“I know. I should have trusted you with the truth. I kept telling myself I was protecting everyone. Really, I was protecting myself from having to choose between confronting her and caring for her.”

I asked why she’d come at all, when she knew Mom wanted her to stay away.

Nicole looked toward the chapel. “Because she was still my mother. She packed my lunches. She held me through fevers. She taught me to drive. I couldn’t let anger become goodbye forever.”

We went back in as the organ started. Nicole didn’t stand beside the coffin again — she sat next to me instead.

Through the whole service, I mourned two women: the mother who saved us, and the mother who controlled our lives in the name of love.

Chapter 13 — Which Truths Existed

Afterward, Nicole asked me to visit June. I refused at first; I was exhausted and furious.