Chapter 21 - BEATRICE FINALLY GETS TO ANSWERThat evening Gavin sat beside his mother.
The house was quiet.
Monica had gone to her sister’s apartment.
Tyler was upstairs showering.
A professional caregiver from CareWell had arrived.
For the first time in months, Gavin knew Beatrice would not be left alone when he stepped out of a room.
He placed the communication tablet in front of her.
“Mom.”
Beatrice looked at him.
“I need to ask you questions.”
Her eyes softened.
“You don’t have to protect me.”
She looked down.
“You spent my entire life protecting me.”
His voice cracked.
“I don’t deserve it right now.”
Beatrice reached for his hand.
He almost cried.
“Did Monica frighten you?”
YES.
“Did she yell at you?”
YES.
“Did she leave you alone longer than you were comfortable with?”
YES.
“Did she sometimes deny you food?”
YES.
“Water?”
YES.
Gavin swallowed.
“Did she ever hit you?”
NO.
Relief and pain mixed strangely.
“Did she intentionally physically injure you?”
NO.
“Did she speak cruelly to you?”
YES.
His eyes filled.
He forced himself to continue.
“Did she say she wished you were dead?”
Beatrice froze.
Her breathing changed.
Gavin immediately regretted asking.
“Mom, you don’t have to—”
Her eyes moved.
Slowly.
To YES.
Gavin covered his mouth.
Beatrice began crying.
He lowered his head.
“I’m sorry.”
She looked at him.
“I’m so sorry.”
He had said it before.
Now he understood the full size of it.
“I brought you here because I told you this house would be safe.”
Beatrice reached toward him.
“I promised you.”
Her hand touched his.
Gavin cried.
Not loudly.
A forty-one-year-old man sitting beside the woman who had once stayed awake all night when he had pneumonia.
“I didn’t believe Tyler.”
Beatrice’s eyes moved.
Gavin followed.
She selected:
CHILD.
Then:
GOOD.
Then:
BRAVE.
Gavin laughed through tears.
“Yes.”
The stairs creaked.
Tyler appeared.
He stopped when he saw his father crying.
“Dad?”
Gavin held out one arm.
Tyler came.
Beatrice reached for him too.
The three remained together in the small room.
No dramatic victory.
No punishment happening elsewhere.
May you like
Just the first moment in months when Beatrice did not need to convince anyone she was telling the truth.
She had finally been heard.
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