Chapter 11 - You Were Never Too Much
I opened Grandma’s letter with shaking hands.
My dear Sarah,
If you are reading this, then I am gone, and I hope your mother kept her promise to give this to you.
She hadn’t.
I kept reading.
You have spent too much of your life believing that needing less means deserving less. It does not.
Tears blurred the page.
You are not difficult because you notice unfairness. You are not selfish because you want to be considered. You are not jealous because unequal treatment hurts you.
Then came the sentence that broke me.
If you ever have a daughter, teach her sooner than I taught you: love that requires her to accept humiliation is not love she must keep.
I cried until Emma found me.
“Is that from Grandma?”
“My grandma.”
“Was she nice?”
“The nicest.”
“What did she say?”
I pulled Emma into my lap.
“That we don’t have to let people hurt us just because they’re family.”
Emma nodded seriously. “Good.”
Dad called later.
“I found the letter in your mother’s desk,” he admitted.
“Did you know she kept it?”
“No.”
I wasn’t sure whether I believed him.
Then he said, “I’m signing the admission.”
“Mom?”
“No.”
“Then the case continues.”
“I know.”
He hesitated. “Can I send Emma a present?”
“No. Write her a letter instead. Tell her exactly what you did wrong. No excuses. No asking her to forgive you.”
“I don’t know what to say.”
“Then you’re not ready.”
That night, instead of booking Disney, I booked two tickets to New York City.
Emma had always wanted to see the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center.
But before our trip, another emergency hit the family.
May you like
Dad landed in the hospital.
And Jessica blamed me.
