Chapter 21 - Emily sees Warren again
Not in person at first.
On a screen during a therapeutic preparation session.
His photograph.
Emily turned it face down.
“I don’t want him.”
The therapist said:
“You don’t have to talk about him today.”
Good.
Warren was not Emily’s biological parent.
Laura filed for divorce immediately.
There was no custody right to fight over regarding Emily or Ryan beyond any legal step-parent status, which was limited.
He requested to send an apology letter.
Laura said no initially.
A year later, Emily asked:
“Did he ever say sorry?”
Laura told her:
“He asked to.”
Emily thought.
“Can I read it?”
They reviewed with her therapist.
The letter said:
I should never have locked you anywhere.
Then:
You did nothing that caused what I did to your mother.
Good.
Then:
I was scared about losing everything.
Emily crossed that sentence out with a pencil.
Her therapist asked why.
“Because he always talks about him.”
Nine years old? She was eleven by then.
Still perceptive.
May you like
The apology remained imperfect.
She did not answer.
