Chapter 14 - Margaret Sits at Claire’s Table
Three years later, Harbor House hosted a fundraising dinner.
Margaret arrived early.
She saw Claire arranging place cards.
“Need help?”
Claire handed her a stack.
Margaret smiled.
Their relationship was not friendship.
Not again.
Maybe never.
But it had become something honest.
Vanessa and Ethan arrived together.
They had stayed married after difficult years of counseling and
boundaries.
Vanessa approached Margaret.
There was an empty chair beside Ethan.
Vanessa touched its back.
“This is yours.”
Margaret looked at her.
The symbolism was obvious enough that neither needed to explain it.
Margaret sat.
Then she smiled.
“Don’t get sentimental.”
Vanessa laughed.
“Wouldn’t dream of it.”
Ethan watched both women.
Three years earlier, he would have tried desperately to keep everyone
happy.
May you like
Now he understood that peace was not the absence of uncomfortable truth.
Sometimes peace arrived after everyone finally said it.
