Chapter 25 - MARGARET COMES HOME
Margaret completed custody and entered supervised release in her seventies.
She lived in a condominium.
No Bennett estate.
No board chair.
No trust password.
She requested contact.
I waited.
Dany was adult enough to decide his own.
I agreed to one meeting in a therapist’s office.
Margaret looked smaller.
Still elegant.
No apology first.
Instead:
“You look like your father.”
“Still?”
“More.”
Then:
“I was wrong about the trust.”
Not enough.
She knew.
I waited.
“And about you leaving.”
Better.
Then:
“And about Dany.”
I asked:
“What about him?”
She looked down.
“I treated him as proof that your branch kept existing without giving anything back.”
“He was three.”
“Yes.”
“That matters.”
“Yes.”
“Why fries?”
She almost laughed.
“I was angry.”
“That simple?”
“Yes.”
Good.
Not every cruelty needs hidden symbolism.
Sometimes a person is mean because power makes cruelty cheap.
She said:
“I’m sorry.”
I believed she meant it.
Belief did not restore authority.
We met occasionally after.
Dany chose once.
May you like
Then not again for years.
His choice.
