Chapter 11 - Lily Thought She Had Caused Dad To Come Inside
My little sister carried guilt I did not recognize at first.
One night, weeks later, she asked:
“If I didn’t yell, would Dad still have come?”
“Yes.”
“How do you know?”
“He was already outside.”
“But I said Dad’s car was there.”
“Yes.”
“And then Robert got mad.”
I understood.
Lily thought revealing Dad’s presence had triggered the final confrontation.
I pulled her beside me.
“Robert was already angry.”
“But what if I didn’t say it?”
“He still pushed me before you said anything.”
She looked down.
“And the candle thing?”
“Robert picked that up because Robert decided to pick it up.”
Children need causality stated clearly.
Adults do too.
Lily had done exactly one thing.
She ran to her sister.
Then told the truth.
That was all.
Dad enrolled her with a child therapist because she started having nightmares about the clock falling on me.
The grandfather clock had not fallen.
But fear does not always preserve engineering accuracy.
For months Lily drew it leaning over us like a tower.
Eventually, the drawings changed.
The clock became smaller.
May you like
Then disappeared.
That was how I knew she was recovering before she knew it herself.
