Natalie stood on my porch dressed as if she had been invited somewhere better first.
Natalie pushed past me before I found my voice and walked into the dining room. The children froze. Rosie stepped back behind Owen without understanding why, just sensing the shock and borrowing his body as shelter.
Natalie started crying immediately. Loud, open, and dramatic.
"I missed you all so much."
No one moved.
Then she turned to the kids and said the sentence that made my blood boil. "I had to leave because of your father. He didn't make enough money to give us a decent life."
I watched confusion cross my younger girls' faces.
Natalie kept building her new version of history right in front of them. She said she had only left "for a while." Said she had sacrificed and had changed.
