Chapter 14 - My Mother Got One Last Choice
I met Mom at her house.
The porch pillar was still there.
The broken brass lock wasn't.
She'd removed every trace.
“I'll cooperate,” she said.
“With everything?”
She nodded.
“Then say what happened without blaming Emma.”
Her mouth tightened.
For several seconds, she couldn't.
Finally:
“I was afraid.”
I waited.
“I knew there might be something hereditary. I knew your father had hidden it. I helped maintain that secret after he died because I convinced myself knowing would only hurt you.”
She looked toward the porch.
“When Emma got sick, I thought if I could prove the episodes were caused by heat, then maybe…”
“Maybe what?”
“Maybe I hadn't stolen twenty-seven years of informed choices from you.”
That sentence finally sounded true.
Not good.
Not excusable.
True.
I told her Emma would not be seeing her.
She nodded.
“For how long?”
“I don't know.”
That hurt both of us.
But boundaries weren't supposed to make everyone comfortable.
Before leaving, I placed Dad's note on her kitchen table.
“You spent half your life protecting him from the consequences of being afraid.”
She looked down.
“And now?”
“Now you live with yours.”
I walked outside.
Behind me, I heard my mother begin to cry.
I didn't turn around.
May you like
Because the next morning, the complete documentation of what happened on that porch was being submitted where it needed to go.
And for the first time, Diana Harrington would not control the story.
