“You said people would stare at Nora instead of me,” Lily said. “But I never thought her marks were ugly. I thought they looked like lily pads.”
Part 3: The Boundary
My mother took Nora’s hand.
“There has never been a family picture you did not belong in.”
My father faced Vanessa. “Audrey gave you a chance to stop.”
I opened the front door.
“You need to leave.”
“You’re throwing me out over pictures?”
“No. I’m asking you to leave because you spent years teaching my daughter that your comfort mattered more than her dignity.”
Vanessa grabbed her purse and ordered Lily to follow.
“I want to stay here tonight,” Lily said, moving toward her grandparents.
Vanessa waited for someone to defend her. Nobody did. She left alone.
Afterward, Nora kept staring at all the places where she had existed before someone decided she should disappear.
Later, I found her sitting on her bed beside the folded yellow dress.
