Chapter 7 - Twenty-Three VisitsAudrey did not deny the visits.
That made Gavin angrier than another lie might have.
“Twenty-three.”
They sat in Dr. Evelyn Marks’s office.
Audrey had agreed to a structured conversation because Gavin refused to continue fighting inside the mansion.
“Not all were long.”
Gavin stared.
“That is your opening defense?”
Audrey closed her eyes.
“No.”
“Why did he come?”
“Sometimes for Mia.”
“Without telling me.”
“Yes.”
“Sometimes?”
Audrey looked down.
“For me.”
Gavin’s jaw tightened.
“How many?”
“I don’t know.”
“Enough to remember.”
“Maybe fifteen.”
“Fifteen secret visits.”
“Yes.”
“Did you sleep with him?”
“No.”
“Did you kiss him?”
“Once.”
“Did you want to?”
Audrey started crying.
“Sometimes.”
Dr. Marks remained quiet.
Gavin asked:
“Did you tell him you wanted to leave me?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Last month.”
His chest tightened.
“Why?”
“I was tired.”
“Of me?”
“Of everything.”
“Darlene?”
“Yes.”
“The secret?”
“Yes.”
“Marriage?”
Audrey looked at him.
“Yes.”
There.
No room left for pretending today caused everything.
“What did Reid say?”
“That leaving me for him would be another lie.”
Gavin had not expected that.
“He refused you.”
“Yes.”
“Then kept visiting.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Audrey wiped her face.
“Because we were emotionally dependent on each other.”
Dr. Marks finally spoke.
“That phrase is accurate.”
Audrey nodded.
Gavin stared at the floor.
Six years earlier, affair.
Then silence.
Then Darlene’s blackmail.
Then Audrey and Reid slowly orbiting each other again.
No sex required.
The betrayal had stayed alive emotionally.
“Did Reid know the paternity result?”
“No.”
“You are certain?”
“Yes.”
“Why not tell him?”
“I was afraid he’d want Mia.”
Gavin laughed bitterly.
“You made every choice based on what someone might take from you.”
Audrey cried.
“Yes.”
“Me.”
“Yes.”
“Mia.”
“Yes.”
“Your reputation.”
“Yes.”
“Money.”
“Yes.”
“And when you were afraid, you made other people carry it.”
Audrey looked down.
“Yes.”
That answer mattered.
Gavin changed direction.
“Why did you humiliate Darlene?”
Audrey’s eyes closed.
“Because I hated that she owned something about me.”
“So you wanted her to feel small.”
“Yes.”
“You called her servant.”
“Yes.”
“Told her Baxter mattered more.”
Audrey cried.
“Yes.”
“Threatened her sister.”
Audrey hesitated.
Gavin saw it.
“What did you say about Monique?”
“That if Darlene exposed me, every payment would become evidence.”
“That’s true.”
“Yes.”
“But you made it sound like you’d destroy her whole family.”
“I was cruel.”
Gavin leaned back.
“Good.”
Audrey stared.
“Good?”
“You finally said it without ‘because.’”
She cried harder.
Dr. Marks let silence sit.
Then Gavin asked:
“Did you ever think your treatment of Darlene could affect Mia?”
“No.”
“Never?”
“No.”
Gavin believed her.
It did not excuse her.
It clarified where responsibility ended.
Audrey created humiliation.
Darlene chose the target.
Gavin asked:
“Did I ignore anything?”
Audrey looked surprised.
“What?”
“Before the kitchen.”
She stared at him.
“You’re asking what you did?”
“Yes.”
Dr. Marks watched carefully.
Audrey thought.
“You ignored when Mia said Darlene was mean lately.”
Gavin remembered.
One bedtime.
Mia had said:
Darlene gets mad fast now.
He responded:
Everybody gets tired.
His chest tightened.
“What else?”
“You ignored how I spoke to Darlene.”
“Yes.”
“You hated conflict.”
“Yes.”
“You worked late whenever the house felt tense.”
Gavin looked down.
That one hurt.
Audrey continued:
“I used to think you were avoiding me.”
“Maybe I was avoiding everything.”
Dr. Marks said:
“Responsibility is not the same as causation.”
Gavin looked at her.
“You did not cause Darlene’s act. But if there are patterns you ignored, you can change your response now.”
Useful.
Not comforting.
That was what he needed.
After the session, Gavin returned to Paige’s.
Mia sat at the kitchen table drawing.
He sat beside her.
“Can we make a new rule?”
She looked up.
“What?”
“If you tell me someone makes you feel scared, mean, weird, or uncomfortable, I ask more questions.”
Mia frowned.
“Even adults?”
“Especially adults.”
“Even Mom?”
“Yes.”
“Even you?”
Gavin stopped.
Then smiled.
“Yes.”
She nodded.
“Okay.”
He thought the conversation was finished.
Then Mia said:
“Mom told me Uncle Reid loves her.”
Gavin froze.
“When?”
“Last week.”
“What exactly did she say?”
Mia colored carefully.
“That people can love more than one person.”
Gavin felt cold.
“Did she talk about me?”
“She said she loved you too.”
“Did you understand what she meant?”
Mia shook her head.
“I thought Uncle Reid hated you.”
Gavin closed his eyes.
Audrey had been using Mia as somewhere to place pieces of her guilt.
That night he called Dr. Marks.
“She’s been confessing to a child without actually confessing.”
Dr. Marks said:
“Then the problem is bigger than secrecy.”
“What is it?”
“Boundary failure.”
Gavin looked toward Mia’s bedroom.
Everyone in that house had used her as something.
Darlene used her as a message.
Audrey used her as a safe place for fear.
Reid used proximity to her to soothe uncertainty.
And Gavin?
May you like
He had used her apparent normalcy as proof the adults were fine.
That stopped now.
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