I whispered:
“That sentence hurt more than the photographs.”
She cried harder.
“I didn’t mean—”
“You did.”
“No.”
“You did.”
She shook her head.
“I loved you too.”
I stared at her.
“Then you would have stopped.”
She had no answer.
After a long silence, she said, “He promised me he’d leave you.”
I laughed.
“Did he?”
“Not immediately.”
“How long?”
“He said when the children were older.”
I stared at her.
“Older?”
“Yes.”
“You were waiting for my children to grow up so you could take their father?”
She started crying again.
“I didn’t think of it like that.”
“Of course you didn’t.”
I opened the door wider.
“Go home, Sasha.”
“Bryony…”
“Go.”
She stood there for another few seconds.
Then she left.
I watched her walk down the path.
For the first time in my life, I didn’t want my sister to turn around.
PART 5 — THE ELEVEN DAYS
