“I know you were.” Emma’s voice finally broke. “That’s what everybody keeps saying.”
Sophie looked like she’d been slapped.
“You thought you were standing up for me,” Emma said softly. She glanced around the silent room, at all the faces watching her. “But you just made one more decision for me.”
Nobody applauded this time.
Nobody moved.
And then, from somewhere behind Tom, another voice spoke up.
“Emma.”
It was Kristen.
Part Nine: What Kristen Knew
She was standing beside her chair, one hand pressed flat against the tablecloth as if she needed it to stay upright.
“I think I need to tell you something.”
Tom spun around. “Kristen. Don’t.“
That, more than anything, got everyone’s attention.
Kristen looked at her husband for a long moment. Then she looked at Emma.
“Your father told me you wanted me involved tonight.”
Emma frowned. “What?”
“He told me you wanted me in the family photographs.”
“Kristen,” Tom said again, sharper now.
She kept going.
“He told me you wanted me to help with the seating chart because you were feeling overwhelmed.” Her eyes dropped to the folded paper still sitting beside her plate. “And he told me you wanted me to give a toast tonight, but that you were afraid to ask me yourself because you didn’t want to upset your mother.”
