“By spending money we didn’t have while telling me your father was the problem?”

“We needed a way out,” she said, all polish gone now. “We need this place.”

“No,” I said. “You wanted it. There’s a world of difference.”

The gathering came apart on the front lawn. Gerald and Diane hurried to their car, eager to leave before the humiliation attached itself to them. Dale muttered something that might have been an apology and followed.

Madison stood near the convertible, no longer bored, no longer shielded from what the adults around her had done. Cooper stared at his mother with an expression I remembered from Rebecca’s own childhood — the moment a child first understands that grown people can fail them.

Trent stayed where he was. “Nine years,” he said quietly. “Nine years you told me Walter was the problem.”