“Yes.”
“Through all of it.”
“Yes.”
Emily spoke softly.
“He just showed up.”
Those three words seemed to explain David better than anything I could have said.
He just showed up.
That was who he had always been.
David rubbed his hands together.
“I was scared too, Catherine.”
“Of what?”
“That the two of you would never find your way back.”
He looked at me.
“And I was afraid that if I told you before Emily was ready, I’d lose her trust. But I also knew that keeping it from you could damage ours.”
“You were trying to protect both.”
“Yes.”
“And you couldn’t.”
He shook his head.
“No.”
I looked at Emily.
Then Rosalind.
“What happened between Emily and me created this situation,” I said. “If I hadn’t hurt her two years ago, you wouldn’t have had to choose.”
David immediately shook his head.
“Don’t make yourself responsible for everything.”
“I created the rupture.”
“You did,” he said gently. “But Emily isn’t a consequence of your mistake. She’s a person who needed someone. She needed family. So I tried to be family until the rest of you could figure yourselves out.”
Before I could answer, the door opened.
Patricia walked in.
My sister stopped when she saw me.
“Cathy.”
“Pat.”
For a moment, neither of us moved.
Then she sat down.
“I wanted to tell you.”
“I know.”
“Emily asked me not to.”
“I know that too.”
Patricia’s face tightened.
“I was afraid you’d say something again.”
The truth stung.
“I understand.”
“I’ve been angry with you.”
“You had every reason.”
“I still am.”
“Okay.”
“She was devastated after that phone call, Cathy.”
