I want that understood, because I had imagined this moment many times over the years, in anger, and in those imaginings I had always pictured myself triumphant, vindicated, savoring her downfall.

The reality was nothing like that.

Watching Laura stand alone at that table, abandoned even by the man she had abandoned us for, I felt no triumph at all.

I felt, mostly, a deep and final sadness, the sadness of watching a person reap exactly what they have sown and knowing that it did not have to be this way, that at any point across fifteen years she could have chosen differently and been standing, now, in a different place entirely, loved by six daughters instead of exposed in front of strangers.

She had thrown away something priceless, over and over, for a car and a trip and a wealthy man’s approval, and now the wealthy man was stepping back from her and the six daughters were arrayed against her and she had, at the end of it all, nothing.