Chapter 21 - TREVOR’S LETTERS
Trevor wrote from custody.
First:
I should have stopped Mom.
I did not answer.
Second:
I should have told you after Noah’s first episode.
No answer.
Third:
I thought if I exposed her, you would take Emma and the boys and leave me.
That one I kept.
Not because it excused him.
Because it named motive.
He feared losing family.
So he made choices that destroyed it.
Later:
I chose keeping my mother over protecting our sons.
Specific.
Then:
I helped her wash the story even when I couldn’t fully wash the bottle.
That sentence hurt.
He asked once:
“Will you ever forgive me?”
I wrote back:
“I don’t know.”
The only letter I sent for years.
At nine, Emma asked to read some.
Therapist selected.
She read Trevor’s apology.
Then:
“Daddy says he loved them.”
“Yes.”
“Can you love someone and not protect them?”
I hated the answer.
“Yes.”
“That’s stupid.”
“Yes.”
“Did he love me?”
“I believe he does.”
“Would he protect me?”
“I don’t know what he would do now. That’s why adults make safety decisions carefully.”
She nodded.
May you like
No romantic myth.
No demon simplification.
