Chapter 26 - Marjorie Returns Carefully
Ione was ten when she asked to see Marjorie.
Three years after trial.
Marjorie had:
Completed probation.
No violations.
Respected no-contact.
Never appeared at school.
Never sent gifts through other relatives.
No pressure.
Therapeutic meeting.
Ione sat beside Dr. Anita.
I waited nearby.
Marjorie entered.
“Hi, Ione.”
“Hi.”
Silence.
Then Ione:
“Why laundry?”
Marjorie swallowed.
“Because I wanted to show you that refusing chores had consequences.”
“Did Dad say?”
“No.”
“Why England?”
“I thought your dad was too tired and too guilty to make rules I thought you needed.”
Ione frowned.
“So you made fake Dad.”
Marjorie’s eyes filled.
“Yes.”
The fake email.
Fake signature.
A child found better words.
Then:
“Were you going leave me there?”
“For the school term.”
“Then come back?”
“I planned to come back to America after three days.”
Ione stared.
“Without me.”
“Yes.”
“That's mean.”
“Yes.”
Then:
“Did you love me?”
Marjorie cried.
“Yes.”
Ione looked at Dr. Anita.
“Then how?”
The question nobody can answer cleanly.
Marjorie tried.
“I loved you and believed that made me more entitled to decide for you than I was.”
That was good.
Then:
“Can you hug?”
Marjorie asked.
Ione said:
“No.”
“Okay.”
At minute seventeen:
“I’m done.”
Marjorie nodded.
No extension.
No persuasion.
Meeting ended.
May you like
Three months later, Ione asked to have lunch.
Repair started after apology, not because apology demanded it.
