Chapter 14 - THE APOLOGY THAT CAME WITHOUT FORGIVENESS
Lorraine asked Marin to meet alone.
Marin almost refused.
Then agreed.
Public café.
Daytime.
Elise stayed with Hannah.
Lorraine arrived without her scarf.
It was the first time Marin had seen her look ordinary.
“I’m sorry.”
Marin waited.
Lorraine looked uncomfortable.
Good.
“For what?”
Lorraine’s jaw tightened.
“I shouldn’t have grabbed the carrier.”
“No.”
“I shouldn’t have said what I said.”
“No.”
“I shouldn’t have hired the investigator.”
“No.”
Lorraine sighed.
“What do you want from me?”
“The truth.”
“I’ve apologized.”
“That isn’t the same thing.”
Lorraine looked away.
Marin waited.
Finally Lorraine said, “I knew the paternity accusation was probably false.”
There it was.
No qualified language.
No “questions.”
Probably false.
“I saw Elise’s toes in the hospital,” Lorraine continued. “I remembered Callum’s surgery immediately.”
“Then why request the records?”
“I wanted to be sure.”
“And after you were?”
Lorraine pressed her lips together.
“I was angry.”
“At me?”
“At everything.”
Callum had accepted Boston.
Marin wanted their own house.
Elise changed his priorities.
Caroline had already left the company.
Graham was gone.
Lorraine felt herself becoming unnecessary.
“So you made me dangerous,” Marin said.
Lorraine’s eyes filled.
“Yes.”
Marin thought admitting it would feel satisfying.
It didn’t.
“You humiliated me in front of your family.”
“I know.”
“You made my husband doubt his own instincts.”
“I know.”
“You made me fight you for my baby beside open water.”
Lorraine covered her mouth briefly.
“I know.”
Marin stood.
Lorraine looked alarmed.
“Does this mean I’ll never see Elise?”
“I don’t know.”
“That’s cruel.”
Marin looked at her.
“No.”
The word came quietly.
“Cruel would be using Elise to hurt you. I’m making a safety decision because of what you did.”
Lorraine lowered her eyes.
Marin picked up her coat.
“There’s one more thing.”
Lorraine looked up.
“If Callum and I survive this, it won’t be because you finally approved of me.”
Marin buttoned her coat.
“And if we don’t survive it, you still don’t get him back.”
Lorraine’s face changed.
That was the consequence she had never understood.
May you like
Destroying Marin would not restore the old Callum.
That version of her son was already gone.
