Vanessa’s mouth opened.
Mom spoke calmly.
“She’s upset. Give her one quiet night.”
Vanessa looked around the room.
Nobody defended her.
“She’s upset.”
Nobody looked away.
“Do whatever you want.”
Then, she walked out alone.
I closed the door.
***
No one spoke. Nora kept staring at all the places she’d once been.
Later that night, I knocked on Nora’s door.
No one spoke.
“Come in.”
She sat on the bed in an old T-shirt, with the yellow dress folded beside her.
I sat beside her.
“I failed you.”
“Mom…”
“No. I saw pieces and kept choosing peace. I thought silence would stop a fight. It only gave Vanessa room to keep hurting you.”
“Mom…”
Nora picked at a loose thread.
“I thought maybe you didn’t notice because she was right.”
I took her hand.
“Look at me. She was never right. Not once.”
Her eyes filled.
“What happens now?”
“Vanessa doesn’t come back until she apologizes without excuses and restores every picture. If she never does, the boundary stays.”
“What happens now?”
Nora leaned into me, and I held her without trying to fix the moment.
A knock came at the door. Noah stepped in, holding the beach photo.
“I need one last picture for my project,” he said. “But Nora gets to choose.”
He handed it to her.
