Then she added, “I didn’t come to say what you did was okay.”
Everyone just stood there, speechless.
“I came because you’re my dad.”
Then Amelia walked straight back toward me.
Ryan stood in the middle of the ballroom watching our daughter leave with me.
Nobody applauded.
Thank God.
She was nine, not somebody’s revenge speech.
Near the entrance, my mother hurried after us.
“Annie, wait. At least stay for the family photographs.”
She was nine, not somebody’s revenge speech.
I stopped.
“For Amelia’s sake,” Mom added.
Amelia looked up at her.
“Mom came because I needed her.”
She tightened her grip around the white candle.
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“That’s supporting family.”
For once, Mom didn’t argue.
She simply picked Amelia’s coat from the chair and helped her into it.