"Anastasia."
"There is a faint shimmer in the wall now. I have not had it replaced. I am keeping it as a souvenir."
I almost laughed despite the anger!
That was exactly what Anastasia would do. The wall a goddess walked through is now décor. You don't fix it.
You hang a small brass plaque next to it and start telling guests it's a gift.
"And the four things about your grandfather."
"Were correct."
"And the one thing about your mother."
"Was correct."
"And the message."
She held my eyes.
"Was that she knows exactly where I am positioned in your life. That she knows the sequence of how I came to be here. That she knows what I gave up to be here, and what I have not yet given you, and what I am still holding back."
The closet held its breath.
"What you have not yet given me."
"Yes."
"Anastasia."
"I am giving it to you now."
"Why now."
"Because that Senithe knows it, Peter, and I will not let her hold leverage over us that I have not first laid in your hand myself."
