Chapter 10 - Margaret Tells Vanessa the Hardest Truth
Vanessa expected Margaret to condemn her.
Instead, Margaret invited her for coffee.
“You think I’m here to tell you Daniel deserves better.”
Vanessa looked exhausted.
“Doesn’t he?”
“That isn’t the useful question.”
Margaret told Vanessa about her own marriage.
At thirty-four, Margaret had secretly borrowed money against family
property to save her husband’s failing business.
She told herself she was protecting everyone.
The debt nearly destroyed them.
Vanessa stared.
“You never told us.”
“I’m telling you now because I recognize the sentence ‘I thought he
would say yes.’”
Margaret leaned forward.
“You were not afraid Daniel would say no. You were afraid he had the
right to.”
Vanessa began crying.
That was the center of it.
Control.
She had removed Clara’s chair because Clara carried information Vanessa
could not control.
She hid the trust because Daniel might postpone the wedding.
She used his signature because he might refuse the loan.
Different acts.
Same instinct.
Margaret did not excuse her.
May you like
She simply named the pattern.
Vanessa finally saw it.
