Then he said something that startled me.
“There’s a reason she wanted you to stay.”
I looked at him.
“The photographs?”
“More than that. We planned a remembrance of your father after dinner.”
I knew about the remembrance.
Three weeks earlier, Vanessa asked me to help choose photographs of Dad for a short presentation.
I’d spent two evenings sorting through old albums.
I’d selected photographs of him as a young man, fishing with Grandma, standing beside Aunt Patricia at her graduation, and laughing with both Vanessa and me during a family picnic.
Vanessa had thanked me.
She even sent a message saying she couldn’t have done it without me.
Adrian continued.
“The final slide is a photograph of you and Vanessa holding Robert’s hands. I was going to invite both of you to stand with Margaret while I made a toast.”
I stared at him.
“She planned for me to stand beside her during a tribute to Dad?”
“Yes.”
“But she didn’t want me to sit beside his mother.”
Adrian looked miserable.
“I didn’t understand that either.”
I considered the difference.
For the photographs and tribute, Vanessa wanted us to look like a united family.
For dinner, she wanted me somewhere else.
I was welcome when my presence contributed to the picture she wanted people to see.
Less welcome when it required giving me an actual place at the table.
“Adrian,” I said, “did you know she was unhappy about my relationship with Dad?”
He hesitated.
“I knew there were complicated feelings.”
“Did she tell you she didn’t consider me her sister?”
“No.”
“Has she talked about our childhood?”
