Something about that “okay” stayed with me after my mother arrived.
***
Mom looked me up and down. “You’re really staying home?”
“I already told you I was.”
Mom sighed loudly.
“Annie, this bitterness has gone on long enough. Lina is your sister.”
I looked at her.
“Annie, this bitterness has gone on long enough. Lina is your sister.”
That was the part nobody in my family seemed interested in remembering.
Mom then said, “She deserves happiness too.”
Amelia stood beside the door, watching us.
I didn’t want another fight in front of her.
So I only said, “Have a good time, baby.”
Amelia hugged me.
“I love you, Mom.”
That was the part nobody in my family seemed interested in remembering.
“I love you too.”
Then Mom muttered, “You could try acting like a sister for one day.”
I shut the door after them before I said something I would regret.
My other three children argued over cartoons while I curled beneath a blanket and tried not to picture the ceremony three towns away.
“You could try acting like a sister for one day.”
Ryan standing at the altar.
Lina in white.
My parents smiling.
Everyone pretending there had not been another wife first.
