Chapter 8 - Daniel and I Hate Each Other Less
Before this, Daniel and I were polite.
Not friends.
He distrusted my family history.
I thought he was smug.
Both assessments had evidence.
When I began dating Victoria, he requested a meeting.
Not with her.
With me.
He said:
“If Sophie is ever around your security people, I want to understand protocols.”
I answered:
“She’ll be safe.”
He said:
“That’s not a protocol.”
I disliked him immediately.
Then he produced a list.
Emergency contacts.
Driver screening.
Firearms storage.
Child pickup authorization.
Annoying.
Responsible.
We complied.
After the engagement-party crisis, we started speaking almost daily.
Children create strange alliances.
One evening he came to the mansion after Sophie’s visit with Victoria.
“She cried.”
“Why?”
“Victoria said she was sorry Sophie got caught in adult conflict.”
I frowned.
“That sounds appropriate.”
“It was.”
“Then?”
“Sophie asked if Mom still wanted her to live with me.”
“What did Victoria say?”
“That they would talk later.”
Reasonable due court order.
Daniel still looked angry.
“What’s bothering you?”
“I don’t know whether I’m angry because she planned to give me more custody or because she planned it without treating Sophie like a person.”
There.
He loved his daughter.
More time was not punishment.
The insult was making Daniel the storage location for Sophie while Victoria built a new life.
I said:
“Same with Margaret.”
Daniel looked at me.
“What?”
“If Noah goes to the lake with Margaret, he is still safe. Loved. Well cared for.”
“But he’s being put somewhere.”
“Yes.”
“Like luggage.”
“Exactly.”
That became our shared understanding.
The problem was not:
Victoria wanted Daniel to parent his daughter.
Or Margaret to care for Noah.
Both were loving adults.
The problem was:
Victoria treated other loving adults as places to relocate children when their needs competed with hers.
Daniel said:
“Do you think she loves Sophie?”
“Yes.”
He seemed surprised.
“I do too.”
Then:
“That makes this harder.”
Always.
People want harm to prove absence of love.
Sometimes love exists beside entitlement, resentment, exhaustion, or control.
May you like
Children still need protection from the harmful part.
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