Chapter 22 - Delaney asks to see Willa
Delaney contacted me through Lena.
Not directly.
She wanted to see Willa.
I asked Willa.
“No.”
Immediate.
Then:
“Do you want to read her letter?”
“No.”
Good.
I told Lena:
“No contact.”
Delaney accepted for three weeks.
Then sent a birthday gift to Willa through foundation offices.
A bracelet.
No message beyond:
Love, Aunt Delaney.
Willa stared.
“Did she ask?”
“No.”
“Send it back.”
We did.
Delaney called me.
“She’s fourteen, Graham.”
“Yes.”
“You’re teaching her cruelty.”
“No.”
“You’re enjoying this.”
That made me angry enough to want an old answer.
Instead:
“She asked us to return it.”
Silence.
Then:
“She hates me because of you.”
“No. She is angry because you used her medical story after she asked you not to.”
Delaney started crying.
I almost rescued her.
Old family habit.
Then:
“I lost my career.”
“You lost a job.”
“You know what that foundation was to me.”
“Yes.”
“Then how can you say that?”
“Because Willa is not responsible for fixing it.”
There.
I ended the call.
Then Delaney did something better.
She stopped.
No more gifts.
No calls.
No messages through relatives.
Two months of silence.
Behavior.
Then Willa asked:
“Is Aunt Delaney okay?”
“I think so.”
“Does she have money?”
“Yes.”
“House?”
“Yes.”
“Job?”
“Not yet.”
Willa looked relieved.
She had been afraid her boundary destroyed Delaney’s life.
It had not.
Then school.
Willa expanded to full days twice weekly and half days twice.
Used wheelchair.
Sometimes walker in therapy room.
She joined theater tech.
Not acting.
Lighting console.
She loved control of buttons.
I did not comment on irony.
Then Milo came over for a supervised group study session with two other kids.
Not date.
Not savior.
He brought shoes.
I told him:
“Improvement.”
He said:
“Low bar.”
Willa threw a pencil at him.
Normal.
Then he asked me:
“Do you still hate me?”
I stared.
“I never hated you.”
“You looked like you were going to throw me out a window.”
“Accurate.”
He grinned.
Then:
“Why did you come anyway when security stopped you?”
He shrugged.
“Because Dr. Arden asked me to come.”
The same line.
Now ordinary.
No prophecy.
No secret mother.
A doctor.
A panel.
May you like
A peer.
The mystery had been adults not listening.
