Chapter 10 - MONIQUE’S DEPENDENCEMonique came to my office parking lot the following week.
She looked exhausted.
“Dad says if the house gets sold, Vivian and I have nowhere to go.”
“That’s not true.”
“It feels true.”
“You work.”
“Part-time.”
“You have support from Ethan.”
Her ex-husband paid child support.
“Not enough for this area.”
“This house cannot be the only housing in Virginia.”
She glared.
Easy for me to say.
I had a salary.
My own house.
Insurance money.
Monique had built her adult life around fallback support from her parents.
Then:
“Did you know about the card?”
Her face changed.
“What card?”
I believed her.
“Never mind.”
“No. Tell me.”
I explained.
She closed her eyes.
“Dad told me Andrew paid some of their expenses.”
“Andrew sometimes helped.”
“So Dad may have thought the card was still okay.”
“Maybe.”
“Do you think he stole?”
“I think the accountant needs to classify the charges and Dad needs to explain them.”
Monique was quiet.
Then:
“Mom threw the clothes away because she thinks you’re deliberately making Nina look poor.”
“I know.”
“She thinks you’re trying to prove you never needed Andrew’s family.”
“That’s ridiculous.”
“I know.”
“Why didn’t you stop her?”
“I told you.”
“No. You told me you were scared.”
She looked at me.
“Because when Mom gets angry, Dad makes everybody choose her version.”
There it was.
Not physical danger.
Economic pressure.
Family access.
Housing.
Money.
“If I had taken those bags back upstairs,” Monique said, “Mom would have told Dad I sided with you. Then dinner becomes a fight. Then Vivian hears all of it. Then maybe Dad tells us to move.”
“So you let Nina pay the price.”
Monique started crying.
“Yes.”
That was accountability.
May you like
Not pretty.
Real.
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