Chapter 8 - LINDA'S VERSION
Linda requested a private meeting.
Emily refused.
Then agreed with Rachel present, no cameras.
Linda entered without makeup.
No television tears.
She looked older.
“Emily.”
“Sit.”
Linda did.
Then tried:
“I know what this looks like.”
Emily answered:
“It looks documented.”
Linda flinched.
Good.
Emily asked:
“Did you know I was alive in 2001?”
Silence.
“Yes.”
“Did Robert know?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you come forward?”
Linda looked down.
“Because we were afraid.”
“Of what?”
“Charges.”
There.
Child abandonment.
Exposure.
Linda said Robert convinced her:
if they stayed quiet,
Emily would be adopted,
they would avoid prison,
everyone could move on.
Emily asked:
“Did you agree?”
“I was terrified.”
“That’s not an answer.”
Linda cried.
Real or fake?
Emily could no longer tell.
“Yes.”
Then:
“I agreed.”
Emily looked away.
Linda continued.
“We watched the news. We knew you survived.”
“Then why tell Karen I died?”
“Because she would ask questions.”
“Why change your name?”
Linda hesitated.
“Robert wanted a clean start after Karen’s lawsuit.”
Not because of Emily.
Maybe.
Then Emily asked:
“When did you know who I became?”
Linda whispered:
“Three years ago.”
“Why not contact me?”
“I was ashamed.”
“And broke?”
Linda closed her eyes.
“That too.”
Then she said:
“I did want to see you.”
Emily believed that.
The worst truths can coexist.
Linda wanted:
money,
forgiveness,
public sympathy,
and her daughter.
Wanting one sincere thing did not erase the others.
Then Linda said:
“Robert told me if we approached you privately, you’d reject us.”
“So television made rejection harder.”
Linda did not answer.
Exactly.
May you like
They had not chosen TV because it helped Emily feel safe.
They chose TV because it made “no” socially expensive.
