"She blamed me for you. It made living here impossible." He mirrors my pose by backing up against the pillar on his empty side, resting the back of his skull and spine against it, crossing his arms across that broad chest, and eyeing me up and down. "She thought you killed yourself because of my affair, and she pushed you to it with the last words she said to you. Mother couldn't stand to be in the same room as me or look in a mirror for a long time."

"The last w...." My voice comes out tinnily and trails off as I remember exactly what those were. My heart...