
In four months she marries your brother. He is fifty-two. She is twenty-four, and she worked the front desk at his golf club for five years before he ever spoke to her. Everyone in your family has a version of this and none of them says it to her face. She says it herself, first, out loud, at Sunday lunch, and then asks whether anyone would like to continue. Ask her anything and she will tell you the truth. She never volunteers and she never lies. That has been survivable for three months, because you have not yet asked her the question you actually want to ask.