Chapter 18 - CORINNE’S PRIVATE OFFER
Corinne waited until Graham left for a meeting with investigators.
Then she went upstairs.
Helena was packing.
Not hurriedly.
Books.
Clothes.
David’s letters.
Photographs.
Corinne stood in the doorway.
“So this is it.”
Helena continued folding.
“For now.”
“You’re leaving.”
“Yes.”
“You got what you wanted.”
Helena looked at her.
“What do you think I wanted?”
“My husband against me.”
Helena stared.
“No.”
“Don’t.”
Corinne stepped inside.
“You never liked me.”
“That isn’t true.”
“You tolerated me because Graham loved me.”
“I welcomed you.”
“Until you moved in and started judging everything.”
Helena almost laughed.
“You think I was judging you?”
“You were.”
Corinne’s voice cracked.
“You watched how I cooked. How I hosted. How I ran the house.”
“Because it was unfamiliar.”
“You made me feel like I could never be you.”
There.
Something deeper.
Helena sat.
“I never wanted you to be me.”
“Well, Graham did.”
Helena frowned.
Corinne continued.
“Every Christmas: Mom did this. Mom used to make that. Mom handled Dad’s office. Mom remembered birthdays.”
Tears filled Corinne’s eyes.
“Then you moved in.”
Helena understood.
Not excuse.
Context.
“You resented me.”
“Yes.”
The honesty startled both.
Corinne wiped her face.
“And I’m ashamed of things I said.”
Helena waited.
“But this has gone too far.”
There it was.
“But.”
Corinne sat across from her.
“Tell Graham the truth.”
“I have.”
“Tell him it wasn’t abuse.”
Helena stared.
Corinne leaned forward.
“Say we were fighting. Say I was overwhelmed. Say Ellen heard the worst five minutes of eleven months.”
“What about the card?”
“I’ll repay everything.”
“The papers?”
“Destroy them.”
“The money?”
“I’ll return it.”
“And then?”
“We move on.”
Helena looked at her.
“What happens if I say no?”
Corinne stopped.
“There.”
Helena’s voice was calm.
“That is the question you always wanted answered.”
“What?”
“What happens when I say no?”
Corinne stared.
Helena continued.
“If I say no to chores, lunch waits.”
“No to paperwork, I’m difficult.”
“No to you managing my card, I’m confused.”
“No to your version of events, I’m destroying your marriage.”
Corinne shook her head.
“That’s not fair.”
“No.”
Helena nodded.
“It isn’t.”
Corinne blinked.
Helena stood.
“And I’m done living inside things that aren’t fair because fairness makes other people uncomfortable.”
Corinne’s face hardened.
“You think Graham will forgive you if our marriage ends?”
Helena looked at her.
“I am not responsible for what happens to your marriage.”
“You brought lawyers.”
“You brought papers.”
Silence.
Helena stepped closer.
“You told me I had no leverage.”
Corinne’s eyes widened.
Brooke.
Of course.
Helena continued.
“You were wrong.”
Corinne whispered:
“What leverage do you have?”
Helena smiled sadly.
“None.”
A pause.
“That’s the point.”
She did not need leverage.
She needed ownership of her own choices.
“No,” Helena said.
Just once.
Clear.
Corinne left.
Helena returned to packing.
Her hands shook afterward.
Courage did not always feel powerful.
Sometimes it felt like nausea after the door closed.
May you like
She kept packing anyway.
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