Chapter 22 - SABINA’S LAST MEETING WITH ME
I agreed to meet Sabina when I was fifty-two.
Elara twenty-two.
No court requirement.
No pressure.
I chose.
Neutral room.
No Callan.
Sabina walked with a cane.
Still elegant.
Less armor.
She began:
“I am sorry.”
I waited.
“For pushing you.”
Good.
“For trying to separate you from Elara.”
Good.
“For using money and housing as threats.”
Good.
“For calling you a womb.”
Her voice broke.
I asked:
“Why that sentence?”
Sabina looked down.
“Because I knew motherhood was the one place I could make you feel reduced instead of powerful.”
There.
Cruelty chosen for accuracy.
“Did you think I had no value?”
“No.”
“Then why say it?”
“I wanted you to believe I did.”
That was worse.
Also honest.
Then I asked:
“Did you want Elara or the vote?”
Sabina thought for a long time.
“I wanted my granddaughter.”
“And?”
“I wanted not to become irrelevant.”
“There.”
She nodded.
“I treated those as the same problem.”
“Yes.”
No hug.
I did not forgive in one declarative sentence.
I left.
Later Callan asked:
“How was it?”
“Useful.”
“That’s all?”
May you like
“That’s enough.”
And it was.
