Chapter 12 - Mother and Daughter Without Damon
Audrey asked to meet at Vivian’s house.
Vivian agreed on one condition.
Damon could not come.
For the first time since the assault, Audrey walked through the front door alone.
The broken camera had been removed. A temporary replacement sat above the arch.
Audrey stared at the empty screw holes from the old mount.
“I keep seeing you against that table.”
Vivian remained near the living-room doorway.
“So do I.”
“I should’ve helped you.”
“Yes.”
Audrey flinched.
No reassurance came.
They sat at opposite ends of the long sofa.
Audrey admitted she had spent years terrified that Damon would see her as useless if she could not maintain the life they had built.
Damon grew up with little money and treated financial success as proof that he had escaped his childhood.
Every business setback made him meaner.
Every rescue Audrey arranged made him believe he was recovering.
“You were protecting his pride,” Vivian said.
“I was protecting my marriage.”
“No. You were protecting the version of your marriage you could show people.”
Audrey cried quietly.
Then she looked at her mother.
“What do you want me to do?”
Vivian had waited years to hear Audrey ask that without first asking for money.
“Tell the truth everywhere you lied.”
Audrey went pale.
“That could destroy me financially.”
“Yes.”
“Damon could divorce me.”
“Yes.”
“You might lose money too.”
“I already have.”
Audrey stared toward the foyer.
Vivian continued.
“And report what happened here accurately. Don’t minimize it because you’re afraid of what happens to him.”
Audrey stood.
For a second Vivian thought she would leave.
Instead Audrey said, “If I do all of that, I don’t know what I’ll have left.”
May you like
Vivian looked at her daughter.
“Maybe then you’ll finally know what’s actually yours.”
