Chapter 14 - THE LAST TIME LORRAINE TRIED TO MAKE EMILY CHOOSEOwen was nine months old when Lorraine asked Emily to lunch.
Emily almost refused.
Then agreed to forty-five minutes in a public restaurant.
Lorraine arrived wearing pearls.
Of course.
For ten minutes they discussed Owen.
Then Lorraine said:
“I think Corey has suffered enough.”
Emily put down her fork.
“There it is.”
“What?”
“The reason we’re here.”
Lorraine looked offended.
“I’m allowed to worry about my son.”
“Yes.”
“He loves you.”
“I know.”
“You love him.”
Emily paused.
“Yes.”
Lorraine leaned forward.
“Then what are you waiting for?”
Emily stared.
Lorraine still thought decisions worked like pressure points.
Find the correct emotion.
Push.
Obtain compliance.
“I’m waiting to know whether I want to live with him again.”
“You have a child.”
“I know.”
“A boy needs his father.”
“He has his father.”
“In the same home.”
“That is not automatically safer.”
Lorraine flinched.
“He made one mistake.”
Emily’s expression changed.
Lorraine noticed.
“He has done everything they asked.”
“This is not probation from me.”
“Then what does he have to do?”
Emily almost laughed.
“You still think there’s a checklist that earns me back.”
Lorraine became quiet.
Then, unexpectedly:
“I don’t know how else to think.”
The honesty disarmed Emily.
Lorraine looked toward the window.
“After Andrew died, I started believing if I planned enough, nothing else could disappear.”
Emily said nothing.
“Franklin let me.”
“Corey did too.”
“Yes.”
“And you expected me to.”
Lorraine’s eyes filled.
“Yes.”
No excuse.
Just truth.
Then she whispered:
“When you got pregnant, I thought the family was whole again.”
Emily felt sadness despite herself.
“Owen cannot do that for you.”
“I know.”
“Do you?”
“I’m trying.”
Emily believed that Lorraine wanted to try.
She did not believe wanting was enough.
At the end of lunch Lorraine asked:
“Can I come to his first birthday?”
Emily thought.
Corey would be there.
Lauren.
Friends.
A public park pavilion.
“No speeches about heirs.”
Lorraine almost smiled.
“Fine.”
“No surprise gifts that require decisions.”
“Fine.”
“No calling him Franklin.”
Lorraine rolled her eyes.
Then stopped herself.
“Fine.”
Emily nodded.
“Yes.”
Lorraine exhaled.
It was not reconciliation.
May you like
It was one birthday.
Family access had finally become specific instead of assumed.
