It was slower than that. Cleaner. She’d been trying to remove obstacles before the wedding and step into the empty space.
Mara had been the first obstacle.
My daughters were the second.
I sat down in my own chair and stared at the pages until the words blurred. Cal didn’t say anything. He’d known me long enough to tell when silence was doing more work than talk.
“I should’ve had audio in more rooms,” I said finally.
Cal shook his head. “Sir, cameras don’t fix judgment.”
That was the problem in one sentence.
I went back to the kitchen.
Ms. Beverly had made hot chocolate and cut strawberries nobody was touching. June sat in Mara’s lap under a throw blanket. Lily sat straight-backed at the table, the way adults do when they’re trying not to fall apart.
I pulled out a chair and sat with them.
“No one’s in trouble,” I said.
Neither girl moved.
“I need the truth from both of you. Not the version you thought I wanted. The truth.”
Lily looked at Mara first. Mara gave one small nod.
“She was only mean when you left,” Lily said. “Or when she thought nobody could hear.”
June whispered, “She took Bunny away a lot.”
That nearly did me in. The rabbit. Not because of the toy itself, but because it was such a child’s version of control. Remove the comfort object. Watch the child panic. Repeat until obedience looks natural.
Lily kept going once she started.
“She made us sit up straight at breakfast. She said we looked sloppy. She told June not to ask for seconds because little girls get chubby. She said if we told you, you’d think Mara was jealous and fire her.”
Each sentence was calm. Memorized. Like she’d been carrying them around waiting for the right room.
“Did she ever hit you?” I asked.
Lily shook her head.
“Grabbed,” June said, rubbing her wrist again.
“Shoved my chair once,” Lily said.
Mara closed her eyes for a second.
I asked why Lily had hidden the phone under the sofa.
“Because that was the room she liked,” Lily said. “Mara said if I ever felt scared, stay where there are doors and somewhere to hide the phone.”
I looked at Mara.
