Chapter 16 - WHAT WE DID WITH THE USB
We did not destroy it immediately.
Appeals existed.
Records needed preservation.
The forensic master remained with authorities.
My estate copy went into a safe-deposit box with counsel.
Not in our home.
Poppy did not need to guard it.
The damaged rag doll returned to her bed.
No electronics inside.
That mattered.
The criminal appeal challenged:
Manslaughter causation.
Admission of some audio.
Jury instructions.
Normal.
No one promised me the conviction would stand.
Daniel warned:
“If one count is reversed, do not interpret that as history being erased.”
Good.
Celestine’s financial convictions were strong.
Manslaughter more vulnerable.
The appellate court upheld most.
But ordered limited reconsideration of one causation instruction.
For six months, uncertainty returned.
Then the manslaughter conviction stood after review.
No sensational reversal.
No total certainty either.
Law had done what law could.
I started dating nobody.
Not for years.
People assumed trauma.
Partly.
Also trip to school.
Laundry.
Business.
Poppy.
Grief.
I did not need romance as evidence of recovery.
At seven, Poppy asked:
“Was Celestine trying to be my new mommy?”
“No.”
“She was marrying you.”
“Yes.”
“Then?”
“She would have become your stepmother.”
“Did I have to call her Mom?”
“No.”
“Good.”
Then:
“Did Mommy know you would marry Celestine?”
“No.”
That question had no good answer.
I sometimes imagined Mara watching.
Hated myself for it.
Dead people do not supervise our future relationships.
Mara could have loved Celestine as friend and still not predict what came.
I could have loved Celestine afterward and still be betrayed.
No one’s death made my later judgment sacred.
I had been wrong.
I survived being wrong.
That was an adult lesson Poppy would need eventually.
Then Cecily? Wrong story. No Cecily. Need no bleed.
Celestine’s family contacted me once.
Her mother.
She asked for photographs of Poppy.
No.
Polite.
Firm.
Poppy was not part of Celestine’s rehabilitation story.
Her mother accepted.
Good.
Then Avery returned to Lark & Thread as compliance director under new ownership.
I congratulated her.
She said:
“I should’ve spoken sooner.”
“Yes.”
She looked hurt.
I continued:
“Mara should’ve told me sooner too.”
“Yes.”
“And I should have listened to Poppy sooner.”
Avery nodded.
Responsibility distributed accurately.
Not equally.
May you like
Accurately.
That became the theme of everything after.
