I said nothing.
“So I told you it had gone with him. The words came out before I could think of anything better.”
“You could have corrected yourself later.”
“I know.”
“But you didn’t.”
“No.”
Her explanation did not make the lie smaller.
It only made it human enough for me to understand how the lie had happened.
Then a voice came from the hallway.
“Is Grandpa mad at Mom?”
Eli stood a few feet away.
Claire quickly wiped her eyes.
“No, sweetheart.”
He looked at the ring in my hand, then back at me.
“Did you really know Grandpa for forty years?”
Even so, seeing Eli changed the shape of my anger. He wasn’t evidence on a page or another lie to uncover. He was a child with Frank’s mannerisms, Frank’s expressions, and absolutely no responsibility for the choices adults had made around him. Whatever I decided about Claire, I knew almost immediately that I could not punish that boy for being hidden from me.
