Chapter 14 - Gareth’s Apology
Gareth apologized to Elspeth without asking me to script.
Good.
They sat at breakfast.
He said:
“Els, I need to tell you something.”
She kept eating cereal.
“Okay.”
“I knew Grandma had been leaving you out of some club pictures.”
Her spoon stopped.
“You knew?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I told her to stop, but I didn’t make sure she did.”
“Why?”
“Because I thought telling her once was enough.”
Elspeth stared.
“It wasn't.”
“No.”
“Did Mom know?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“I didn’t tell her.”
“Why?”
“Because I wanted the problem to go away without a big fight.”
Elspeth considered.
Then:
“Did it?”
“No.”
She took another bite.
“Okay.”
Gareth waited.
Maybe expecting forgiveness.
Elspeth added:
“Don’t do again.”
“I won’t.”
That was it.
Later he cried privately.
Good.
Do not make the child carry adult grief.
Then marriage counseling.
I told him:
“You are more afraid of making your mother angry than you are of making me uninformed.”
He hated that.
Then admitted:
“Yes.”
Not anymore automatically.
But historically.
May you like
His job was not to become aggressive with Maude.
It was to stop treating transparency as violence.
