Chapter 14 - Anna Met Evelyn Again Without an Audience
Four years passed before Anna agreed to meet Evelyn privately.
Not at the foundation.
A quiet restaurant.
Accessible entrance.
No family mediator.
Michael offered to come.
Anna said:
“No.”
Evelyn arrived early.
She looked older.
Less polished.
She did not mention Anna’s wheelchair.
Good start.
For several minutes they discussed nothing important.
Then Evelyn said:
“I hated Clara.”
Anna stared.
Direct.
“Why?”
“I didn’t know her well enough to hate her as a person.”
Evelyn looked down.
“I hated how present she remained in David.”
Anna waited.
“He respected her in a way I wanted him to respect me.”
“He did respect you.”
“Differently.”
There.
Then Evelyn admitted the part she had never said aloud.
When Anna married Michael, she felt as though Clara had entered the family permanently through:
her.
Then Anna’s professional knowledge made Evelyn feel compared again.
Then the accident.
Evelyn felt guilty about the thought that came first.
Not:
Will Anna recover?
But:
Maybe Michael can finally build a life separate from the Vales.
Anna absorbed that.
“Did you want him to leave me?”
“Yes.”
“Before the accident?”
“No.”
“After?”
“For a while.”
Specific.
Ugly.
Useful.
Then Anna asked:
“Do you still?”
Evelyn shook her head.
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because I finally understand Michael choosing you was never a judgment on me.”
That was probably the root.
Every bond Evelyn could not control felt like:
rejection.
Anna did not forgive everything at dinner.
She did something smaller.
When the check arrived, she said:
“We can do this again sometime.”
Evelyn nodded.
No hug.
May you like
Enough.
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