Confessions from the Quilting Circle - Maisey Yates Page 0,77

to protect me. My job is to protect you.”

Her grandmother had a slight reaction to that statement that Emma couldn’t read. And her aunt Anna folded her arms over her chest and shrank away.

“No. I wanted to protect you. Because you did so much for Dad, and you’ve done so much for me. And... I never wanted to add to your burdens.”

“You’ve never been a burden to me. You’ve been the brightest, most wonderful spot of my life in all of this.”

“But I know that you don’t want me to leave. And I know that’s why you were upset about me taking the job here. I was afraid that if you knew I had a boyfriend you would get worried. And you would ask me questions about...”

“Right,” her mom said, looking a little bit pale now.

“I just wanted something for myself. Something that wasn’t going to add to...everything else. Something separate.”

“I understand,” Rachel said. “Emma... I don’t want you to feel like you have to keep secrets from me.”

“Well, I’m eighteen now. I’m grown up. It’s time I started acting like it. The bracelet that dad gave me... It said the light will always lead me home. It will. This is my home. But I need to...” Emma blinked furiously, tears filling her eyes. “I lied to you about Boston. I did get accepted.”

The ripple of shock that went through her family was visceral, tangible.

“I know,” Emma said. “I shouldn’t have lied. But then... I accepted. I accepted the offer to go. I did it without telling you. And... I was waiting... I messed it up. I know I did. But I’m not going to lie anymore. I thought that lying would protect you. But it was just keeping us from being close. It was making me miserable.”

Emma couldn’t read her mom’s expression. She looked large-eyed and shocked. “I want to talk more about this. Maybe we should head home—”

“It takes a lot of guts for you to come down here, Anna.”

The four of them turned and saw a woman Emma vaguely recognized from church. Hannah somebody.

“I wasn’t aware that it took bravery for me to walk around in my own town,” Anna said.

“Hannah,” Wendy said, her voice measured, but Emma recognized it as dangerous. “I suggest that you move on.”

“I more than suggest it,” Emma’s mother said. “You have nothing to say to anyone in my family. Least of all my sister. I can only assume that if you’re so obsessed with her life your own must be boring and pathetic. Perhaps you should get back to it.”

“I’m definitely not going to take any lectures from you, Rachel Henderson,” Hannah said. “Everyone knows that you are exactly the same as your sister. Everyone knows that you were down here talking to the diner owner when you should have been taking care of your husband. For all the world to see. Anyone could walk by on the sidewalk and see you sitting on a bar stool giggling like an idiot. And that’s just what you let us see. God knows what the two of you were doing in private.”

“How dare you,” Rachel said, her voice choked with rage. “I loved my husband.”

“Get away from me and get away from my family,” Anna said. “How can you say that about my sister in front of her daughter. On her birthday. You’re just angry because Laura pointed out what a hypocrite you are. It’s tough to feel superior when you’ve already been knocked down to the ground. I don’t know what your issue is—”

“Honestly,” Hannah said, “I don’t think anyone would ever patronize your family inn if it weren’t for Wendy.” Hannah turned to Wendy then. “You should be embarrassed. You shouldn’t defend them. Anna especially has embarrassed you and undone all of the good reputation you spent years building.”

“My good reputation?” Emma’s grandmother asked. “My good reputation.” She repeated the words as though they tasted bitter. “Is that why you’re so angry? Because of my reputation?” Her voice was hushed, but it was deadly, and they all hung on her every word. “Well, let me tell you, my reputation is a lie.”

That hung heavily between them, settled in the silence like a fog and wrapped itself all around Emma.

A lie.

Wendy took a step toward Hannah. “And if you’re going to come down here and imply that something is wrong with either of my daughters, then you should know something is wrong with me. I had an affair with a married man,