Chapter 14 - Rosalie Finally Stopped Asking Whether She Had Caused It
Almost ten months after Christmas, Rosalie found the midnight-blue gown I had worn that night hanging in my guest-room closet.
I had never worn it again.
She touched the sleeve.
“You should throw this away.”
“Why?”
“It’s the dress you got hit in.”
I looked at it.
“No.”
She frowned.
“Why keep it?”
“Because that isn’t all that happened in it.”
She understood.
That was also the dress I wore when I told Callum to leave.
The dress I wore when I stopped pretending Rosalie’s marriage was merely “complicated.”
The dress I wore when my daughter finally saw Callum’s violence from outside herself.
Rosalie sat on the bed.
“Do you ever think if I’d left earlier none of that would’ve happened?”
“Yes.”
She looked surprised.
Then I continued.
“And if Callum hadn’t hit people, none of it would’ve happened either.”
She gave me a tired smile.
“That sounded obvious.”
“It is.”
“Why doesn’t it feel obvious?”
“Because you spent years being taught to start every explanation with yourself.”
She became quiet.
Then said:
“I’m trying to stop.”
“I know.”
May you like
That was enough.
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