Chapter 17 - Maisy Asked Her Father the Hardest QuestionRoxanne entered a negotiated plea on several charges.
Not all.
The crash investigation remained separate and unresolved regarding anything beyond Gregory’s known responsibility.
Fraud and document-related offenses were clearer.
So were violations connected to Maisy.
The exact legal language meant little to her.
What mattered was simple.
Roxanne could not come near Maisy.
For a long time.
Possibly ever, depending on future orders.
Dashiell expected relief.
Maisy cried.
“I miss her.”
They were sitting in the therapist’s office.
Dashiell felt confused.
Dr. Lena Moore did not.
“Of course you do.”
Maisy looked up.
“But she was mean.”
“Yes.”
“Then why do I miss her?”
“Because people can be part of our lives in more than one way.”
Maisy frowned.
Roxanne had made pancakes.
Braided Maisy’s hair.
Taken her to the zoo.
Read bedtime stories.
Also frightened her.
Both existed.
Dr. Moore continued:
“Missing someone does not mean you want the scary parts back.”
Maisy nodded.
“I miss when she was nice.”
Dashiell’s chest tightened.
He understood too well.
He missed Calder before the truth.
He missed believing Roxanne was helpful.
He missed Elowen in every version.
Maisy looked at him.
“Daddy?”
“Yes?”
“Why didn’t you know?”
The question destroyed him more than accusation would have.
He could have lied.
Adults are good at hiding things.
You were scared.
I was busy.
Instead:
“Because I wasn’t paying enough attention.”
Maisy stared.
“Why?”
Dashiell swallowed.
“I trusted Roxanne.”
“That’s bad?”
“No.”
He thought.
“Trust isn’t bad.”
“Then?”
“I kept trusting after there were things I should have asked about.”
Maisy nodded slowly.
“Like when I said I hated baths?”
Dashiell stopped breathing.
Months earlier, Maisy suddenly refused baths.
He thought it was a phase.
Roxanne said she was being difficult.
Dashiell remembered telling Maisy:
“Listen to Roxanne.”
His throat closed.
“Yes.”
Maisy looked down.
“I tried to tell you.”
Dashiell felt tears rise.
“What did you say?”
“I said Roxanne made water too cold.”
He remembered.
God.
He remembered.
Dashiell had laughed.
Then ask her to make it warmer.
Maisy whispered:
“She said I was lying.”
Dashiell’s voice broke.
“I’m sorry.”
She looked up.
“You didn’t know.”
“I should have asked more.”
Maisy thought.
Then:
“Are you bad?”
“No.”
Dr. Moore answered before Dashiell.
Both looked at her.
She smiled gently.
“Making a mistake does not automatically make someone bad.”
Maisy looked at Dashiell.
“See?”
He laughed through tears.
“Apparently.”
Then Dr. Moore added:
“But adults do have to repair mistakes.”
Maisy nodded.
“How?”
Dashiell answered:
“By listening now.”
That became his work.
Not dramatic revenge.
Listening.
When Maisy said she didn’t want a babysitter one afternoon, he asked why.
When she said she didn’t like a teacher’s joke, he listened.
When she changed her mind, he didn’t accuse her of inconsistency.
He learned that safety was not telling a child nothing bad would ever happen.
It was making sure they believed they could speak when something did.
Kiara began nursing classes.
She still worked three days a week.
Maisy bragged about her to everyone.
“My Kiara is going to be a nurse.”
Kiara laughed.
“I’m not yours.”
Maisy frowned.
“You live here.”
“So does the toaster.”
Maisy laughed for five full minutes.
Calder’s relationship with Dashiell remained difficult.
They saw each other at company meetings.
Spoke politely.
Sometimes painfully.
One evening Calder asked:
“Do you think we’ll ever be brothers again?”
Dashiell looked at him.
“We’re brothers now.”
“You know what I mean.”
“Yes.”
Dashiell considered.
“I don’t know.”
Calder nodded.
Fair.
Then:
“I loved Elowen.”
“I know.”
“Not like that.”
Dashiell almost smiled.
“I know that now too.”
Calder looked relieved.
“I wish I had told you everything before she died.”
“So do I.”
No forgiveness speech.
No hug.
Not yet.
Truth first.
Time second.
Meanwhile, investigators confirmed Roxanne had been the person who approached Elowen’s car after the crash.
A traffic camera from a distant intersection captured her walking from the road shoulder minutes later.
She admitted it.
Finally.
She claimed she checked whether Elowen was alive.
Why leave?
Panic.
Why take the SIM?
She denied it.
No proof otherwise.
Why not call emergency services?
She said she saw Gregory already using his phone.
Gregory denied that.
The truth of those minutes might never be complete.
Dashiell struggled.
Then found Elowen’s journal entry again.
I’m done letting fear make choices for me.
He decided the same.
He could spend his life trying to solve every second of Elowen’s death.
Or protect the child still alive.
That didn’t mean stop seeking truth.
It meant not living entirely inside the unanswered part.
Then Maisy came home from school with an assignment.
Family tree.
Dashiell stared.
She had drawn Elowen.
Dashiell.
Herself.
Then Calder.
Kiara in a corner labeled:
NOT FAMILY BUT SORT OF.
Dashiell laughed.
Then noticed Roxanne’s name.
Written small.
Crossed out.
He felt sad.
“Why did you cross her out?”
Maisy shrugged.
“She said family means you have to forgive.”
Dashiell’s pulse shifted.
“When?”
“Before.”
Of course.
Roxanne had prepared even that.
“What do you think?”
Maisy stared at the paper.
“I think family means you tell the truth.”
Dashiell smiled.
“Your mom would like that.”
Maisy looked at Elowen’s name.
Then asked:
“Would Mommy be proud of me?”
Dashiell did not hesitate.
“Yes.”
May you like
“How do you know?”
“Because I am.”
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