Chapter 11 - Ellie Did Not Run Into Her Arms
The first reunion happened twelve days later.
Not at the mansion.
Not at an airport surrounded by relatives.
A therapist arranged a quiet private garden behind a family counseling center.
Mateo brought Ellie.
Maren arrived separately.
Ellie saw her mother through the glass door and froze.
Maren stopped too.
For years, everyone had imagined what a reunion might look like.
Running.
Crying.
Arms around each other.
Reality was smaller.
Ellie hid partly behind Mateo.
Maren knelt several yards away.
“Hi.”
Ellie stared.
“You cut your hair.”
Maren laughed through tears.
“Yes.”
“I remember it longer.”
“It was.”
Silence.
Then Ellie asked:
“Why didn’t you come?”
Maren did not blame Celeste first.
That mattered.
“I thought your dad wanted me to stay away.”
Mateo added:
“And I thought your mom wanted to stay away.”
Ellie frowned.
“That’s stupid.”
Both adults almost laughed.
“Yes,” Maren said.
“It was.”
Then:
“Did Celeste lie?”
“Yes.”
“About everything?”
Maren looked at Mateo.
“No.”
That was harder.
“We were angry at each other. We made mistakes. Celeste made the distance bigger.”
Ellie absorbed what she could.
Then asked:
“Did you forget my birthday?”
“No.”
“Did you know I lost my first tooth?”
Maren’s face crumpled.
“No.”
Ellie looked hurt.
Mateo’s instinct was to rescue the moment.
Explain.
Smooth.
Fix.
He stopped himself.
Maren needed to answer.
“I missed things I can’t get back.”
She held out no arms.
Asked for no forgiveness.
“I’m sorry.”
Ellie looked down.
Then slowly removed Mr. Rabbit from her backpack.
“You remember him?”
Maren smiled.
“He used to be white.”
Ellie looked offended.
“He is white.”
Mateo and Maren both laughed.
The tension broke slightly.
Ellie did not hug her mother that day.
May you like
She sat beside her twenty minutes later.
That was enough.
