Chapter 24 - GIDEON TESTIFIES AGAINST HIS MOTHER’S STORY
Gideon was called about the presentation.
Lenora’s lawyer tried to show:
The exclusion was an archival convention, not personal hostility.
Then Gideon surprised her.
“It became personal.”
His mother stared.
“When?”
“Before the portrait.”
“How do you know?”
“She told me Dominic had to see what the family looked like without pretending.”
My stomach tightened.
“What did pretending mean?”
“Treating Elsie as part of the bloodline.”
Then:
“Did you agree?”
Gideon swallowed.
“With excluding her from the bloodline chart, yes. With treating her as not family, no.”
Distinction.
Still harmful.
Then:
“Why stand beside Lenora?”
“Because I wanted the place.”
There.
No hiding.
The judge asked one question directly.
“Mr. Avery, did standing beside Dominic in that photograph give you any legal entitlement?”
“No.”
“Then why did it matter?”
Gideon looked at me.
“Because I wanted everybody to think I mattered.”
Human.
May you like
Sad.
Dangerous when a child becomes the cost.
