Laura had been furious at home for months before our birthday.
Dad was strict.
Laura was stubborn.
Their arguments had become constant.
I knew some of that.
What I didn’t know was how far things had gone.
On the night we turned sixteen, Laura left with Nathan.
She believed they were going to start a life together.
She believed love would solve everything.
It didn’t.
Within a few years, Nathan was gone.
Laura was left raising Dolly alone.
“She wanted to come home,” Dolly said.
My heart pounded.
“When?”
“When I was about three.”
I calculated automatically.
That meant Laura had returned less than seven years after disappearing.
“She came here?”
Dolly nodded.
“With me.”
The room seemed to tilt.
“And nobody told me?”
Dolly hesitated.
“My grandfather met her.”
My father.
I stared at her.
“What did he do?”
Dolly’s eyes filled again.
“He told her not to come back.”
I stopped breathing.
“No.”
“She told me he said the family had finally started healing.”
“No.”
“He said your mother was fragile.”
“Stop.”
“He said seeing Laura again would destroy everything.”
I stood.
