Karen blew her nose. “I hated leaving Lisa, but the one thing that reassured me that she’d be okay was my father had never hurt her like he’d hurt me. He called her his angel and me the devil incarnate. He loved her and he hated me. I was seventeen and I stupidly believed that her angelic blond hair, cherubic curls and easy disposition would always protect her from his anger. I’ve never forgiven myself for that.”

“You did your best, Kaz,” Peter said softly. “The naivety of youth was no match for a bully like your father.”

“After I left home, I tried to see Lisa but he withdrew her from school, got me banned from the church and called the police on me when I tried to see her at home. A year after I’d left, I received a letter from Lisa telling me how much she hated me for abandoning the family and God. I knew then the bastard had succeeded in poisoning my beautiful sister against me. I was dead to my family, and that’s when I started calling myself an orphan.”

Peter squeezed Karen’s hand. “Girls, I don’t know if this helps you understand, but I’d known your mother for over a year before she told me she had a sister.”

Karen cleared her throat. “When Lisa was sixteen, she contacted me completely out of the blue. It was a miracle I got the letter, because I’d moved several times, married your father and changed my name. I immediately called the number she’d given and she told me she was staying with a church family at the beach. I wanted to visit, but she asked me not to, saying the family would only tell our father and then she’d be sent home.

“I should have twigged something was off. I just wish she’d told me she was struggling.”

“She hadn’t seen you in eight years, darling,” Peter said. “Plus, she sent you those photos.”

“Photos I should have questioned.”

Karen extended a trembling hand and Alice accepted a discolored Polaroid. It was an eerie sensation to be looking at a woman Alice had never met, yet felt she knew. Apart from the 1980’s bikini and hairstyle, and the fact two young men were gazing at Lisa with lust bright in their eyes, it was almost identical to a framed photo of Alice that Karen kept on display in the family room. “She looks happy.”