Chapter 15 - Alicia’s Letter
Marcus did not take the letter from Simone at first.
He was afraid of it.
Not because he believed it would excuse her.
Nothing could.
But because grief had a way of becoming sacred when enough time passed.
Alicia had been dead four years.
He remembered her best now.
He knew that.
The impatience, the slammed cabinets, the small fights about money or laundry or being late—time had sanded those down.
Love kept the polished pieces.
Marcus finally took the envelope.
The seal had already been broken.
He looked at Simone.
“You read it.”
“Yes.”
He unfolded the letter.
Marcus,
If you’re reading this, I probably failed to say it out loud.
I’m scared.
The medication helps, then it doesn’t. Some mornings I look at Nia and feel love so big it hurts. Other mornings I feel nothing, and that scares me more than the cancer.
Marcus sat on the curb.
The words blurred.
Alicia had been sick for eleven months.
There were days she withdrew.
Days she slept through dinner.
Days Marcus told himself it was the chemo.
The letter continued.
Please don’t let Nia think my bad days were her fault.
Please tell her I was sick in more ways than one.
I yelled once when she spilled soup. She cried. I hated myself for it.
If I don’t get the chance, tell her I was sorry.
Marcus covered his mouth.
That was the secret?
Human weakness?
Fear?
A mother dying badly?
He looked at Simone.
“You hid this from us.”
“She deserved the truth.”
“Nia deserved the letter.”
“She deserved to know Alicia wasn’t perfect.”
“She’s ten!”
“She turns Alicia into a saint and me into the villain.”
Marcus stood.
“You made yourself the villain.”
Simone recoiled.
He folded the letter carefully.
“This changes nothing about what you did.”
“It explains why I was angry.”
“No. It explains why you were threatened.”
He put the letter in his inside jacket pocket.
“And it explains something else.”
“What?”
“You had two years to give me this.”
Simone looked away.
“You watched Nia miss her mother. You watched her ask questions. You had a letter that could have helped her understand those last months.”
He stepped closer.
“And you kept it because you needed Alicia to stay a weapon.”
Simone said nothing.
His phone buzzed.
Mara Bell.
Marcus answered.
“Mr. Reed, I need you to bring Caleb in.”
His stomach tightened.
“Why?”
“We received the school counselor’s notes from last year.”
“About what?”
A pause.
“Caleb reported that his mother made him lie about Nia.”
Marcus looked at Simone.
Mara continued.
“He says Simone told him to tell adults that Nia hurt him.”
Marcus closed his eyes.
“How many times?”
“At least three.”
The world went quiet.
May you like
Then Mara said the part that changed everything.
“One of those reports is still in Nia’s school file.”
