It was the tangible, deed-stamped proof that she was the superior daughter, the one who deserved the name — the thing our father’s drunken sermon had promised to whoever proved herself by outlasting the other.

And so a war began that only one of us knew was being fought.

I spent twelve years on the losing side of it without understanding there were sides.

When Victoria undercut me in front of our parents, I thought she was being petty.

When a friendship of mine cooled for reasons I couldn’t name, I thought I’d done something wrong.

When Julian started pulling away from me, I thought we were simply a couple in trouble, the way couples get.