Beth was crying quietly. A cousin Sarah barely knew reached across and put a hand over hers. Paul hadn’t moved from his chair. He reached across the table, took Sarah’s hand, and held it, and said nothing. Tom sat beside her and didn’t fill the silence either. Sarah felt something loosen in her chest.
The apologies came in different forms. Beth said hers directly, that evening, still at the table—”I said terrible things about you to people, and I am sorry.” Sarah said she understood. Others sent messages in the days that followed, careful and slightly formal. They were ashamed and didn’t quite know how to carry it. Sarah replied to everyone.