Chapter 12
Audrey lived another eight months.
Longer than one oncologist initially feared.
Shorter than Nora needed.
During those months, she spent as much time outside the hospital as her condition allowed.
She stopped attending Mazzaro family functions entirely.
No energy wasted on appearances.
She took Nora to a botanical garden in a wheelchair on a cold spring morning because Nora wanted to see tulips.
She watched cartoons.
Helped with kindergarten reading.
Let Nora paint her fingernails unevenly.
Gabriele bought Nora new shoes whenever she needed them and immediately discovered a problem.
He overcompensated.
One afternoon Nora asked for glitter sneakers costing nearly four hundred dollars.
He said yes.
Audrey looked at him from the sofa.
“No.”
“They’re shoes.”
“They’re ridiculous.”
“Nora likes them.”
“Nora is five.”
Nora whispered:
“I really like them.”
Audrey pointed toward Gabriele.
“You created this.”
For fifteen minutes, their lives felt normal.
Then Audrey became serious.
“I don’t want the forty-five-dollar shoes becoming a family legend.”
Gabriele looked at her.
“What?”
“Don’t teach Nora that every ordinary need must become proof that you love her.”
He said nothing.
“She asks for shoes, buy shoes.”
Audrey’s voice weakened.
“She asks for boundaries, give boundaries.”
“She asks why you weren’t home, answer honestly.”
Then:
“Don’t turn guilt into parenting.”
That sentence stayed with him.
Audrey died in early summer with Gabriele beside her and Nora asleep at Catherine’s house.
Beacon became trustee exactly as planned.
Catherine remained the nominated backup guardian.
Theresa received nothing through Audrey’s trust.
May you like
Not as punishment.
Because Audrey had chosen a structure she considered safer.
