Chapter 22 - LUCINDA’S LETTER TO ROSALIE
Lucinda wrote Rosalie at twenty-one.
Rosalie chose to read it.
I did not preview.
Adult.
Her choice.
Lucinda wrote:
I believed your birth endangered something I had spent my life protecting.
Then:
I told myself preserving family governance would protect you too.
Then:
That was how I made my selfishness sound responsible.
Good.
Rosalie stopped.
“That line’s actually decent.”
Stellan smiled sadly.
Continue.
I also believed Maribel’s inability to become a mother was an injustice someone should fix.
No child should ever be used to repair an adult’s grief.
Rosalie looked at me.
“Did she know that then?”
“No.”
“Obviously.”
Then:
I struck your mother because she refused to let me decide what family meant.
That was honest.
Rosalie folded the letter.
“Do I answer?”
“Only if you want.”
She did.
One sentence:
I read it.
Nothing more.
May you like
Lucinda never demanded more.
Change.
