Chapter 20 - MY FIRST VISIT TO GEORGIA
I visited Georgia in prison after three years.
Kristin did not come.
Her choice.
I asked before scheduling.
“Do you care?”
“Yes.”
“What do you want?”
“I don’t want to stop you.”
Different.
I went.
Georgia looked older.
Smaller.
Still my mother.
That was the hardest part.
She asked about Anna.
“She’s well.”
“Pictures?”
“No.”
Her face changed.
Then she caught herself.
“Okay.”
Progress?
Maybe.
She apologized.
At first badly.
“I never meant for Kristin to suffer that much.”
I said:
“Start again.”
She looked at me.
“I locked her in.”
“Yes.”
“I lied to you.”
“Yes.”
“I used Ruth’s illness to control documents.”
“Yes.”
“I forged your signature.”
“Yes.”
“I thought everything would fall apart if I stopped being the person holding it.”
There.
I believed that.
“Do you understand it fell apart because you wouldn’t let go?”
She nodded.
I did not forgive her that day.
Did not need to decide.
May you like
We spoke for forty minutes.
Then I left.
