Chapter 22 - Morwenna’s first honest apology
Morwenna’s early apologies were useless.
“I’m sorry you misunderstood my intentions.”
No.
“I’m sorry Odelia became upset.”
No.
“I’m sorry the park looked worse than it was.”
Absolutely not.
Then she went quiet.
Therapy.
Court.
Supervision.
Limited family contact.
Almost fourteen months after the park, a letter arrived.
Leander,
I frightened Odelia because I wanted her fear to become evidence.
There.
I had to stop reading for a moment.
She continued:
I told myself I was revealing feelings that already existed.
There.
But I deliberately said things I knew would upset her.
There.
I suggested you might send her away.
There.
I told her Caroline wanted her more.
There.
I withheld calls until she calmed down, even though withholding the call made her more afraid.
There.
I recorded the result.
There.
Then:
I wanted Caroline to win relocation because I believed Odelia would have a better life in a home with her mother and Thomas.
There.
I also wanted to prove you had been wrong to divorce Caroline.
That one surprised me by hurting most.
She wrote:
I turned my opinion about your marriage into a judgment about your parenting.
There.
Then:
I said you were never around, but I was often the caregiver precisely because you trusted me.
There.
I used that trust against you.
There.
Finally:
I love Odelia. Loving her did not make what I did loving.
I sat alone with that line.
Then she addressed the threat:
When I said “they want your daughter scared,” no lawyer or consultant instructed me to scare her. I had convinced myself that the people deciding relocation needed to see distress, and I chose to create situations where distress would happen.
Accuracy.
No secret mastermind.
No excuse.
I replied:
I received your letter. Thank you for stating what you did accurately. I am not ready to discuss unsupervised contact.
She responded:
May you like
I understand.
That was new.
