Chapter 17 - Claire's Family
I called Amanda.
Claire's sister.
Then Claire's parents.
I told them everything.
Amanda cried.
Then got angry.
“She tried to send Noah to us?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I think she believed if Noah didn't live with me, the family embarrassment disappeared.”
Amanda went silent.
Then:
“He isn't an embarrassment.”
“I know.”
“Do you?”
That hurt.
She continued:
“Because you've spent a year letting Margaret act like Claire was some mistake nobody should mention.”
I wanted to defend myself.
Instead I listened.
After Claire died, Margaret gradually removed photographs from shared rooms.
“Too painful for Daniel.”
I allowed it.
Her clothes disappeared quickly.
Her coffee mug.
Her coat.
Her photographs.
The house became less painful.
Also less truthful.
Noah was growing up inside a home where his mother had been quietly edited.
Margaret did not do that alone.
I let her.
The next weekend, Amanda brought photographs.
Claire pregnant.
Claire asleep with newborn Noah.
Claire laughing because I had assembled a crib backward.
We put them up.
May you like
Not a shrine.
A life.
