other casually then. Our relationship hadn’t begun until later, after I was already convinced Anna wanted nothing to do with me.
“My mother invented that,” I said.
“There’s something else, Walter.”
I couldn’t bear the carefulness in her voice.
“Carol was in the house that day.”
“What?”
“She’d brought something over for your mother. Ruth thought she’d left, but she was still in the front room. She heard us.”
I searched Anna’s face.
“How could you know that?”
“Because fifteen years ago, Carol found me through my sister and wrote to me.”
Anna left the table and returned with an envelope. My wife’s handwriting was on the front.
Inside, Carol had admitted hearing Ruth threaten Anna. She had known about the pregnancy. She had known why Anna stayed away.
She said she should have spoken up. She said she had been afraid of losing me. She asked Anna to forgive
