“But she also knows she’s not your daughter. And she’s feeling lost and terrified.” Why couldn’t he see it?

“She isn’t lost and terrified. I have kept a really careful eye on both girls since Becca died. I made sure they both saw a therapist, although both of them chose to stop pretty quickly. Izzy said she didn’t need it. She has held it together better than any of us.” His voice wasn’t quite steady and he seemed so upset she almost didn’t tell him the rest of it.

It had been hard on him, too. And she hated to say what needed to be said because it was kicking him when he was down, but she knew she had to say it.

“Yes, she’s held it together, not because she was doing great but because she was desperate for you to still need her around.”

“What?” He dragged his hand through his hair, impatient. “Of course I need her around.”

“She is anxious that now her mother has gone, you no longer have a reason to give her a home.”

The only sounds were the relentless patter of rain and the rustle of leaves.

His hand dropped to his side. He looked stunned. “That’s not—I have never—”

“You told her you could manage fine without her and that she should leave and start living her life.” She saw him mentally rewind everything he’d ever said to Izzy and saw the exact moment he recalled those words.

“I didn’t mean it that way. You know that.”

“I do know that, but those words fed the fear Izzy is already feeling. I think it might have been the timing rather than the words. When we first met you told me Izzy had really stepped up. You said she was your little star. That she was coping better than any of you.”

“She was.”

Flora felt water slide off her hair and down her neck. She was almost as wet as she’d been when she’d fallen in the lake, but she wasn’t going to end this conversation until she had the outcome she wanted. With this new information, the whole thing was falling into place in her head. “I don’t think she was coping. I think she was trying to make herself indispensable.”

“But—”

“Did she ever complain? Did she have moods or tantrums? Was she ever difficult?”

He shook his head. “Barely ever.” He ran his hand over his face, clearing droplets of rain. “That’s not normal, is it? I missed that. Damn, I missed that.” He went from defensive to humble in the blink of an eye and if she hadn’t been so upset with him she would have been impressed that he could admit his mistakes so willingly and openly.