Chapter 16
Evelyn eventually apologized correctly.
Not “I was trying to help.”
Not “I was raised that way.”
Not “I loved you both.”
She wrote:
I taught Hazel that love had to be earned because that is what I believed. I used fear to make her easier to control. That was wrong.
I kept the letter.
Hazel was still too young.
Maybe one day she would want it.
Maybe not.
Forgiveness was not a schedule I intended to manage.
Miles took longer.
He finally sent one sentence through Cora.
I thought being hard on her would make Damon respect us.
There it was.
Not love.
Status.
He had helped hurt a child because he believed hardness was the language powerful men respected.
I hated that more because I understood where the assumption came from.
Men like me built cultures where coldness looked like competence.
May you like
Then we acted surprised when everyone around us copied it.
That lesson belonged to me too.
