Chapter 6 - Mason Thought His Mother Caused What HappenedMason’s therapist asked Gavin and Avery to stop questioning him about Darlene.
He had already given a formal statement.
Enough.
If Mason wanted to talk, they listened.
If he didn’t, they didn’t ask.
For three days, he barely mentioned her.
Then one night at dinner, Avery put peas on his plate.
Mason stared.
“I don’t want those.”
“Okay.”
Avery moved them aside.
Mason looked surprised.
“What?” she asked.
“Nothing.”
Then:
“Miss Darlene made me finish everything.”
Avery sat still.
“She did?”
Mason nodded.
“If I didn’t, she said people who waste food should learn what garbage tastes like.”
Gavin’s stomach tightened.
The kitchen incident suddenly had context.
Not the first threat.
Maybe the first time Darlene acted that far.
But the language had existed.
Avery kept her voice neutral.
“That wasn’t okay.”
Mason looked down.
“She said it was because you were mean to her.”
Avery’s face changed.
“What did she tell you about me?”
Mason hesitated.
The therapist had told them not to turn meals into interviews.
Avery stopped herself.
“You don’t have to answer.”
Mason poked a potato.
Then:
“She said you wanted her gone.”
Avery nodded.
“I did.”
Gavin looked at her.
Mason looked up.
“Why?”
Avery answered truthfully.
“Because I found out she was doing things with money that worried me.”
“Was she stealing?”
“We’re still finding out exactly what happened.”
Good.
No accusation stated more strongly than the facts.
Mason thought.
“She said you hated her because she was poor.”
Avery almost laughed.
“That isn’t true.”
“She said you called her trash.”
Avery’s face drained.
“I never called her trash.”
“Did you say she belonged with the staff?”
Avery looked guilty.
Gavin noticed.
“What?”
Avery sighed.
“One time.”
She looked at Mason.
“I said something rude.”
“What?”
“Darlene interrupted a dinner your dad was having with business partners.”
Mason waited.
“I told her, ‘You are staff, Darlene. Please act professionally.’”
Gavin remembered the night.
Darlene had been humiliated.
Avery later apologized to Gavin for the scene.
Not to Darlene.
“That was mean,” Mason said.
“Yes.”
Avery accepted it.
“I should have handled it differently.”
“Then she was right?”
“No.”
Avery leaned forward.
“I was wrong to embarrass her.”
“She was wrong to scare you.”
“Both can be true.”
Mason frowned.
“Adults say that a lot.”
Gavin almost smiled.
“Because adults make a mess of simple things.”
Mason continued eating.
Then asked:
“Did you make her hurt me?”
Avery froze.
The question broke her.
“No.”
Her voice cracked.
“No, baby.”
“But she said—”
“No.”
Avery moved beside him.
She did not hug him until Mason leaned toward her.
Then she wrapped her arms around him.
“I could say the cruelest thing in the world to Darlene.”
She swallowed.
“And she would still be responsible for what she chose to do afterward.”
Mason whispered:
“So it wasn’t because of you?”
“No.”
“Or me?”
“No.”
Gavin looked down.
Mason had been carrying two kinds of guilt.
Darlene told him his mother caused her anger.
And perhaps he believed his own resistance caused the punishment.
Children personalized adult chaos.
Then Mason asked:
“Was it because of Dad?”
Gavin felt the question land.
Avery looked at him.
Gavin answered:
“No.”
Then corrected himself.
“Not directly.”
Mason frowned.
Gavin continued:
“But I made mistakes.”
“What?”
“I didn’t listen when you said you didn’t want Darlene watching you.”
Mason stared.
“I told you.”
“Yes.”
“You said I was being rude.”
“I know.”
“Were you mad?”
“No.”
“I thought you were.”
Gavin swallowed.
“I’m sorry.”
Mason nodded.
Then, because he was six, he asked:
“Can I have ice cream?”
Avery laughed through tears.
“Yes.”
Gavin objected.
“You didn’t finish dinner.”
Avery looked at him.
“Choose your battle.”
Gavin surrendered.
Later, after Mason slept, Avery sat on the back terrace.
Gavin joined her.
She looked exhausted.
“I did make things worse.”
“What?”
“With Darlene.”
Gavin frowned.
“I was condescending.”
“Yes.”
“You’re agreeing fast.”
“You told me not to lie.”
Avery almost smiled.
“I started treating her like an enemy before I had enough proof.”
“You had reasons.”
“I also liked making her feel small.”
Gavin looked at her.
That honesty surprised him.
“Why?”
“Because she made me feel like a guest in my own home.”
There.
The emotional war.
“She knew every routine.”
“Your mother’s recipes.”
“Your father’s traditions.”
“She knew which wine you liked before I did.”
“She knew how you wanted shirts packed.”
“She corrected me about your birthday cake the first year we were married.”
Gavin remembered.
Darlene said:
“Mr. Mercer prefers chocolate.”
Avery had ordered lemon.
It seemed trivial.
Maybe it never was.
“She made you feel replaceable.”
“Yes.”
“And you made her feel beneath you.”
“Yes.”
Neither excused the other.
Then Avery said:
“But there’s something I never told you.”
Gavin tensed.
“What?”
“Darlene came to me six months ago.”
“About?”
“She offered me a deal.”
Gavin stared.
“What deal?”
“She said if I stopped reviewing old household accounts, she would resign quietly within a year.”
His chest tightened.
“What did you say?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because she wouldn’t tell me what I was agreeing not to find.”
Gavin exhaled.
“What happened next?”
Avery looked at him.
“She said, ‘Then don’t blame me when Gavin decides you’re the problem.’”
Gavin felt cold.
That was before the fake emails started.
Before the marriage tension.
Before Mason became “behaviorally unstable.”
Darlene had not merely reacted to Avery.
May you like
She had warned Avery exactly what she intended to do.
Then she had spent six months making the warning come true.
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