At a family wedding, my mother-in-law pushed my son’s wheelchair away from the table—then a bridesmaid exposed who moved him
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Chapter 19 / 27
Chapter 19 - Alaric confronts her alone Alaric asked to speak to Cordelia without me.
I agreed.
Not because this was his problem to solve.
Because some conversations belong between parent and child.
He told me afterward what happened.
He asked:
“Did Dad want to attend Helena’s graduation dinner?”
Cordelia went pale.
“What does that have to do with Bram?”
“Answer.”
“He was tired.”
“Did he say that?”
“He was always tired.”
“Did he want to go?”
Silence.
Then:
“He didn’t understand what people were like.”
“What people?”
“The staring.”
“He knew people stared.”
Cordelia began crying.
“I was protecting him.”
Alaric said:
“From being seen?”
“From being reduced to that chair.”
Then Alaric asked the question that finally broke through:
May you like
“So you reduced Bram to his.”
Cordelia apparently sat in silence for a long time.
