I looked at her.
“And?”
“Amelia asked where you go.”
I gripped the edge of the chair.
“What?”
Nora repeated it.
“She said, ‘If this makes us one family, where does Mom go?'”
“Amelia asked where you go.”
I clamped my hand over my mouth.
Nora continued before I could speak.
“Ryan crouched down and told her you weren’t going anywhere, that you’re still her mother.”
“Then?”
“Then Amelia asked why you weren’t included in the family part.”
I couldn’t answer that either.
Apparently neither could Ryan.
“Then Amelia asked why you weren’t included in the family part.”
Nora gave a helpless little laugh.
“And then your mother tried to fix it.”
“Oh God.”
“She told Amelia that grown-ups sometimes have different families.”
I already knew what came next from the look on Nora’s face.
“Amelia looked at her and said, ‘You told Mom family supports family.'”
“She told Amelia that grown-ups sometimes have different families.”
I sat down on a chair beside the corridor.
Nora crouched in front of me.
“Then she asked why Lina didn’t have to support you.”
I stared at the floor.
“Then she asked why Lina didn’t have to support you.”
My nine-year-old had apparently taken one sentence my mother had used against me for months and asked the only question none of them wanted answered.
