The whole family stands firmly behind Margaret.”

“She made up a lie about the way I treat my daughter,” I said.

“She locked Lucy in the pantry.”

“Your mother doesn’t make up lies,” Aunt Martha snapped.

“You were always the stubborn one who couldn’t keep to her place.”

She climbed into the front seat, pulled the heavy door shut with a loud click, and started her engine before I could pass the blue folder through the open gap.

I stood on the wet gravel and watched her red taillights turn down Elm Street toward my mother’s house.