Chapter 13 - Gwendolyn and Percival
The meeting happened six weeks after the wedding.
Neutral place.
Dr. Hart’s office.
Gwendolyn wore jeans.
No makeup.
No ring.
Percival carried his airplane.
She sat across from him.
“Hi, Percy.”
“Hi.”
Silence.
Then:
“You said I ruined wedding.”
Her face broke.
“No.”
“I heard.”
“I know.”
“Why?”
Gwendolyn took a breath.
“Because I was scared and angry and I cared more about making the wedding keep going than I cared about slowing down and listening to you.”
He stared.
“Did you think I stole?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I believed Grandma and what Thayer had said about you picking up things.”
“Did Daddy believe?”
“No.”
That mattered.
Percival looked at me through the observation glass? Better I was in the room at his request.
He looked at me.
I nodded.
Then:
“Why you believe Thayer?”
Gwen swallowed.
“Because I trusted him.”
“More me?”
Children are merciless.
“At that moment, yes.”
She cried.
“I’m sorry.”
Percival moved his airplane along his knee.
Then:
“Did he steal?”
Gwen answered carefully.
“He took the ring without permission and planned to use it for money.”
“Why?”
“He owed money and was afraid to tell me.”
“Could ask.”
“Yes.”
“Didn’t.”
“No.”
Then:
“Wedding gone?”
“Yes.”
“Forever?”
“The wedding with Thayer is.”
Percival frowned.
“Because me?”
“No.”
Immediate.
“Because of choices Thayer made and choices I learned about.”
Then she added:
“You telling the truth helped me know before I married him.”
Percival looked uncertain.
That could become another burden:
I saved Aunt Gwen.
Dr. Hart stepped in.
“You don’t have to be responsible for what Aunt Gwen does next.”
Good.
Gwendolyn nodded.
“You’re right. Sorry.”
Percival considered.
Then held up his toy airplane.
“Wing broke.”
Completely changed subject.
Gwen laughed through tears.
“I can glue that.”
“No. Daddy uses too much.”
I felt attacked.
“Excuse me?”
He smiled.
The visit ended with Gwendolyn repairing a plastic airplane wing.
No hug.
Percival did not offer.
May you like
She did not ask.
Repair sometimes starts with glue and silence.
