Chapter 15
Three years after Dulcie’s birthday, the two girls were sitting at Benedict and Ainsley’s kitchen island decorating cupcakes.
Nell was eleven.
Dulcie was thirteen.
The frosting situation had become disastrous.
Ainsley had surrendered control fifteen minutes earlier.
Benedict walked in.
He looked at the counter.
Then the floor.
Then Dulcie.
“Was this intentional?”
Dulcie pointed at Nell.
“She started it.”
Nell looked offended.
“You dropped the piping bag.”
“That was physics.”
Benedict nodded.
“Strong defense.”
Life had become ordinary enough for stupid arguments to matter again.
The legal cases were finished.
The financial accounting was closed.
Dulcie’s earnings were protected.
Her commercial work happened only when she wanted it.
Benedict no longer used custody as a financial control point.
Ainsley had completed her legal consequences and therapy.
Nell no longer feared scissors.
Ramona had faced prison, restitution, professional restrictions, and the loss of unilateral control she once treated as motherhood.
The custody schedule now allowed her regular daytime contact with Dulcie and occasional overnights after professional review.
Dulcie saw her.
That part was settled.
What was not settled was what kind of relationship they would eventually have.
Dulcie loved Ramona.
She also kept boundaries.
She no longer told her mother everything.
No longer appeared in RH House posts.
No longer answered:
“Are you mad at me?”
with immediate reassurance.
That afternoon, a letter arrived through Ramona’s therapist.
Not to Benedict.
Not to Ainsley.
To Dulcie.
The girl recognized the handwriting.
“Mom wrote again.”
Benedict nodded.
“Looks like it.”
Dulcie turned the envelope over.
Nell kept decorating.
No one stopped.
No one stared at Dulcie like a jury waiting for a verdict.
After a moment, she asked:
“Do I have to read it today?”
“No,” Benedict said.
“Does Mom know that?”
“Yes.”
“What if she gets sad?”
Benedict looked at his daughter.
“That belongs to her.”
Dulcie nodded slowly.
Then placed the envelope beside her backpack.
“Maybe later.”
Ainsley entered carrying paper towels.
She noticed the letter.
Said nothing.
That mattered too.
Dulcie looked at Nell.
“Your side has too much frosting.”
Nell stared at her.
“There are no sides.”
“There are absolutely sides.”
She reached for the piping bag.
Nell pulled it away.
“Touch my cupcake and I’ll call my lawyer.”
Benedict laughed before he could stop himself.
Ainsley gave him a look.
“That is your influence.”
“Absolutely not.”
Dulcie smiled.
The letter remained unopened.
Maybe she would read it that night.
Maybe next month.
Maybe she would eventually build a close relationship with Ramona again.
Maybe love would remain real but limited.
That was the one answer no judge, accountant, therapist, parent, or business contract could manufacture for her.
Three years earlier, Ramona had tried to control a family by predicting exactly how everyone would react.
May you like
Now Dulcie had something simpler.
The right to surprise her.
