Chapter 24 - IVY MEETS MARJORIE AGAIN
Ten months after the wedding, Ivy asked:
“Can I see Aunt Marjorie?”
I did not answer immediately.
“Why?”
“I want to.”
Good enough.
Dr. Hart planned a supervised meeting in her office.
No Lenora.
No wedding venue.
No relatives.
Marjorie arrived first.
Ivy chose me to stay for the beginning.
Marjorie’s hair had grown unevenly.
The shaved section was now several inches long.
She had cut the rest into a shorter style.
Ivy noticed.
“So yours grew.”
Marjorie smiled carefully.
“Yes.”
“Mine too.”
“Yes.”
Silence.
Then Ivy:
“Why did you do it?”
Marjorie had prepared answers.
I could tell.
She discarded them.
“Because I was angry and selfish.”
“Because of Mom?”
“Partly.”
“Did you hate her?”
Marjorie looked at me.
Then back.
“Sometimes I hated being compared to her.”
“That’s not same.”
“No.”
Then:
“I should never have made that your problem.”
Ivy nodded.
Then asked:
“Did I ruin wedding?”
“No.”
Immediate.
“I bumped table.”
“You bumped a table.”
“Then you ruined?”
Marjorie’s eyes filled.
“I ruined part of it.”
Ivy considered.
Then:
“Daddy ruined some too.”
I almost laughed from sheer pain.
“Yes,” I said.
Marjorie nodded.
“He did.”
Children simplify accountability beautifully.
Then Ivy asked me to leave the room.
That hurt.
I left.
May you like
Good.
Trust sometimes means not witnessing repair.
