Chapter 22 - ELAINE
Daniel’s mother came to see me.
The woman who watched the barbecue in silence.
She brought the gold bracelet.
Again.
“I think this belongs to you.”
I looked.
“No.”
“Ava keeps asking whether you have it.”
“She gave it to me once. Then everything changed.”
Elaine sat.
“I should have said something that day.”
“Yes.”
“I thought Daniel knew more than I did.”
“That’s how this whole family works.”
She flinched.
Good.
Then surprised me.
“I mailed Elise photographs.”
“I know.”
“Daniel told me not to.”
“Why did you?”
“Because I’m a mother.”
I stared.
“And when your son lied?”
She looked down.
“Because I’m his mother.”
There.
The contradiction.
“I kept thinking I could love everyone without choosing.”
“But silence chose.”
“Yes.”
Progress requires sentences like that.
Not absolution.
May you like
Elaine left the bracelet.
I still did not wear it.
