Martin paused beside me.
“I am sorry,” he said.
Lenora touched my shoulder.
“So am I.”
I nodded because my voice had gone.
They followed Petra outside.
Dex remained standing in the entryway, staring at the open door.
I closed it.
The latch clicked into place.
CHAPTER 3 – What Dex Had Chosen
For several minutes, neither of us moved.
The children had returned to the sitting room, but their voices were low now. The candles trembled in their glass holders. A thin line of melted wax had run beneath one of Harold’s candlesticks and hardened on the tablecloth.
Dex came back to the table.
“Did you know she was doing all of this?”
“I suspected.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I tried.”
He looked away.
I remembered the kitchen conversation, the way he had said Petra was researching assisted living. I had waited for him to ask another question. He had not.
“You told me just enough to make me afraid,” I said. “Then you went home.”
He lowered himself into his chair.
“I was afraid too.”
“Of her?”
“Of losing my marriage.”
I sat across from him.
He rubbed both hands over his face.
“She said you hated her. She said every time I defended you, you made her pay for it. She said you wanted me to choose you over my children.”
“I never asked you to choose.”
“She made it sound like you were always asking.”
“Did you believe her?”
