Chapter 14 - BRANDON’S LAST CHANCE WASN’T WITH MEBrandon and I eventually decided to divorce.
Not at the seafood dinner.
Not after the loan file.
Not even after I learned about his plan to control Halcyon.
The decision came seven months later.
Counseling had made us more truthful.
It had not made us compatible again.
One afternoon our counselor asked:
“If financial trust could be repaired completely, would you still want this marriage?”
Brandon answered yes.
I didn’t.
That was the answer.
He cried.
So did I.
Neither of us tried to negotiate with it.
His last meaningful choice concerned Skylar.
He had not seen her alone since we separated.
I did not forbid contact.
Skylar did not ask for it.
Then Brandon requested permission to write her a letter.
“No pressure to answer,” he said.
“What are you going to tell her?”
“That I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
He looked down.
“For letting Mom make her feel like she had to earn food in her own home.”
I waited.
“For acting like her inheritance was something she took from me.”
Another pause.
“And for staying quiet because confronting Mom would have made my own plan harder.”
That last one mattered.
“Don’t tell Skylar about adult money.”
“I won’t.”
“Don’t ask her to forgive you.”
“I won’t.”
“Don’t tell her you were under pressure.”
His face tightened.
Then he nodded.
“Okay.”
He wrote the letter.
I read it first because Skylar was eleven.
It was short.
No explanations.
No mention of Gertrude.
No request for another chance.
He wrote:
I was one of the adults responsible for making sure you felt safe and wanted in our home, and I failed at that.
I folded it.
“I’ll ask if she wants it.”
“Thank you.”
He almost left.
Then turned back.
“Charlotte?”
“What?”
“Did you ever think I loved her?”
The question made me angry.
Then sad.
“Yes.”
He closed his eyes.
“That somehow makes it worse.”
“It should.”
He nodded.
May you like
That was Brandon’s last chance to tell the truth without using it to rescue himself.
For once, he took it.
