Their Favoritism Resulted In A Cruel Outcome Chapter 14
On the seventh day of the wake, I finally saw my grandmother.
She stood outside the temporary memorial hall, the wound gone from her forehead. Her white hair was neatly combed, and she wore her favorite dark blue coat.
My mother stood beside her.
My sisters-in-law held the children’s hands. Rachel cradled a small, gentle ball of light in her arms.
That was the child she never got to meet.
The moment Molly saw me, she let go of Hannah’s hand and ran straight toward me.
“Aunt Willa!”
She crashed into my arms. This time, I could finally hold her.
Her body was impossibly light.
“There’s no smoke here,” she whispered.
“And no bad men.”
I crouched and smoothed her hair.
“Are you still scared?”
She shook her head, then asked in a small voice, “Why does Daddy keep crying?”
I followed her gaze.
Henry was kneeling beside his daughter’s coffin. In seven days, he had barely slept.
He kept wiping that half of a white ribbon, repeating that he was sorry.
“Because he did something wrong.”
“If I forgive him, will he stop crying?”
I paused.
“You don’t have to forgive him just to make him feel better.”
“But he bought me candy.”
“One bag of candy can’t make a wrong thing right.”
Molly didn’t fully understand, but she nodded anyway.
My grandmother came to stand beside me.
“Willa, it’s time for us to go.”
I looked toward the memorial hall.
“You’re not waiting for the results of the investigation?”
My grandmother shook her head.
“The living have their courts. We have our own road to walk.”
“Whether they regret it or go to prison, none of it brings us back.”