Chapter 15 - THE LETTER FROM SIX YEARS AGOReid printed both pages.
Placed them side by side.
Page one:
I can’t do this anymore. Maybe Maisie is better without me.
Page two:
I’m not giving up. I’m trying to get well enough to come back.
Half a letter could become an entirely different person.
Cecelia had sent only the half that supported her story.
Reid showed Jonathan.
“This matters legally?”
“Potentially in demonstrating interference.”
“I mean morally.”
Jonathan looked at him.
“You know the answer.”
Reid did.
He met Cecelia at Jonathan’s office.
Neutral ground.
No Maisie.
No family home.
Cecelia entered with her own attorney, Sandra Pike.
Reid almost laughed at the coincidence of surname.
His grandmother’s strict governess had been Mrs. Pike too.
Some names apparently followed families.
Jonathan placed the two pages down.
Cecelia looked.
No visible reaction.
Reid asked:
“Why did you keep page two?”
“I don’t remember.”
“You sent page one to me last week.”
“I found it in a box.”
“Where was page two?”
“I don’t know.”
Lauren’s photograph of the original letter appeared next.
Both pages visible.
Cecelia’s attorney shifted.
Reid asked again.
“Why?”
Cecelia crossed her arms.
“She was unstable.”
“True.”
“She abandoned Maisie.”
“Temporarily.”
“She abandoned her.”
“Then tried to return.”
“She had no right to disrupt that child again whenever guilt struck.”
“That was my decision.”
“You weren’t capable of making it.”
Reid went still.
“What?”
“You were barely functioning.”
“After my marriage collapsed.”
“Yes.”
“So you took over.”
“Somebody had to.”
Reid looked at her.
“You liked that.”
Cecelia’s expression tightened.
“I saved this family.”
“From what?”
“Lauren.”
“No.”
He shook his head.
“You saved me from making choices you disliked.”
Sandra intervened.
“Perhaps we should focus on current arrangements.”
Reid ignored her.
“Did you tell Lauren I agreed she should stay away?”
Cecelia said nothing.
“Did you?”
“Yes.”
Reid breathed out.
“Did I agree?”
“You would have.”
His face changed.
That sentence contained everything.
“You would have.”
Cecelia did not need his consent because she believed she understood him better than he understood himself.
“Did you tell the old family law office Maisie’s therapist advised against contact?”
Cecelia’s lawyer turned sharply.
“What?”
Reid continued.
“Maisie had no therapist.”
Cecelia looked irritated rather than ashamed.
“I may have said a child specialist.”
“Who?”
“I don’t remember.”
“Name.”
“I don’t remember.”
“Because there wasn’t one.”
Cecelia looked away.
Reid sat back.
“You lied to Lauren.”
“I protected Maisie.”
“You lied to me.”
“I protected you.”
“You lied to professionals.”
“I protected the family.”
Same word.
Protection.
Reid suddenly hated it.
Protection had become the family’s excuse for control.
He thought of the emergency button.
Its purpose was protection too.
But the difference was consent.
It gave Maisie a way to ask for help.
Cecelia’s version removed choice from everyone.
He stood.
“We’re done.”
Cecelia looked at him.
“What does that mean?”
“It means I understand enough.”
“For what?”
“To know this was never one bad night.”
Her face tightened.
Reid continued.
“You have been controlling the relationship between Lauren, Maisie, and me for six years.”
“I kept that woman from destroying you twice.”
“You don’t get to decide that anymore.”
Cecelia stood too.
“And when Lauren fails her?”
“Then Lauren answers for Lauren.”
“And you?”
“I answer for me.”
May you like
He looked directly at his mother.
“And you finally answer for you.”
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