there.
Hope’s face told me the opposite.
One of them had lied about what was supposed to happen next.
Rachel’s smile disappeared.
I turned toward Hope.
“What is going on here? Is it true that you sent her Bunny… that you’ve been speaking to her for years?”
One of them had lied about what was supposed to happen next.
Hope looked at Bunny in Rachel’s hand.
“She said she had nothing from me. That sometimes she wondered whether she’d imagined having me.” Her eyes filled. “She contacted me when I was fifteen. I answered because I was curious. That’s all it was at first. I was going to tell you…”
“When?”
“I don’t know.”
“Why? I’m… your mother. Why keep this secret?”
