THE DOOR shut behind Lily with a quiet finality that felt like a sentence being passed.
Mary stood near the bed, arms wrapped around herself, eyes darting to the window and back like she was expecting the past to walk through it. The room felt too small for the truth pressing between them. Too tight. Too full of things Lily had never been told.
Lily didn’t sit.
She stood there, hands trembling at her sides, chest heaving as the words burned their way out of her.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Mary flinched.
“Lily—”
“No,” Lily snapped, voice breaking as it rose. “Don’t soften it. Don’t protect me now. You knew something. You suspected. And you let me believe he was dead.”
Mary swallowed hard, eyes glossy. “I didn’t know.”
“But you thought it,” Lily said, stepping closer. “You thought it
