Chapter 11 - AMELIA WAS NOT PERFECT
Millie began idealizing Amelia after the conflict.
That worried Victor.
Every time something went wrong:
“Mommy wouldn’t do that.”
When Victor denied another dessert:
“Mommy would say yes.”
When he made her practice piano:
“Mommy hated piano rules.”
Victor finally called Amelia’s sister, Julia.
“Help.”
Julia laughed.
“About time.”
She visited for dinner.
Millie immediately said:
“Mommy always let me stay up on birthdays.”
Julia stared.
“Your mother once put you to bed at seven-thirty because she was tired.”
Millie looked betrayed.
Victor smiled.
Julia continued.
“Your mother also burned grilled cheese.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“She was terrible at parallel parking.”
“No!”
“And she borrowed my sweater in 2012 and never gave it back.”
Millie gasped.
“Mommy stole?”
Victor almost choked.
“Borrowed permanently.”
The dead woman became human again.
That mattered.
Amelia was brave.
She also kept Victor ignorant too long.
Her initial emergency decision made sense.
Her four-year delay did not entirely.
Victor could love her without calling every choice correct.
One evening Millie asked:
“Was Mommy wrong not to tell you?”
Victor answered carefully.
“At first, I think she was trying to make you safe.”
“And later?”
“She got scared of the conversation.”
“So wrong?”
“Yes.”
Millie looked surprised.
“Can you say that about dead people?”
“Yes.”
“Is that bad?”
“No.”
Victor touched her hair.
“Loving someone doesn’t require pretending they never made mistakes.”
Millie thought.
“Do you make mistakes?”
Victor laughed.
“Constantly.”
“You slapped Corinne.”
“Yes.”
“Was that one?”
“Yes.”
“But she slapped me.”
“Yes.”
“So?”
Victor looked at her.
“Her wrong choice did not make mine right.”
Millie was quiet.
Then:
“Did you apologize?”
He had not.
Not directly.
He had acknowledged through lawyers.
Not enough.
Children were exhausting moral auditors.
Victor sent Corinne one short message through counsel:
My response to you at the party was wrong. Your treatment of Millie does not excuse my hitting you.
Corinne replied:
Agreed.
No reunion.
No softening.
Just truth.
Victor showed Millie only that he had apologized.
She nodded.
May you like
“Good.”
Apparently eight-year-old approval was now his legal standard.
