Chapter 53
Sadie
Sadie stumbles backward into the hall as Beth flees the dining room.
Beth is white-faced, horrified. She repeats the same words over and over: “I’m not . . . I’m not . . . I’m not . . .” When Sadie tries to go to her, to comfort her, Beth bats her away as if she doesn’t recognize her.
Sadie’s still struggling to make sense of Leonora’s words herself.
She barely knows her great-aunt Caroline .
. . My grandmother Caroline, she thinks with a jolt.
But one thing’s for sure: Beth has never coped well with even trivial emotional subjects.
How can she possibly cope with a revelation of this magnitude?
“Beth, look at me.” Somehow, Joe’s voice cuts through Beth’s panic. “You’re going to be okay,” Joe tells her. “Everything’s going to be fine. I promise.”
Beth’s breathing gradually slows. “I’m not . . . I’m not who I thought I was . . .”
“You’re still my mum, though,” Sadie says, and this time she manages to catch hold of Beth’s hands. “It doesn’t change us, does it?”
Beth stares back at her. “I wish I hadn’t asked . . . Everything I ever thought . . . I wish I didn’t know . . .”
Sadie’s heart contracts with guilt, because she was the one who sent Beth to talk to Leonora in the first place.
“I’m so sorry,” Sadie says. “I’m really sorry, Mum.”