Chapter 15 - Mother
Patricia agreed to meet Emily at Harbor House.
No lawyers in the room.
No Claire.
No Daniel.
Just mother and daughter.
Rain tapped the windows.
Patricia stood by the fireplace, thinner than she had been at the wedding. Her hair was pulled back. No makeup.
Emily placed the photograph on the table.
Patricia stared at it.
“Victor says you pushed me.”
Patricia did not answer.
“Dad wrote that Victor did.”
Still nothing.
Emily’s voice sharpened.
“Which lie do you want me to believe?”
Patricia sank into a chair.
“I grabbed you.”
Emily’s jaw tightened.
“Why?”
“You were running toward the stairs.”
“That isn’t what the picture shows.”
“I grabbed your sweater.”
“And?”
Patricia covered her face.
“And it tore.”
Emily waited.
Patricia began to cry.
“You stumbled.”
Emily felt no relief.
No forgiveness.
Only a terrible emptiness.
“You let me believe Claire might have pushed me.”
“I never said she did.”
“You let Dad believe it.”
“I was afraid.”
“Of what? Losing Victor’s money?”
Patricia looked up.
“Of losing everything.”
Emily laughed bitterly. “So you traded the truth.”
Patricia flinched.
“I was thirty-eight. Your father controlled every financial decision.”
“Then leave him.”
“I had nowhere to go.”
“You had two daughters.”
“That made it harder.”
Emily leaned forward.
“No. That made your choices matter more.”
Patricia looked away.
Emily forced herself to ask the question.
“When Claire cut Dad’s brake line, why didn’t you stop him from driving?”
Patricia’s face broke again.
“I wanted him scared too.”
The admission was barely audible.
“I hated him that night. I hated the way he looked at me like I had ruined the girls. I saw Claire come out of the pit. I knew she had done something.”
“You knew.”
“I thought he would notice.”
“You keep saying that.”
Patricia sobbed.
“I thought he would come back.”
“But he didn’t.”
“No.”
Emily stood.
Patricia reached for her hand.
Emily pulled away.
“Please.”
Emily looked down at her.
“I spent my life thinking Claire was the cruel one and you were the tired one trying to keep us together.”
Patricia whispered, “I love you.”
“I believe you.”
Patricia looked up, startled.
Emily’s eyes filled.
“And that’s what makes it worse.”
A car door slammed outside.
Both women turned.
Through the rain-streaked window, Emily saw Claire stepping out of a dark sedan.
She was not supposed to be there.
She was out on bond with strict conditions.
Patricia stood.
“What is she doing here?”
Claire walked toward the front door carrying a small metal box.
When Emily opened the door, Claire looked at her sister.
“I found Dad’s last recording.”
May you like
Then she looked at Patricia.
“And Mom is going to want to leave before you play it.”
