That fact mattered more than his assurances.

“What did you say when she suggested it?”

“Nothing at first.”

“Lucas.”

“I told her it wasn’t fair.”

I could almost hear Agnes answering him: Fair to whom?

For years she had treated fairness as something that flowed in one direction, from me toward her family.

I had been expected to be grateful for a home I helped pay for, a husband whose needs were always urgent, and a place at a dinner table where I was often the last to sit.