Chapter 17 - CAMILLE’S CHOICE
Camille pleaded guilty before Celeste’s financial trial.
A reduced false-document and fraudulent-submission offense.
Why?
Evidence.
Also cooperation.
She admitted:
She knew I had not agreed.
She allowed Celeste to present her as intended caregiver.
She created the fake pregnancy email account.
She submitted postpartum-support requests using my name.
She knew at least one placement signature was false.
She did not kick me.
Did not forge my signature herself.
Did not control the trust.
Her sentence:
Probation.
Community service.
Financial penalties.
No family-trust administrative role.
No contact with Margot without my and Stellan’s consent.
Mandatory counseling.
No instant redemption.
Camille wrote me a letter.
I did not read it for six months.
When I did, the first line was wrong.
I loved Margot before she was born.
I almost stopped.
Then:
That sentence is part of the problem. I loved an idea of her that required pretending you were removable.
Better.
She wrote:
My infertility made me vulnerable to wanting what was not mine. It did not make me entitled to it.
Good.
Then:
I knew you had not agreed. I stayed because every new step made going backward feel more unbearable.
There.
Escalation.
Not excuse.
May you like
I did not answer.
Forgiveness is not a receipt automatically issued when someone uses accurate vocabulary.
