I looked down at my daughter.
Mark’s voice continued.
“She isn’t something I left behind. She’s our daughter. Sally’s and mine. And she deserves to become her own person.”
“Turn it off,” Violet whispered.
I did.
The screen went dark.
For a long moment, neither of us spoke.
Then I looked at her.
“I want Cecelia to know her grandmother.”
Violet began crying.
“But you cannot tell her that I forced her father into this. You cannot teach her that he was too weak to understand what he wanted.”
Violet nodded faintly.
“And you cannot make her responsible for keeping Mark alive for you.”
Her face twisted.
“I don’t know who I am without him.”
My anger softened.
“Neither do I.”
I looked down at Cecelia.
“This is the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do.”
Then I looked back at Violet.
“But she doesn’t need us to have everything figured out yet.”
