Chapter 16 - ADELAIDE AND SELENE
I did not attend the first thirty minutes.
Their choice.
A therapist from Adelaide's residence sat nearby.
Later they told me pieces separately.
Selene began:
“I am sorry I tried to make you believe Nicolas wanted you gone.”
Adelaide:
“That was worse than the water.”
Selene:
“I know.”
Then:
“I was cruel to you too,” Adelaide said.
Selene apparently laughed.
“Yes.”
Adelaide:
“I told you you were temporary because I wanted you to feel temporary.”
Selene:
“It worked.”
No saints.
Then Adelaide asked:
“Why did you want my house so badly?”
Selene answered:
“Because every time Nicolas said it was your home, I heard that mine depended on his permission.”
Adelaide thought.
Then:
“You should have bought your own.”
Selene laughed again.
“Eventually I did.”
Good.
Then:
“Did you ever love Nicolas?”
“Yes.”
“Still?”
Long pause.
“Yes, differently.”
Adelaide told me that part just to annoy me.
Then Selene asked:
“Did you ever intend to let me run the house?”
“No.”
Honest.
“Why?”
“Because I didn't trust you.”
“Before I did anything?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“You cared too much about being seen as Mrs. Carbone.”
Selene said:
“You were right for the wrong reasons.”
Maybe.
Then the water.
Adelaide asked:
“Did you think I'd fall?”
“No. I wanted to humiliate you.”
Important.
No intent to injure.
Still abuse.
Then Selene said:
“When Clara caught you, I realized how old you were.”
Adelaide hated that.
“I was seventy-seven, not glass.”
Apparently they argued five minutes.
Healthy.
Then I entered.
Both looked exhausted.
Mother said:
“She still talks too much.”
Selene replied:
“She still insults people when afraid.”
I sat.
No hug.
Then Adelaide said:
“I forgive the water.”
Selene stared.
“Not the papers?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Water dried. The papers tried to make me doubt my own mind.”
That was profound.
Selene cried.
Mother did not.
Then:
“Maybe later,” Adelaide said.
Not promise.
Then meeting ended.
Selene kissed Adelaide's forehead only after asking.
Mother allowed.
I walked Selene to lobby.
She said:
“Thank you.”
“I didn't arrange it.”
“I know.”
Then:
“She is worse.”
“Memory?”
“Yes.”
“Some days.”
Selene looked hurt.
“You get no guilt credit.”
“I know.”
Good.
Then Adelaide's care increased gradually.
Medication assistance.
Memory support.
Still able to choose clothing, meals, visitors, finances with help.
No binary capacity.
Then one day she asked where the Carbone house was.
“Sold.”
“To who?”
I told her.
She nodded.
Then five minutes later asked again.
Grief.
No legal enemy to fight.
Just age.
Selene began visiting every few months with Adelaide's consent.
Sometimes Mother remembered the hallway.
Sometimes not.
Selene never corrected her aggressively.
If Adelaide accused:
“You packed my things.”
Selene said:
“Yes.”
No:
We've discussed this.
No gaslighting.
Good.
Then my relationship to Selene settled into something strange.
Not friendship.
Not hostility.
Shared concern for Adelaide from different distances.
Could that become reconciliation?
No.
Marriage remained over.
Some bonds survive without returning to their previous form.
Then Mother looked at us once and said:
“You two should never remarry.”
May you like
We laughed.
Memory intact where important.
