Chapter 20 - MARGUERITE’S LETTER
Marguerite wrote to me after five years.
Her letter came through counsel.
Linnea,
I spent years believing Mother replaced me with you.
I laughed at the first sentence.
Then kept reading.
She described Eleanor changing the succession plan after Marguerite’s contract concealment.
She believed my existence became proof she had failed.
When I had three children, the descendant trust would eventually dilute Cecily’s family influence.
She hated that too.
She wrote:
I turned every advantage your children had into evidence that something had been taken from mine.
Then:
The night of Father’s birthday, I wanted you to leave angry. I did not expect you to throw plates. I wanted investors to see my branch at the table and yours as dependent.
Finally.
The trust optics.
She admitted the children were hungry.
Admitted she knew.
Admitted using food because it was immediate and visible.
I stopped there.
It took a week before I finished.
She apologized.
Not elegantly.
Not enough to erase anything.
She requested no visit.
Only asked that I tell the children one day that she knew they were grandchildren and chose to treat them otherwise.
I stored the letter.
Faye read it at eighteen.
Della at seventeen.
Beckett refused.
“That’s okay,” I told him.
“I know she’s sorry?”
“Maybe.”
“Good for her.”
May you like
That was all.
Forgiveness was not a graduation requirement.
