“None of Victoria’s hostility toward you was ever about your failures,” the letter said. “It was always about your presence because you were evidence of a life that did not begin with her.”
“Some people do not know how to join a family without trying to erase the part that came first.” Victoria made a sharp sound between her teeth across the table.
“Careful,” Lydia warned her. I read the final paragraph through my tears.
“Do not surrender what is yours simply because others call your self protection cruelty.” “If you are forced to choose between peace and quiet, choose peace because it lasts longer.”
“I love you more than I can fit on paper.” No one spoke for several seconds after I finished the letter.
The house creaked once in the wind as I looked at the pages in my hands. Victoria was the first to move as she gave a thin and mean laugh.
“How convenient for you to have a saintly letter from beyond the grave,” she said. “Ma’am,” the older officer said with a hardened face.
“You expect me to sit here while a dead woman’s paranoia is treated like scripture?” Victoria snapped. I turned to her and wiped the wetness from my face.