Chapter 12 - What Meredith Finally Admitted About Laurel
Meredith’s central interview took place two months after the incident.
Her attorney was present.
So was an investigator.
Caleb was not required to attend, but Meredith asked for him.
He almost refused.
Then he realized there was one question no report had answered.
Why had she looked at Elara with such resentment?
Meredith did not begin with the iron.
She began with Laurel.
“When she got sick again, I was with her.”
Caleb said nothing.
“You stayed with Elara until your mother got there.”
“I know.”
“I called you three times.”
“I was holding a four-day-old baby.”
“You should’ve been with your wife.”
Caleb felt the old guilt move through him.
Then he remembered Laurel’s words.
“Lauren told you not to blame me.”
Meredith’s face tightened.
“She was scared.”
“She told you anyway.”
“She was dying.”
“And you’ve spent ten months arguing with a dying woman.”
Meredith looked down.
For several seconds she said nothing.
Then the anger disappeared.
“I thought if Elara hadn’t been born, Laurel would still be here.”
Caleb closed his eyes briefly.
There it was.
Not logic.
Not something an emotionally healthy person would place on a child.
But the belief underneath everything.
Meredith continued.
“I knew it wasn’t her fault.”
“Knowing and acting like you know are different things.”
“I loved her.”
“Then why hurt her?”
Meredith began crying.
Caleb did not comfort her.
“I don’t know when I started thinking I was the only person who could raise her correctly.”
“You weren’t protecting her.”
“I know.”
“You were punishing everybody who reminded you that Laurel was gone.”
Meredith wiped her face.
“Yes.”
June.
Caleb.
Elara.
Even herself.
Meredith admitted she had exaggerated June’s mistakes.
She admitted moving the camera and deleting footage she thought made her look obsessive.
She admitted pouring out the bottle and later implying June forgot the feeding.
She admitted using Caleb’s temper as evidence in her own mind that he could not handle fatherhood alone.
But she refused one thing.
“I never planned to burn her.”
Caleb believed that.
It did not help.
Planning would have made the act colder.
The truth showed how dangerous Meredith had become without needing a plan.
At the end of the interview, Meredith asked Caleb whether he thought Laurel would hate her.
Caleb answered carefully.
“I don’t know.”
May you like
It was the first cruel answer he could have given.
It was also the only honest one.
