Chapter 13 - VANESSA APOLOGIZES WITHOUT GETTING HIM BACK
Six months later Vanessa sent Andrew a letter.
Not to Emily.
The protective order made direct contact inappropriate.
She wrote:
I thought becoming your wife meant becoming central.
Andrew stopped reading.
Then continued.
Every time Laura appeared in the wedding, I felt like I was being asked to share the altar with someone who could never disappoint you because she was gone.
Ugly.
Honest.
Then:
I knew Emily was not Laura. I still treated her like the doorway through which Laura kept entering our life.
Andrew read that twice.
Vanessa admitted the laundry room was deliberate.
I wanted twenty minutes where nothing could change the ceremony.
Then:
I told myself I was protecting the wedding. I was protecting my position.
Andrew did not reconcile.
Understanding motive did not create safety.
But he kept the letter.
Maybe someday Emily would want it.
Maybe not.
That decision belonged to her later.
Emily eventually asked whether Vanessa ever loved her.
Andrew hated the question because every answer felt dangerous.
He said:
“I think she did.”
Emily frowned.
“Then why did she slap me?”
“People can love someone and still do something harmful.”
“That sounds like an excuse.”
“It can be if we use love to erase the harm.”
Emily thought.
“So love doesn’t make it okay.”
“No.”
“Then what does love do?”
Andrew smiled sadly.
“Sometimes it makes the harm more confusing.”
May you like
Emily accepted that.
Children often ask cleaner questions than adults can answer.
