Chương 9 - Người Đàn Ông Đến Từ Singapore
Sorry I didn’t protect you.
Sorry your dad wasn’t there.
Sorry I couldn’t make people love you enough.
I looked at her name.
“No.”
I wiped my face.
“I’m not saying sorry today.”
The cemetery was quiet.
“You didn’t do anything wrong.”
Neither had I.
That sentence took five years to say.
I stayed another hour.
Then I went to school.
My students were at recess when I arrived.
I was carrying a bag of classroom supplies when a little girl spotted me across the playground.
“Ms. Morgan!”
Six children ran toward the fence.
I laughed.
“You’re supposed to be playing.”
“We are!”
“This is not playing.”
One of them held up a dandelion.
“I saved this for you.”
I took it through the fence.
“Thank you.”
Principal Harris was standing near the doors.
She smiled at me.
I looked down at the dandelion in my hand.
For months, people had asked whether I regretted reporting Daniel.
Whether I regretted exposing everything.
Whether it would have been easier to just walk away.
Maybe.
But easier was how I had lived for years.
Easier was accepting “work trip” without asking questions.
Easier was believing a man who said he was too busy to come home.
Easier was telling myself neglect was just a personality trait.
Easier was being grateful for crumbs because admitting I deserved more meant I might have to leave.
Daniel had lied to me about marriage.
Elaine had lied to me about family.
Tessa had tried to turn my grief into proof that I was dangerous.
But the cruelest lie was one I had told myself.
That if I was patient enough, useful enough, forgiving enough, somebody would eventually choose me.
I don’t believe that anymore.
Five years ago, I thought I became Daniel Price’s wife.
Then I thought I had lost my marriage.
The truth was harder and much simpler.
There had never been a marriage to lose.
There had only been a lie I finally stopped living in.
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