Chapter 6 - Morwenna had not always been like this
Morwenna loved Odelia.
That made everything harder.
When Odelia was born, my mother spent two weeks helping Caroline recover after a difficult cesarean.
Laundry.
Meals.
Night bottles.
No complaints.
When Caroline and I separated, Morwenna refused to choose sides publicly.
She told both of us:
“Odelia gets two parents. Don’t make her pay for your divorce.”
Good advice.
She had been a good grandmother.
Then my divorce became final.
Caroline remarried.
I did not.
Morwenna began worrying.
Not about me emotionally.
About Odelia.
“A girl needs her mother.”
I said:
“She has one.”
“Not daily.”
“She has me daily.”
“That isn’t what I mean.”
There.
A gendered assumption.
Leander can love.
Leander can provide.
But some things require a mother.
I laughed it off.
Morwenna did not.
She criticized my schedule.
I worked as a senior project director for an architecture and redevelopment firm.
Hours varied.
Most days I left by five.
Twice a month, later.
I worked from home Friday.
Odelia attended after-school care one day.
A sitter named Nora handled another.
Morwenna volunteered for Thursday.
Our arrangement was stable.
But Morwenna saw every non-parent hour as evidence.
When Caroline mentioned North Carolina, something in my mother shifted.
She later admitted:
“I thought Odelia might finally have a normal household.”
Normal.
Mother.
Stepfather.
Suburban home.
School near Caroline.
I asked:
“And me?”
“You’d still be her father.”
Summer father.
Holiday father.
Plane father.
Morwenna believed that could be enough.
For me.
May you like
Not for herself.
That contradiction took longer to expose.
