Chapter 24 - Bernice and Me
My relationship with Bernice took longer.
She wanted forgiveness faster than Elodie did.
At first she hid it.
Then:
“How long am I going to be punished?”
I answered:
“This isn’t punishment.”
“It feels like it.”
“Consequences often do.”
She hated that.
Then:
“I raised you.”
“Yes.”
“I cared for Elodie after Catherine.”
“Yes.”
“Does none of that count?”
“It counts.”
“Then why does one mistake define me?”
“One?”
She went quiet.
Good.
Months later:
“I keep saying one because three sounds deliberate.”
That honesty mattered.
“Was it?”
“Yes.”
There.
She had chosen each time.
Not accident.
Not confusion.
She apologized to me too.
“For telling people you were emotionally compromised.”
“You thought I was.”
“I did.”
“Were you entirely wrong?”
She stared.
“No.”
I smiled despite myself.
“I was traumatized. That doesn’t mean you got to override me.”
“Yes.”
There.
May you like
We could finally discuss nuance without using nuance to erase accountability.
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