Claudia took away six-year-old Oscar’s crutches and threw them across the floor, leaving the injured boy unable to move from the bench without crawling.
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Chapter 16 / 17
Chapter 16
Claudia moved into her own townhouse.
Built a life without Duncan.
Harder than it sounded.
For years her identity had been wife, sister, Sterling woman, survivor of West House.
Now she had to become a person not organized around someone else’s fear.
She started therapy.
I learned that because she told me, not because I asked.
Good.
Nathan visited her once.
Then again.
Their relationship grew separately from mine.
That mattered.
Not everything had to route through the head of family.
My father had centralized too much.
Secrets too.
I wanted less of both.
Oscar started calling Nathan “Uncle Wood Guy” because of carpentry.
Nathan hated it.
May you like
The name stayed.
Family.
