Chapter 11 - Margaret Thought Emma Was Turning Me Against Her
The motive behind the escalating punishments became clearer during:
evaluation.
Margaret did not hate:
Emma.
That made the story more complicated.
She loved her.
But in Margaret’s mind, love created:
authority.
Emma’s increasing resistance felt like:
rejection.
Worse, Emma often ran to:
Laura.
Then to:
me.
Margaret interpreted that as:
manipulation.
She told her therapist:
“Emma knew if she cried to Daniel, he’d choose her over me.”
Of course I would.
She was:
my child.
Margaret experienced that obvious parental fact as:
betrayal.
My mother had spent decades believing she had special ownership over:
me.
Then I married.
Laura took some of:
my time.
Then Emma was born.
Emma took even more.
Normal life.
Margaret experienced:
replacement.
The sunroom became the one place where she could make Emma obey without:
Mom
or:
Dad
intervening.
Control became:
proof of relevance.
And the closer Emma got to telling us what happened there, the stricter Margaret became.
That was why the fire-night argument began with:
Emma saying she would tell Dad.
Margaret said:
“About what?”
Emma answered:
“The room.”
Margaret took her upstairs.
Minutes later:
fire.
Not because Margaret planned:
death.
Because she wanted one final demonstration that Emma’s threat to tell us did not:
matter.
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That was the psychological line she crossed.
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