Edward's Point Of View
I stood where I was long after Lydia stopped speaking.
The room had gone quiet again. Not the peaceful kind of silence. This one felt thick, like something unpleasant had been dragged into the open and now refused to leave. The air itself felt heavier.
I watched Lydia carefully.
Her face had hardened during our conversation in a way I had never quite seen before. My daughter had always been expressive… quick to smile, quick to complain, quick to demand explanations when she felt wronged.
But this…
This was different.
Her shoulders were stiff. Her expression had closed off completely. There was a tightness around her mouth, the kind that meant she was holding something back.
For a brief moment, I considered saying something else. Something calmer. Something that would smooth the sharp edges of the discussion we had just had.
But Lydia spoke first.
Her voice had cooled by then.
"…that I was above her."
The words hung in the air between us.
