Chapter 11 - Lenora Finally Heard What Her Mother Actually Wanted
Elaine asked to see Lenora.
Their meeting happened through attorneys with strict supervision.
I was not in the room.
Later Elaine told me enough.
Lenora expected her mother to understand.
Maybe even defend her.
Instead, Elaine asked one question:
“Did Vanessa do anything to you?”
Lenora said no.
“Then why was a baseball bat over her head?”
Lenora began explaining.
The motel.
College.
My father.
My testimony.
Elaine stopped her.
“I know what happened to us.”
“Then you understand.”
“No.”
Lenora stared.
Elaine leaned forward.
“What happened to me does not give you a right to make another little girl afraid of her own home.”
Lenora started crying.
“I wanted him to feel what we felt.”
“Then confront him.”
“He forgot us.”
“So you hurt his daughter?”
Elaine’s voice broke.
“You didn’t avenge me. You made me watch my own child become cruel because of something done to us decades ago.”
That was the sentence Lenora could not argue with.
For twenty-four years, she had imagined revenge would honor her mother.
May you like
Her mother was the person who finally told her it did the opposite.
---
