Chapter 10 - THE PLAN WAS SUPPOSED TO SCARE ELISEMargot’s phrase became infamous inside family:
It was supposed to scare Elise.
Elise hated.
She told mother in mediated session:
“You keep saying as if fear isn’t harm.”
Margot nodded.
“I know now.”
“You wanted me to believe Poppy could be taken.”
“Yes.”
“For how long did you expect me terrified?”
“A few minutes.”
“Do you know how long one minute is when child missing?”
Margot cried.
“No.”
“I do now.”
“That knowledge came by making me live it.”
“Yes.”
Elise’s voice shook.
“I sat on stone step thinking she might be dead.”
“You saw me.”
Margot closed eyes.
“I was searching too.”
“You knew this started because you.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you stop search and tell?”
“Because by then I didn’t know where Theresa took her.”
There.
Margot lost control almost immediately.
The plan supposed to create controllable fear.
Fear is not controllable.
Elise asked:
“If Sunny hadn’t found?”
Margot sobbed.
“I don’t know.”
Poppy likely found soon, but uncertainty unbearable.
Elise:
“You can’t ask me forgive.”
“I’m not.”
“Good.”
The session ended.
Margot later wrote:
I thought I could decide size of another person’s terror. I could not.
Therapist encouraged responsibility language.
No passive.
Elise kept letter but did not show Poppy yet.
Nolan still denied he intended restraint/bin.
Likely true.
But he intended longer disappearance than Margot.
Five minutes.
Maybe ten.
To make “real.”
He had told Theresa:
Wait until search begins.
That crossed.
He exploited niece for financial control.
He also genuinely loved Poppy.
That contradiction sickened Elise.
At birthdays, Nolan had built dollhouse.
Babysat.
Called.
Love coexisted with using.
Elise told:
“You loved her and still did.”
Nolan cried.
“I never wanted hurt.”
“I believe.”
“Still did.”
No easy villain.
The plan to scare changed everyone:
Elise ended immediate engagement? She paused.
But eventually marriage decided independently.
Margot lost family authority.
Nolan lost trust/access.
Theresa faced legal.
Cedarwick itself no longer symbol safe.
Elise considered selling.
Declan:
“Don’t decide from trauma.”
May you like
She waited.
Good.
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