Chapter 8 - RACHEL’S GUILT
Rachel struggled with one fact.
She had left Sophie downstairs with Margaret.
“I knew Mom was angry about the DNA rumors.”
“You didn’t know she’d chain her.”
“I heard them arguing.”
I looked at her.
“You did?”
“For maybe ten seconds.”
That hurt.
“Why didn’t you come down?”
Rachel began crying.
“Because Mom was always like that.”
There it was.
Normalization.
Raised voices.
Cruel comments.
Hierarchy.
Rachel had learned to tune it out.
Her daughters learned the same.
Chloe later told her therapist:
Grandma picks who is good that day.
That sentence changed Rachel.
She established boundaries.
No unsupervised contact between Margaret and Chloe or Madison either.
Not because Margaret had chained them.
Because the family needed to stop waiting until harm reached the worst child before setting rules.
Rachel apologized to Sophie.
Specific.
“I heard Grandma being mean and I didn’t come down. I should have.”
Sophie asked:
“Would you come now?”
May you like
“Yes.”
That was enough.
