Hendrik would not speak with Isabel that week. He sat at Mother’s side and held her hand and ignored Isabel. Once, the first year when Hendrik did not show for Christmas, Mother had said: “I suppose we all have our priorities.” Isabel had held him as a child. He now loved others more than he loved her. His mother was on her deathbed and he cried over a man. Such were things, and Isabel lifted her chin at it, ground her teeth at it, made herself bigger.
