Chapter 18 - Brenda’s First Honest Visit
Brenda came to see me three months later.
No silver gown.
No diamonds.
No mocking smile.
She wore jeans, a plain coat and nervousness she could not hide.
“I almost left,” she said.
“Why didn’t you?”
“Because avoiding you has been my main skill.”
I let her inside.
We sat across from each other in a small apartment I rented after selling the mansion.
She looked around.
“You could afford anything.”
“I know.”
“Then why this?”
“Because I wanted to choose a place no one selected for me.”
She nodded.
Brenda had begun rebuilding a relationship with Celeste.
Slowly.
Painfully.
Her mother did not ask for forgiveness.
That helped.
“I hated you before I knew you,” Brenda said.
“I know.”
“Margaret showed me photographs of your life. The mansion. Schools. Galas. Dad.”
“You thought I stole it.”
“I thought you lived the life I deserved.”
“And now?”
“Now I know neither of us received what we deserved.”
She placed the jewelry box on the table.
Inside lay my grandmother’s necklace.
“I do not want it.”
“It was never yours.”
“I know.”
I closed the box.
Then pushed it back toward her.
“It belonged to Rafael’s mother. He was your father.”
Brenda stared at me.
“You are giving it to me?”
“No.”
I looked at her.
“I am refusing to let another object decide which one of us mattered more.”
We agreed to donate it to the restitution foundation.
For the first time, we laughed together.
May you like
Not because anything was funny.
Because neither of us knew what else to do with the weight of surviving the same father differently.
