“What?”
“She said I exaggerated things for attention.”
Margaret’s jaw tightened.
“What else did she say?”
Claire sat back.
It was a question she had spent years avoiding.
Now, once asked, the answers seemed to come reluctantly.
“That you complained I was clingy.”
“I did not.”
“That you said I stole food.”
Margaret stared.
“You hid food.”
Claire looked at her.
“There is a difference.”
Margaret’s voice shook.
“You put crackers under the mattress because you were afraid meals would stop.”
Claire’s shoulders trembled.
“I found them. I started leaving a basket in your room so you wouldn’t have to hide anything.”
Claire covered her mouth.
“I remember the basket.”
Daniel looked between them.
“What did Edith tell you about why Claire was removed?”
Margaret’s expression hardened.
“She told me the county had located a relative.”
Claire frowned.
“What relative?”
“I never knew.”
“There was no relative.”
Margaret stared at her.
Claire shook her head.
“I went to another foster home.”
Margaret felt cold.
“She told me you were being moved to family.”
“No.”
Daniel straightened.
“Then she lied to both of you.”
Margaret looked at the letters.
“Maybe.”
Claire turned.
“Maybe?”
