Her hair was tangled.
She looked thinner.
Older.
Exhausted.
“Anna…”
I reached for her.
She stepped back.
Then she looked over my shoulder.
At Rick.
The color drained from his face.
Not because he was surprised to see her.
Because he looked terrified.
I slowly turned toward him.
“Rick?”
He said nothing.
Anna’s voice broke.
“Mom, don’t let him leave.”
My heart started pounding.
“What happened?”
She looked at Rick.
Then at me.
“Make him confess what he did.”
Rick finally spoke.
“Anna, you don’t understand.”
She laughed bitterly.
“I understand more than you think.”
I looked from one to the other.
“What did you do?”
Rick shook his head.
“Nothing.”
Anna stepped closer.
“Tell her about William.”
Rick went completely still.
I felt the blood leave my face.
William.
I hadn’t heard that name in nearly twenty years.
Not since I was nineteen.
Not since before Daniel.
Not since the part of my life I had buried so deeply that I rarely allowed myself to remember it.
I looked at Anna.
“How do you know that name?”
She stared at Rick.
“He knows him.”
Rick whispered her name.
“Anna.”
She ignored him.
“He knows William.”
I turned toward my husband.
