Chapter 25 - BEATRICE’S DEATH
Beatrice died when Ava was thirty.
She had lived quietly after release, under restrictions that long since ended.
A final letter went to Ava.
Ava opened it with no therapist present.
Adult choice.
Beatrice wrote:
I spent years insisting I never would have dropped you.
That sentence was how I protected myself from admitting the real thing.
I was willing to make your mother believe I might.
I used your life as a weapon even if I believed my hands were steady.
There is no softer version of that.
Ava read it twice.
Then gave it to me.
I cried.
“Do you forgive her?” Ava asked.
“No.”
“Me neither.”
Then:
“But I’m glad she finally said it.”
“So am I.”
The letter entered Ava’s personal archive.
Not public.
May you like
Not legal.
Private truth.
