Chapter 16 - Sabine and Elodie
Sabine truly loved Elodie.
That needs to remain in the story.
She attended school plays.
Sat through fevers.
Remembered favorite foods.
Paid tuition.
Held her after nightmares.
Love existed.
Control existed beside it.
Sabine feared that increased contact with Nora would reduce her importance.
So she made Nora smaller.
Former mother.
Unstable mother.
The woman who left.
Then eventually:
Nora.
No title.
Sabine called herself:
Mom
more often as years passed.
Elodie sometimes used it.
Sometimes Sabine.
The inconsistency made Sabine anxious.
She interpreted language as rank.
That same ranking system later turned toward Wren.
If Sabine married me:
She would become wife.
Elodie would become her daughter inside the household.
Wren, in Sabine’s imagination, needed to become less central so the new family could feel real.
That was why she resented my attention.
May you like
Not because Wren did anything.
Because Wren’s secure position reminded Sabine that love she could not control already existed.
