I did not tell you because you were already carrying more fear than any child should have to carry.
I wanted you to be able to focus on recovering and caring for Sophie, with help from the people who loved you.
But this is not the secret that has troubled me most.
Several months after Sophie's birth, Lucas's mother came to see me.
Her name was Helena.
She arrived alone.
She was crying.
She told me she had disagreed with her husband's behavior, but she had been too frightened to challenge him.
She said she had thought about you and Sophie constantly.
And she asked whether she might someday meet her granddaughter.
Emma stared at the words.
Helena.
She remembered the name vaguely.
It belonged to a woman who had existed on the edges of her memories, someone associated with painful conversations and a family she had learned not to mention.
