Chapter 7 - Margaret Wanted Me To Send Sophie Away
The boarding-school conversation happened six months before the birthday.
I had almost forgotten it.
Mom invited me to lunch alone.
Halfway through, she mentioned a prestigious boarding school in Massachusetts that accepted children beginning at age eight.
I laughed.
“Sophie is seven.”
“Applications take time.”
“She’s not going.”
“You haven’t even looked.”
“Because she’s not going.”
Margaret cut her salmon carefully.
“Rachel keeps that child emotionally dependent.”
I put down my fork.
“What?”
“She cries whenever Rachel leaves.”
“She’s seven.”
“She sleeps in your room after nightmares.”
“Sometimes.”
“She needs independence.”
“So we send her away?”
“It might be good for everyone.”
That phrase bothered me.
Everyone.
“Who is everyone?”
Margaret looked irritated.
“Daniel, don’t be dramatic.”
I refused.
She dropped it.
Or pretended to.
Later we discovered she had requested admissions materials herself.
Never submitted an application.
No forgery.
No secret enrollment.
But she was planning.
Exploring.
Trying to imagine a version of the family where Sophie was physically absent most of the year.
When Rachel learned, she looked at me.
“Do you understand now?”
I did.
Every insult.
Every exclusion.
Every little attempt to make Sophie feel secondary had the same direction.
Outward.
Away from the family center.
Margaret did not simply dislike my daughter.
May you like
She wanted distance between Sophie and the Carter identity.
Because distance made control easier.
