Chapter 8 - ETHAN'S FAILURE
Ethan had defended his mother for years.
“She means well.”
“She’s from another generation.”
“She’s just blunt.”
Hannah had heard all of it.
Now Rachel Sloan showed him emails.
DIANE to ETHAN, shortly after Sophie’s birth:
Your father would have loved her, even if he would have wanted a boy first.
Ethan replied:
Mom, stop.
Then later:
DIANE:
Michael says Noah wants to learn the warehouse someday. At least someone does.
ETHAN:
He’s nine.
DIANE:
Exactly. Start young.
Ethan had ignored it.
He thought ridicule was enough.
It was not.
In therapy, he said:
“I kept translating her insults into personality.”
Hannah answered:
“Because she wasn’t insulting you.”
That landed.
Ethan had never been the target of Diane’s gender hierarchy.
He had benefited from it.
May you like
That did not make him abusive.
It made him late.
