Chapter 23 - I apologize to Elena
It took me too long.
I apologized for broad things first.
“The family treated you badly.”
Weak.
“Victor should not have threatened you.”
True.
Still external.
Then one evening Elena stopped me.
“You approved the ban.”
“Yes.”
“You called Genevieve and made her bring the children back.”
“Yes.”
“You never asked who I was.”
“No.”
There.
She waited.
I said:
“I’m sorry I treated information from people inside Mercer systems as more credible than information from the woman I married.”
Better.
Then:
“I’m sorry I approved a restriction against you without speaking to Genevieve or you.”
Better.
“And?”
I stared.
“You enjoy this.”
“A little.”
I knew the last one.
“I’m sorry I spent the first week after you arrived treating your poverty like evidence about your motives.”
Her expression changed.
That was the wound.
I had run her finances.
Asked why she came.
Asked what she wanted.
Assumed someone with eighty-three dollars needed something from me more than she needed me to listen.
Elena nodded.
“Thank you.”
“Do you forgive me?”
She laughed.
“No.”
Fair.
Then:
May you like
“Maybe eventually.”
Also fair.
