“I know you contacted them.”
Nathan closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Dad told me to.”
“He was still alive.”
“You were in your thirties.”
Nathan shook his head.
“You don’t understand what he was like.”
Margaret stood again.
Her back straightened.
“Oh, I understand exactly what he was like.”
She pulled open her robe.
Then she turned around.
Nathan saw the scar.
His face collapsed.
Margaret had never shown him.
Not fully.
“This is what he was like.”
Nathan covered his mouth.
“This is what I carried while you defended him.”
“Mom.”
“This is what I hid so you could pretend your father was a good man.”
Nathan sobbed.
“I didn’t know it was that bad.”
Margaret turned.
“You never asked.”
PART 6
Nathan left Willow Creek two hours later.
He left the cookies behind.
Margaret did not touch them.
For the next two days, she barely spoke.
Sophie worried she had pushed too hard.
