Chapter 24 - MARGARET’S LETTERMargaret wrote Sophie a letter after her therapist and counsel agreed it could be offered to me for future use.
Not sent directly.
I kept it until Sophie was older.
It said:
I tied the chain around you because I was angry that you called me a liar and I wanted to stop you from leaving. Adults are not allowed to use fear and restraint to win an argument with a child.
Good.
Then:
I also told you that you did not belong in the family. I said that because I was trying to protect a secret about myself by blaming your mother. That was cruel and false.
Better.
Then:
Your father is your father. Robert was his father in every way that mattered to Daniel’s childhood even though Robert was not Daniel’s biological father. I should have understood from my own family that DNA and belonging are not the same thing. Instead I used DNA to hurt people.
I stopped reading.
That was the first time Margaret had connected the two truths without making one excuse the other.
I did not send the letter to Sophie then.
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An apology belongs to the harmed person.
So does timing.
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