Hadlee’s eyes were concentrating hard on her mother’s face while Briar was struggling not to cry as she prepared to deliver news which was inevitably going to change her daughter’s life forever.
“Hadlee, I want to start with a story about my sister Sully.”
“Sully? You don’t talk about her very often.”
“No, I don’t. She wasn’t good for me, and she wasn’t a good role model but there are things I need to explain.”
“Okay.”
“I told you Sully and I went to France before, but I didn’t explain to you why we went.” She took a breath. “Sully met a man, and she was going to have a baby with him. They got married and I went with them to live in France.”
Hadlee looked surprised. “Do I have an uncle and a cousin?”
“No, honey, you don’t.” She swallowed the bitterness of Sully’s actions and shook h
