Chapter 20 - THE MEETING
Neutral office.
Mediator.
Liora thirteen.
Darlene seventy-three.
Elise and I waited elsewhere.
The meeting lasted thirty-six minutes.
Liora told us some of it later.
First question:
“Did you think I could die?”
Darlene cried.
“I told myself you would not be inside long enough.”
“That’s not answer.”
Darlene looked at her.
“I knew there was risk.”
Good.
Ugly.
True.
“Why me?”
“Because you saw something.”
“I was four.”
“Yes.”
“Why not move papers?”
“I was panicking.”
“Why say Mom was next?”
“I planned to make her stop the audit.”
“How?”
“Threaten legal action. Try to convince your father she was unstable and destructive.”
Liora stared.
“Did you think Dad would believe?”
Darlene answered:
“At that time, yes.”
That hurt me when I heard it.
Because she might have been right.
Then Liora asked:
“Did you love Dad more than Mom?”
Darlene:
“He was my son.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
My daughter had inherited Elise’s precision.
Darlene answered:
“I valued my influence over him more than I respected his marriage.”
Good.
The meeting ended.
No hug.
Liora allowed Darlene to send one birthday card a year.
No private visits.
May you like
No second meeting.
Enough.
