“Is it Cora? Do you love Cora?”
He stood and walked over to her, so close she couldn’t stand it,
couldn’t breathe.
“Of course I love her. Like I love you. And your mother. You
three are all I have.” His voice was calm, carefully paced and toned.
“I can’t love you like that.”
Minnie took a step back, eyes narrowed. “You can’t, or you
don’t?” The smallest twitch in expression shaped his eyes. It was a
shift that only she, who had devoted so much time to studying
him, would have caught.
“I don’t,” he whispered.
He was lying, and for some reason that hurt her more than if
the words had been the truth.
Southern Mexico
Day of the Dead Celebration
November 2, 1963
sixteen
C
ora peered down at the case now sitting on the
floor in Thomas and charles's room . It was wrong
to be doing this, prying into Arthur’s secrets. She would
have liked nothing more than to ponder her relief at discovering he
was not her half brother. But for some reason that information
made him feel even more unknowable.
She was scared, and she hated that Arthur was part of what she
was afraid of. There were too many other things to be frightened
of without adding someone she trusted to the list. He would
understand. Eventually.
So she wiped the remaining dirt of the case’s grave on her
apron and waited while Thomas fiddled with the latches.