Bernadette retreated before answering, leaving Wilma with a question neither woman could pretend had been accidental.
Denny touched Wilma’s elbow. “Come somewhere quieter.”
They stepped into the corridor beside the banquet kitchen, where cool air carried the scents of coffee and baked bread.
For several seconds Denny said nothing. Then he reached inside his jacket and removed a faded photograph.
The image showed students at a school dance. Wilma recognized herself immediately, younger and painfully careful, standing near Denny while Bernadette occupied the brighter center of the frame.
“I found this last week,” Denny said. “I almost left it at home.”
Wilma held the photograph by its edges.
She remembered that night more clearly than she wanted. Bernadette had made a cutting remark, others had laughed, and Denny had failed to challenge them.
His silence had wounded Wilma because she had trusted him.
“I was a coward,” Denny said.
She looked up.
“I knew she was being cruel. I knew you were hurt. I told myself staying quiet would stop things becoming worse.”
“We were children.”
“That explains it,” he said. “It doesn’t excuse it.”
The distinction moved her more than a dramatic apology would have.
Denny admitted he had wondered about Wilma for years. Life had carried him through work, family, losses, ordinary responsibilities, but occasionally a memory surfaced and he wished he had behaved differently.
Wilma told him she had carried her own distorted memories. She had sometimes reduced people to the worst thing they had done because it made the past easier to organize.
“And Bernadette?” he asked.
Wilma glanced through the doorway. Bernadette stood alone beside a display of yearbook photographs, no longer commanding anyone.
“I’m still deciding,” Wilma said.
Denny slipped the photograph into her hand. “Keep it. Maybe remembering accurately is better than remembering comfortably.”
When Wilma returned to the ballroom, Bernadette was waiting. This time there was no smile. “Tell me something,” she said. “How did you actually become this woman?”
