Chapter 6 - VANESSA’S VERSION
Vanessa gave one interview.
Against her attorney’s advice.
She said I had:
“Set a trap.”
True, partly.
She said Grace had:
“provoked a private parenting disagreement.”
False.
She said Sophie had:
“behavioral problems caused by unresolved grief.”
Cruel.
She said the medication was:
“normal allergy medicine.”
Technically the substance was ordinary.
The use was not.
Then:
“I loved those children like my own.”
Sophie saw the clip online at school.
That night she asked:
“If she loved me, why did she scare me?”
I sat beside her.
I wanted to say:
She didn’t love you.
But adult emotions are messy.
Maybe Vanessa believed something she called love.
So I said:
“Sometimes people call something love when they’re really trying to control how another person feels or behaves.”
Sophie thought.
“That’s not love.”
Seven years old.
Better judgment than many adults.
“No.”
“It isn’t.”
Then:
“Did you love Vanessa?”
“Yes.”
“Do you now?”
Harder.
“I don’t want her in our life.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
My daughter had inherited her mother’s precision.
I smiled sadly.
“Part of me still remembers loving her.”
Sophie frowned.
“Even though she’s bad?”
“People aren’t always one thing.”
I continued.
“But loving somebody does not mean you keep them near you when they hurt your children.”
She nodded.
That answer mattered later.
Because I did not want Sophie learning that ending love is required before leaving harm.
Sometimes you leave first.
May you like
Feelings catch up later.
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