“Lisa, it’s not what you think,” he said.
“No one expected her to die except you,” said Lisa. “She was going to go to a nursing home the very next day. She might have gotten better if you’d given her a chance, but you didn’t want to bother with her, so you killed her.”
“That’s not true,” he said. “If there had been any hope, I would have done everything in my power to fix her, but she was too sick. I know you’re too young to understand, Lisa, but she didn’t want to live like that. She was suffering terribly. I gave her some medicine to help her rest. That was all.”
“I don’t believe you,” said Lisa. “You told me and Veronica to say goodbye to her that night when we visited because you knew what was going to happen. You planned it all along. I heard you arguing with Mom about what to do with her. Mom was willing to take care of her for as long as possible, but you wanted to get rid of her. You basically said you wanted to let her starve to death.”
“No, I said it was cruel to put a feeding tube in her stomach without her consent,” he said. “Try to look at it from her point of view. Her quality of life would have been nonexistent. Keeping someone alive like that is selfish.”
Lisa realized she was fighting a losing battle. He would always be justified in his own eyes. She finally understood why her mother never bothered to argue with him, but she felt like she couldn’t surrender to him without destroying herself in the process. She forced herself to look him in the face.
“I know what you’re planning to do to Josh’s mother,” she said.
“You know too much for your own good,” he said with a sigh. “Unfortunately, it’s out of my control. I’m not happy about it either, but Sabrina has made her decision, and there’s nothing I can do.”
“Tell her you won’t do it,” said Lisa. “It’s insane. You shouldn’t let her push you around. If you’re so scared of Mom finding out what you did, maybe I’ll talk to her for you. I think she deserves to know.”
She expected him to disintegrate, but he didn’t.
“You won’t do that,” he said. “If you say one word about it to anyone, the family you love so much will be ripped into pieces. Your mother will be devastated, but you and your sister will suffer the most, and you’ll have to live with the knowledge that if you’d only kept your mouth shut, it wouldn’t have happened.”
“This isn’t my fault,” said Lisa.
“I know,” he said, “but it’s your responsibility not to make it worse.”
Lisa had never been more frustrated, but she knew he was right. The thought of losing her family, even though it was far from perfect, was something she couldn’t face. She turned away from him, hating herself for being so weak.
“I won’t say anything,” she said. “Your secret is safe with me, but I’ll never forgive you for putting this burden on me.”
“You have every right to feel that way,” he said in a voice that could have either been gentle or patronizing. “I’m not perfect, and I’ve made many mistakes during my life, but as you get older, you’ll discover the world is far more complicated than you think. Maybe then, you’ll realize I did the best I could.”
His arrogance disgusted Lisa. She tried to be sarcastic to hide her despair, but she felt like dissolving into a flood of tears.
“In that case, it looks like you don’t need my help making dinner after all,” she said. “If it turns out to be a disgusting mess, you can just tell everyone you tried, and I’m sure they’ll understand. I’m going to go see Molly. Don’t worry. If Graham is there, I won’t tell him what you’re up to. He’ll find out on his own easily enough when Josh’s mother dies, and you go to prison.”
She left the house. There was no resolution in sight. Her knowledge had done nothing but cripple her. How could she ever face her mother again? With the weight of the world on her shoulders, she arrived at Molly’s house and knocked on the door. The garden gnome was still standing on the porch, but she ignored it. The door opened almost immediately, and Molly popped out.
“Lisa,” she said. “I was just thinking about you. I’ve been worried half to death about you ever since you ran off so suddenly last week, and we didn’t get to talk when your family came over for dinner. Isn’t it exciting that you have visitors? You’ll have to tell me all about them. I saw you playing on the beach with all your new little friends earlier today. When will I get to meet them?”
“I don’t know,” said Lisa. “They’re not very polite. I’m sure they’ll invite themselves over eventually.”
“That’s fine with me,” said Molly. She pulled out a chair. “Please, get comfortable. I was just sitting down to eat dinner. I made enough for two, but Graham’s not here. He said his boss needed him for something. He was very apologetic.”
Lisa wasn’t surprised, but Molly didn’t seem upset, which didn’t make sense. In fact, she was behaving in an even more bizarre manner than usual, waving her hand around in front of Lisa’s face until Lisa was eventually forced to look at it, and when she did, she saw an enormous diamond ring catching the light and flinging it back at her with all the glittering brilliance of the sun. As she stared at the ring in disbelief, Molly began to laugh.
“Graham’s the most special man I’ve ever met,” she said. “He told me he knew it was too soon to ask me to marry him, but he couldn’t ignore his feelings for me any longer. It
