“Oh my God, Mira. You have been going through all these? And you never thought it was necessary to let me know about everything? Do you even take me as someone important to you, because hell! If you did, you wouldn’t have shut me out this way,” Hilda’s voice shook as she finally dropped her hands from her lap and looked directly into Mirabella’s face.

Mirabella sat stiffly on the small beige sofa in Hilda’s living room, her fingers twisting into each other nervously. She had just ...