Chapter 15 - Celia’s Full Warning
The photograph note contained one line I had not understood fully:
This happened before.
What happened before April 18?
Erin remembered.
Three weeks earlier Celia called her crying.
Beatrice had taken Lowri to lunch.
At bedtime Lowri said:
“Grandma says I need a new lady when you die.”
Celia confronted my mother.
Beatrice denied saying:
new mommy.
She said she told Lowri:
“Daddy will have people helping him.”
Maybe.
Then Thomasin appeared at the next two family dinners.
Celia became suspicious.
Not because she thought I was cheating.
She told Erin:
“I think Beatrice is auditioning women for my funeral.”
Brutal.
Maybe unfair.
But emotionally grounded.
Celia wanted to tell me.
Why didn’t she?
She did.
Partly.
I found old text:
Celia:
Your mother is talking to Lowri about after I die again. Please make her stop.
Me:
I will talk to her.
Celia:
You said that last time.
Me:
I’m in the garage with infusion stuff. Can we not do this right now?
Celia:
That’s the problem.
I had forgotten.
Or buried it.
I later spoke to Beatrice.
I found my own calendar note:
Call Mom re boundaries.
No details.
I remembered the conversation.
She said Celia was hypersensitive.
I said:
“Just don’t talk to Lowri about future mothers.”
Beatrice agreed.
Then did it again.
April 18.
Celia wrote the warning because verbal complaints had failed.
Why hide it on a photo?
She did not intend to hide forever.
Erin remembered Celia saying:
“I’m writing dates on things because I feel like everyone tells me I’m overreacting.”
Photographs were near her.
She wrote on backs.
Documentation.
Not secret treasure.
A sick woman trying to preserve her own perception.
I found two more notes on other photos after checking carefully.
Not many.
One:
March 27 — Beatrice said “future maternal support” again. Alwyn says he handled it.
Another:
May 2 — Lowri asked if Thomasin will sleep in our room when I’m dead. I cannot do this.
I sat on the floor.
Celia had been documenting.
Not because she wanted a courtroom.
Because she wanted proof to herself.
I had failed to listen enough that my dying wife needed timestamps.
That became my deepest guilt.
Miriam warned:
“Do not turn guilt into overcorrection with Lowri.”
Hard.
May you like
Important.
────────────────────
