“Do you know how long it’s taken me to convince myself of personal responsibility? Do you have any idea how hard it was for me to believe that at the end of the day, my place in this world was my decision? Not my god’s, not my mother’s or my father’s. It’s mine. Every day it’s mine. But now, you want to tell me that it was in my genes or my bones or whatever that I would come here, that this place drew me here simply because I’m your daughter? Where’s the free will? Where’s the choice?”
Edward laughed, almost unhappily. “You’re not wrong, Bel. That’s all true. But like I said, you may have been drawn here by something greater than yourself, but each day that passed had the potential to be your last day here. Yet you stayed. You made the decision to stay the moment you first arrived, remem
