Chapter 6
Sabrina talked before Gavin did.
She always had less discipline.
“You think Sienna is innocent?”
I stared at her.
“She knew what Gavin wanted when she married him.”
Sienna laughed bitterly.
“I thought he wanted me.”
Sabrina rolled her eyes.
“He did.”
Then, cruelly:
“You were just never the whole prize.”
There.
I saw Gavin close his eyes.
Too late.
I looked at Sabrina.
“What was the rest?”
She realized she had gone too far.
I waited.
“Connections.”
“Territory.”
Silence.
“Me.”
Her jaw tightened.
Yes.
Gavin loved Sienna.
Maybe.
He also loved what stood behind her.
Both could be true.
That complexity did not absolve him.
I pointed toward the scissors still sealed in a bag on the table.
“You cut Mila’s hair because she spoke.”
“She wouldn’t stop repeating private things.”
“She is three.”
“Exactly. She parrots everything.”
I leaned forward.
“You weren’t punishing a liar.”
Silence.
“You were punishing a witness.”
That hit.
Sabrina looked away.
Then she made another mistake.
“If she had listened the first time, none of this would have happened.”
Sienna went still.
“The first time?”
I turned.
Mila had been punished before.
Sabrina’s face closed.
I asked my granddaughter gently later.
“Did Aunt Sabrina ever cut your hair before?”
“No.”
“Did she punish you?”
Mila nodded.
“How?”
“She took Bunny.”
Her stuffed rabbit.
For two nights.
Because Mila told Mrs. Carter that Gavin yelled at Sienna.
Then Marjorie told her food came after “good behavior.”
Nothing dramatic enough to leave marks.
May you like
Everything deliberate enough to teach silence.
The braid was simply the first punishment they could not hide afterward.
