Chapter 19 - The Letter Amanda Writes to Ruby
Amanda wrote two apology letters.
One for Sophie.
One for Ruby.
The one for Ruby was harder.
She did not know whether Ruby would ever read it.
That was appropriate.
It began:
Ruby,
When you lived with me, I loved you and wanted you to stay.
Then:
Wanting you to stay became more important to me than helping you return safely to your mother.
Direct.
“I took the pendant with your mother’s photograph.”
There.
“I told your mother it was lost.”
There.
“I kept it for years.”
There.
“I also used time alone in your bedroom when you were crying after visits even after I had been told that was not the right way to help you.”
There.
“I wrote about some of your post-visit behavior as though your sadness proved visits were harmful.”
Important.
Then:
“Some of the things I wrote were true. You sometimes had hard nights. I used those true things to support an outcome I wanted.”
That was precise.
No rewriting every record as fraud.
Then:
“You were never responsible for my hope that I might adopt you.”
At the end:
“You do not owe me contact.”
Claire kept the letter sealed with Ruby’s therapist.
Ruby would decide later.
No adult opened it for emotional payoff.
May you like
Children deserve the right to approach their own history when they can carry it.
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