Chapter 5 - The apology campaign
My mother did not contact me directly after my attorney instructed her not to.
Instead she contacted everyone else.
Aunt Cheryl:
Your mother is devastated.
Cousin Paul:
Arthur shouldn’t have slapped Gigi, but kicking your mom was insane.
Neighbor Deborah:
Victoria thinks this could all go away if everyone apologizes.
Then Charles emailed.
Subject:
FAMILY RESOLUTION.
He wrote as if he were negotiating a commercial dispute.
Arthur acknowledges that physical discipline should have been left to Gigi’s parents.
Clara acknowledges that she physically attacked Victoria and disrupted Charles’s birthday celebration.
Victoria acknowledges that emotions were high.
Everyone agrees not to pursue further complaints.
Future family gatherings proceed only after mutual apology.
I forwarded it to my lawyer.
Her name was Rebecca Sloan.
Forty-eight.
Former prosecutor.
Now handled family-related civil and criminal matters.
Rebecca called.
“Do not agree to dismiss criminal complaints in exchange for reciprocal apologies without counsel.”
“I wasn’t going to.”
“You were going to send something.”
I looked at the draft message on my phone.
Go to hell.
“No.”
“Clara.”
“Fine.”
I deleted it.
Charles’s proposal also misunderstood something fundamental.
Arthur’s case involved an adult striking a two-year-old.
The state did not belong to us.
Even if I wanted charges gone, prosecutors would decide based on evidence.
My assault case was the same.
No family contract could erase police reports.
That infuriated Victoria.
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She had lived sixty-one years believing enough private agreement could keep outsiders from deciding what family conduct meant.
This time it could not.
