Chapter 12 - Vanessa Thought Our Marriage Was Ruined Before It Started
The hardest damage wasn’t legal.
It was between Vanessa and me.
Not because I believed she had poisoned the drink.
I didn’t.
Because she had hidden Mallory from me.
Vanessa felt guilty.
“If I’d told you…”
“No.”
“If you knew what she was like—”
“No.”
“You might have noticed.”
“Stop.”
She looked at me.
“What?”
“Do not turn her plan into your responsibility.”
That did not mean secrecy had been wise.
We dealt with that separately.
I told Vanessa:
“I need to know when someone sends threatening messages.”
She nodded.
“You need to know when I’m afraid of someone.”
“Yes.”
“But I didn’t make her do this.”
“No.”
That distinction saved us.
Explanation without victim blaming.
Responsibility without absorbing someone else’s crime.
Our wedding reception had been destroyed.
Our marriage had not.
We were legally married.
For several months, that fact felt bizarre.
We had no normal honeymoon.
No joyful reception memory.
No clean beginning.
Eventually our therapist said:
“Stop trying to recover the wedding. Build the marriage.”
May you like
So we did.
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