Chapter 9 - Cecily
Cecily hired her own lawyer.
Smart.
She was not charged.
At least not initially.
Her statement was ugly but clarifying.
Jocelyn told her:
“Declan finally agreed Vermont might be better.”
Cecily asked:
“For how long?”
Jocelyn:
“Probably the school year.”
“Does Declan really want that?”
“He’s exhausted.”
Then:
“Where will Emmett stay until he leaves?”
“Den.”
Cecily did not like taking his room.
She said:
“I can use guest room.”
Jocelyn replied:
“There isn’t one anymore. The den is his transition space.”
Transition.
Then texts.
CECILY:
He cried about curtains.
JOCELYN:
He needs to stop treating the room like territory.
CECILY:
He’s six.
JOCELYN:
Exactly why now is the time.
Another:
CECILY:
Declan knows I’m in his room?
JOCELYN:
He will.
Not:
Yes.
He will.
Cecily should have recognized.
She admitted.
“I wanted to.”
Why ignore?
Her condominium repairs had displaced her.
She was tired of hotels.
She trusted daughter.
Convenience again.
Then the text that changed everything.
Three weeks before my return:
CECILY:
What happens if Declan changes mind?
JOCELYN:
Once Emmett is with Ruth, he won’t drag him back just to prove a point.
Cecily:
That sounds risky.
Jocelyn:
Declan hates scenes. He’ll rationalize it.
My skin went cold.
Then:
CECILY:
And if he doesn’t?
JOCELYN:
Then I tell him the truth: I can’t keep living like this with Emmett at the center of everything.
There.
Not yet full.
Cecily:
Are you leaving?
Jocelyn:
Maybe. But I’d rather fix the house first.
“Fix the house.”
Meaning?
The next text.
JOCELYN:
If Emmett settles in Vermont, Declan and I finally get space to see whether we still have a marriage.
That was motive.
Not one bedroom.
Not Cecily.
Jocelyn believed our marriage could recover if Emmett were elsewhere.
She saw him as the center of conflict.
Had she planned permanent abandonment?
Her next message:
Maybe one semester. Maybe longer. He loves Ruth.
Ambiguous length.
But the method was not ambiguous.
She planned to establish the placement first, then tell me fully.
Why?
Because she believed I would reject it in advance but accept it once Emmett was already settled.
My consent was an obstacle to manage.
Then another text:
JOCELYN:
He needs to stop believing every room and every adult belongs to him because Declan feels guilty Amelia died.
That sentence destroyed whatever sympathy I still had.
Emmett did not think adults belonged to him.
He thought his bedroom did.
Reasonably.
Then Cecily gave one final screenshot.
Jocelyn to her:
I’m making the transition happen gradually so he stops thinking this house is the only place he can sleep.
Porch.
Garage.
Den.
Bedroom gone.
May you like
Gradually.
Chapter 10 no longer needed inference.
