Chapter 12 - MIA'S QUESTION
Mia recovered physically.
Emotionally, smaller fears remained.
She stopped wanting blue dresses.
Would not sit near pans on the table.
Asked:
“Does Aunt Vanessa hate my dress?”
Rachel answered:
“Your dress did nothing wrong.”
Then:
“Does Grandma love Sophie more?”
Rachel refused to lie.
“Grandma has treated Sophie like she comes first.”
“Why?”
“Because Grandma has wrong ideas about what Sophie needs.”
“Does she love me?”
Rachel paused.
“I think she does.”
“Then why mean?”
“People can love someone and still treat them unfairly.”
Mia frowned.
“That’s dumb.”
Rachel almost laughed.
“Yes.”
Then:
“Do I have to see Grandma?”
“No.”
That mattered most.
Rachel changed her own language with Mia too.
After the assault, she kept saying:
“You’re safe.”
Mia eventually asked:
“Always?”
Rachel froze.
No parent can promise always.
So she corrected herself.
“I will keep working to make you safe.”
Mia accepted that.
The difference mattered.
Linda’s system had been built on impossible promises:
no one falls apart,
no one feels replaced,
no one gets angry,
no one leaves.
Rachel wanted something sturdier.
Adults tell the truth.
Adults repair mistakes.
Adults do not make children responsible for adult feelings.
Safety was not pretending nothing bad could happen.
It was making sure Mia knew what happened would never become her fault.
Linda tried sending Mia a blue dress as apology.
Rachel did not decide for her.
Mia looked at it.
“Pretty.”
“Do you want it?”
“Maybe later.”
They put it away.
Then Sophie sent Mia a drawing.
Two girls holding hands.
Different dresses.
On the back:
GRANDMA SAYS SORRY BUT MOM SAYS NOT YET.
Rachel froze.
May you like
Linda was already trying to communicate through Sophie.
The children were still being used as messengers.
