The table was quiet.
David said: “Paige. We’re not –” He stopped and seemed to choose his words carefully. “We’re not people who would judge you for your mother’s job.”
“I know that now,” she said. “I knew it when I met you. But I had already told Andrew the story, and once the story was out there, I couldn’t go back without –” She stopped again.
“Without admitting you’d lied,” I said.
She looked at me. “Yes.”
“So you kept going.”
“Yes.”
I looked at my plate for a moment. I thought about seventeen things I could say. I chose one.
“How did you explain the wedding to me?”
“I told you it was a courthouse ceremony, no parents from either side.”
“And to Andrew’s parents?”
She was quiet.
“You told them you had no parents to invite,” I said.
“Yes.”
The word landed in the room and stayed there.
## What Ruth Said to Paige
Ruth had been quiet through much of the exchange. She had the quality of a person who was listening carefully and waiting for the moment to say the thing that needed saying rather than saying things prematurely.
She said: “Paige. I want to understand something. In the eighteen months you’ve been married, have you seen your mother?”
Paige looked at me quickly, checking, and then back to Ruth. “Yes. We have lunch. Not often.”
“You’ve been meeting with your mother secretly while living as though she was dead to our family.”
It was not a question. It was said quietly and without venom and it landed precisely.