“What about a marriage license?”

“He’d already gotten one. Seems he expected me to say yes.” Trudy laughed, but it was tense. “Can you believe it? I can’t wait for you to see the ring. It’s perfect.”

Violet opened her mouth to respond, but no words followed.

“You like Jay. You told me so yourself. I thought you’d be happy for me.”

Violet heard the hurt in her sister’s voice, but she couldn’t muster the happiness Trudy so desired. “This is . . . it’s too soon. And Trudy, he . . .” She lowered her voice to a whisper, though there was no one around to overhear. “He hurts you.”

“What are you talking about? He doesn’t hurt me.” Her words were so incredulous, Violet faltered. Maybe her hunch had been wrong. Maybe the bruises she’d seen were just a trick of the light.

“He doesn’t mean to, anyway.” Trudy let out a bright peal of laughter. “He loves me.”

“Oh, Trudy. We talked about this. Don’t you remember?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Yes, you do. It was after Mom and Dad had that really big fight. The loud one. We sat on my bed and talked about how we’d never let ourselves fall in love with a man who hurt us. I know you remember.” The image was still clear in Violet’s mind, though she’d been all of thirteen years old, fourteen tops, and Trudy a tender ten or eleven. They’d been wearing nightgowns, and Trudy’s hair was wrapped in pink sponge rollers.

“It’s not the same thing at all. Jay married me, for goodness’ sake. You don’t marry someone unless you love them, right?”

“Don’t you think Mom thought that too?”

Trudy was quiet for a moment, and Violet thought she’d hit her mark. She bit her lip as she waited for Trudy to speak.

“Jay is a wonderful man and he loves me. I know you haven’t gotten to know him well, but you will.”

Violet closed her eyes, unable to comprehend her sister’s blindness, but Trudy had made her choice.

“So are you living there now? At his house?”

“Of course, he’s my husband. Where else would I live?”

Violet gazed around the home she’d shared with Trudy their whole lives. It had gone from a home of four, to three, then down to two. And now it was just Violet.

“We’ll come by this week to get my things. And I want to show you the pictures. Jay was so handsome.” As Trudy went on about what they wore—a gray suit, white lapels, and a new pair of sterling silver cuff links for Jay, and a high-collared, coral silk dress with flowing sleeves for Trudy—Violet slowly gathered her applications into a pile and folded them in half, then folded them again.

She wouldn’t be going anywhere.

Moving away, following her dreams, meant leaving Trudy behind—entrusting her to Jay’s keeping—and that was something she couldn’t do. Trudy was Violet’s responsibility, the one person she had left.