Chapter 19: Shelley Strikes First

Shelley's video had four hundred thousand views by Wednesday morning.

She sat on her own bed in a soft cream sweater, with her hair pulled back and her eyes red.

"I don't know how to say this," she told the camera. "My sister-in-law has been going through something."

"She married a man she'd known for a week, right after a breakup. She won't answer her family's calls."

"I just want her to know we love her. Please, if you see this, say a prayer."

The comments were a river of hearts.

Strangers called her an angel and me a gold digger.

"Do not read them," Brynn said, from the other side of the counter.

"I'm not."

"You're reading them."

"I'm skimming."

She took the phone out of my hand and put it face down on the cake plate.

My mother called at ten.

I let it ring twice and picked up on the third.

"Ciara." Her voice was thick. "Please come to the house. Please."

"Is it Dad?"

"It's all of us. Please."

I told Brynn I'd be back for dinner.

I drove to the house I grew up in with my hands tight on the wheel.

My mother opened the door before I knocked.

She hadn't done her hair, and she looked ten years older than she had on New Year's Eve.

The whole family was in the living room.

My father sat in his chair with his arms folded.

Orin stood by the window and didn't turn around.

Shelley sat on the sofa beside my mother's empty cushion with a tissue in her fist.

"There she is," Shelley said softly, and her eyes filled right on schedule.

"Don't," I said.

"Ciara, honey, I only want to help."

"You posted me to four hundred thousand strangers."

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