Chapter 25 - THE LAST TIME DANIEL SAT ACROSS FROM HIS MOTHERThe meeting took place behind glass.
Margaret entered wearing prison clothes.
For a second Daniel saw his childhood kitchen.
Margaret standing at the stove.
Thomas silent at the table.
Daniel learning which expression meant danger.
Then the memory disappeared.
Margaret sat.
“You look tired.”
Daniel almost laughed.
Her first move.
Concern.
“I’m fine.”
“You’ve lost weight.”
“I haven’t.”
Margaret frowned.
“How’s Sophie?”
“You’re not allowed to ask me to carry messages.”
“I asked how my granddaughter is.”
“She’s fine.”
Margaret leaned closer.
“Emily still controlling everything?”
Daniel felt nothing.
That surprised him most.
“No.”
“You always defend her.”
“I’m not defending anyone.”
“You gave away Thomas’s money.”
“My money.”
Margaret’s eyes changed.
There.
The real conversation.
“That money belonged to this family.”
“I am this family.”
“You know what I mean.”
“Yes.”
Daniel looked directly at her.
“That’s why I came.”
Margaret leaned back.
“You’re going to let your mother leave prison with nothing?”
“You have whatever the court says belongs to you.”
“After everything I did for you.”
Daniel smiled sadly.
The same sentence.
Always the same sentence.
“What did you do for me, Mom?”
Margaret’s mouth opened.
Daniel continued.
“You fed me. Took me to school. Sat beside me when I was sick. You also taught me that your feelings mattered more than truth.”
Her face hardened.
“You were a difficult child.”
“I was afraid.”
“You were sensitive.”
“I was afraid.”
“Your father made you afraid.”
“No.”
Margaret slammed her palm against the counter.
“He was leaving us!”
Daniel stayed still.
“Yes.”
She froze.
“He was abandoning you.”
“Maybe he was.”
Margaret stared at him.
Daniel continued.
“I spent years needing Dad to be perfect so you could be wrong.”
Her breathing changed.
“I don’t need that anymore.”
“You think therapy made you intelligent?”
“No.”
“You think Emily saved you?”
“No.”
“Then what changed?”
Daniel considered the question.
“Sophie.”
Margaret laughed.
“That child?”
Daniel’s expression changed instantly.
Margaret noticed.
He did not raise his voice.
“Her name is Sophie.”
“I know her name.”
“Then use it.”
Silence.
Daniel stood.
Margaret suddenly panicked.
Not visibly to anyone who did not know her.
But Daniel knew.
“Sit down.”
“No.”
“We’re not finished.”
“I am.”
“You owe me—”
Daniel picked up the phone receiver one final time.
“No.”
Then he hung up.
Margaret shouted behind the glass.
Daniel could not hear her.
That was fitting.
He walked through the security doors.
Outside, he stood beneath a clear sky.
Emily had not come.
Neither had Nathan.
Daniel had asked them not to.
He drove home alone.
May you like
For the first time in his life, alone did not mean abandoned.
It meant free.
