She said not yet to forgiveness, and meant it, and kept the drive.

But she refused to pretend that Simone was a villain rather than a frightened person who had made a terrible choice under a threat engineered by the real villain.

It was the same refusal Ifeoma had shown about Obadiah — the insistence on seeing the whole person, the pressure they were under, the love or fear that drove them, even when they had wronged her.

And Emeka realized that this was not softness.

It was a kind of strength he had rarely seen.

Anyone can condemn.