Chapter 20 - PATRICIA’S LETTER
Patricia wrote from prison when Mia was ten.
The letter went through lawyers and Maya.
I read it first.
Patricia wrote:
I believed Arthur’s descendant trust weakened the authority Robert and I had earned.
Not a good beginning.
Then:
That sentence is still me talking as though authority belonged to us.
Better.
She admitted finding Mia with the green key.
Admitted searching her pockets.
Admitted locking the garage.
I told myself I would release you when you told me where the key was. Every hour after that, I chose to keep waiting.
That was accurate.
Then:
When you cried at the window, I avoided looking because seeing you clearly would have made it harder to continue.
I had to stop reading.
Days later, I finished.
Patricia did not ask for forgiveness.
She requested no visit.
She wrote:
You were not a lesson. You were a child. I knew the difference and acted as though I didn’t.
I showed the letter to Mia at twelve when she asked.
She read it silently.
“Is she sorry?”
“I think so.”
“Can sorry change prison?”
“No.”
“Can it change me?”
“You decide what it means to you.”
Mia folded it.
May you like
“I don’t want to answer.”
She didn’t.
