Chapter 21 - Naya’s apology
Naya’s useful apology came when Lucas was nine months old.
Not at therapy.
My kitchen.
No audience.
She said:
“I want to apologize without mentioning Mike.”
I looked up.
“Promising.”
She sat.
“I slept with your husband while you were still married.”
“Yes.”
“I knew you were not actually separated.”
“Yes.”
“I let him tell me you were controlling and cold because it made what I was doing easier to live with.”
There.
“I lied to you when you asked.”
“Yes.”
“I let Mom help me hide behind the idea that your marriage was already failing.”
“Yes.”
Then:
“At the shower, I deliberately used your being divorced and Daniel’s father being dead to humiliate you.”
That was the sharpest truth.
Naya had not merely joked about Mike.
“At least my baby will have a father.”
She knew Evan had died.
She knew Daniel had already lost a biological father and then lost Mike as a stepfather.
She used that.
“I wanted everyone to see me as the one who had won.”
I looked at her.
“And?”
Her eyes filled.
“There wasn’t anything to win.”
There.
No need for me to say it.
Then:
“I’m sorry.”
I believed her.
Trust did not regenerate in that second.
But I believed the apology.
“I accept that you mean it.”
She nodded.
Not:
I forgive everything.
Not:
May you like
Come hug me.
A sentence with accurate size.
