Chapter 10 - Victoria Finally Explained Why She Used Garbage Bags
The divorce mediation happened months later.
Most property questions were straightforward because of the prenup.
The difficult conversation concerned Emma.
Not custody.
Accountability.
Victoria asked to apologize.
Nathan refused initially.
Emma’s therapist eventually said a written apology could help if it contained no request for reconciliation.
Victoria wrote one.
First draft:
I am sorry things became frightening on the day I left.
Rejected.
Too passive.
Second:
I am sorry I made you pack your belongings because I was angry with your father and angry that my life at the vineyard had become something I no longer wanted.
Better.
Then:
I used black garbage bags because I wanted your belongings to look unimportant.
Nathan stopped reading.
That sentence was brutal.
But specific.
Victoria continued:
You said the estate was your home. I wanted to prove I had more authority than you. I did that because I was angry, not because you had done anything that deserved it.
Then:
I told you your father might send you away. That was not true. I took things he said when exhausted and turned them into something he had never decided.
Then:
You did not cause my marriage to end.
Important.
Finally:
You did not deserve to be put outside.
Emma read the letter with her therapist present.
She asked:
“Do I have to answer?”
No.
She did not.
Then one question:
“Why did she use trash bags?”
Nathan wanted to soften it.
Therapist stopped him gently.
The letter already said:
why.
Victoria wanted Emma’s belongings to look unimportant.
Emma stared at the page.
Then:
“That was mean.”
“Yes.”
She folded the letter.
Did not cry.
Later she asked for two proper storage trunks for her room.
Nathan bought them.
Not as symbolic therapy.
Because she wanted:
May you like
them.
---
