My Dad Proudly Took My Beautiful Younger Sister Everywhere but Always Made Me Stay Home **20 Years Later, He Came to My Birthday in Tears, Holding a B0x, and Said, ‘Before I Pass Away, You Need t0Know Why I Treated You That Way. 0pen This’

Then he’d looked at me.

I had stood at the bottom of our stairs wearing it.

Not at the dress.

At my face.

At the pale patch beside my mouth that no amount of Mom’s foundation had completely covered.

« Plans changed, Emma, » he’d said. « I can only take one of you. »

Lily had gone.

I had spent the evening cleaning a kitchen that wasn’t dirty.

« I can only take one of you. »

***