Claire looked at her.
“Soon.”
Edith lived three hours away.
Claire found the address through an old Christmas card she had kept despite everything.
She did not want to arrive unannounced.
So she called.
The conversation lasted four minutes.
Claire said almost nothing afterward.
“She agreed to meet.”
Margaret asked, “Did you tell her I’d be there?”
“Yes.”
“What did she say?”
Claire looked at her.
“Nothing for a long time.”
A week later, they drove together.
Daniel offered to come.
Claire said no.
“This is between the three of us first.”
Margaret agreed.
They met Edith at a public library in a small town where she now lived.
She was eighty-two.
Smaller than Margaret remembered.
Her hair was completely white.
She walked with a cane.
When Claire and Margaret entered the meeting room, Edith stood.
Her face changed when she saw Margaret.
“You look the same.”
Margaret set her purse on the table.
“No, I don’t.”
Edith gave a nervous smile.
“No.”
Claire remained near the door.
Edith looked at her.
“Hello, sweetheart.”
Claire’s expression hardened.
“Don’t.”
Edith sat.
Claire and Margaret took the chairs opposite.
For a moment, nobody spoke.
Then Claire placed copies of the records on the table.
