Chapter 11 - George Had to Admit What He Had Done Too
Lauren came alone when Evelyn asked her to.
George placed the cemetery invoices on the table.
Lauren looked immediately at his.
“You really bought ours.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To scare you.”
She gave a stunned laugh.
“And you think I’m sick?”
“No.”
George looked directly at her.
“I think I did something sick because I was angry.”
Lauren had clearly prepared for denial.
The apology disarmed her.
George continued.
“I wanted you to feel what you made us feel. I didn’t ask your mother. I didn’t tell her. I decided humiliation would teach you something.”
Evelyn watched Lauren’s face change.
George did not let himself escape.
“I was wrong.”
Lauren looked toward her mother.
“Did you know?”
“No.”
“And you stayed with him.”
Evelyn understood the accusation.
“You want my marriage to prove something about yours?”
Lauren flushed.
“No.”
“Yes.”
Evelyn leaned forward.
“Your father lied to me by omission. I’m angry. We are dealing with it. That does not erase what you did to Mark.”
Lauren’s eyes dropped.
Nor did George’s gravestone stunt erase Cedar Glen.
Or the LLC.
Or Lauren’s loan guarantee.
Or Dylan’s manipulation.
Accountability could coexist.
Lauren finally said, “I told Dylan I wanted out.”
“I saw.”
“He said if I backed away, he’d tell Mark everything and the bank would come after me anyway.”
“So you went forward.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you tell us?”
Lauren gave a small, broken shrug.
“Because then you’d know what I’d done.”
Evelyn sat back.
There it was again.
The same disease moving through the family.
Not debt.
Shame.
Every bad decision became a reason to hide the next one.
George hid his stone order because he knew Evelyn would object.
Lauren hid the guarantee from Mark because she knew he would object.
Dylan hid the real business numbers because he knew everyone would object.
Evelyn herself had hidden how often she financially rescued the children from friends because she didn’t want anyone judging them.
“Look at us,” she said.
Both George and Lauren did.
“We have spent years protecting ourselves from embarrassment and calling it protecting family.”
Lauren started to cry.
May you like
Evelyn did not comfort her immediately.
Some pain needed to remain where it belonged.
