Chapter 6 - Judith Had Been Training Everyone to Doubt Camille
Beth stayed through the weekend.
On Sunday morning, Graham’s older sister, Laura, called.
Camille almost ignored it.
Laura and Judith were close.
But Laura did not ask what happened.
She asked, “Did Mom tell you I fired my nanny too?”
Camille sat straighter.
“What?”
“Four years ago.”
Laura lived in Winnetka with her husband and two children.
When their first son was an infant, Judith had become convinced Laura’s nanny was “taking over.”
She criticized feeding schedules.
Nap routines.
The nanny’s grammar.
Her clothes.
How often the baby smiled when she entered.
Laura eventually fired the woman.
“I thought Mom was helping me.”
“What changed?”
“Nothing. That was the problem.”
After the nanny left, Judith began coming over almost every day.
She reorganized the nursery.
Corrected Laura’s parenting.
Told relatives Laura was overwhelmed.
Laura lasted five months before confronting her.
Judith responded by crying and telling Graham that Laura was unstable after childbirth.
Camille felt cold.
“Did Graham believe her?”
“For a while.”
Laura’s voice became quieter.
“He likes Mom’s explanations because they keep him from having to oppose her.”
Camille looked toward the nursery.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I tried once.”
Camille remembered.
At a Christmas dinner two years earlier, Laura had said, “Don’t let Mom become your household manager when the baby comes.”
Camille laughed.
Graham said Laura was projecting old resentment.
Everyone moved on.
Another warning converted into family trivia.
Laura continued.
“Mom doesn’t hate nannies because they’re employees.”
“Then why?”
“She hates people she can’t control who see what happens inside the family.”
That sentence stayed with Camille.
Reese was not merely someone caring for Maisie.
She was an adult witness who did not need Judith’s approval.
And unlike Camille, Reese had no marriage to preserve.
No childhood history with Judith.
No reason to reinterpret cruelty as personality.
Laura did not excuse Graham.
“He knows better now than he did with me.”
“How much better?”
Laura hesitated.
“That’s what scares me.”
Later that day, Camille asked Reese whether Judith had ever tried to recruit her.
Reese frowned.
“Recruit me?”
“Get you to criticize me.”
The answer was immediate.
“Yes.”
Judith had asked whether Camille seemed distracted since returning to work.
Whether she missed feeds.
Whether Reese thought Maisie bonded more strongly with her.
Reese had dismissed it as intrusive conversation.
Now both women understood.
Judith had not merely been gathering complaints about Reese.
May you like
She had been gathering a story about Camille too.
The question was why Graham had allowed it.
