Chapter 16 - Eleanor SpeaksPhysical therapy helped Eleanor regain limited movement.
Her speech improved slowly.
Six months after the vase attack, she could form short sentences.
Richard sat beside her.
She looked toward the empty space where the vase had stood.
“I was cruel.”
Richard listened.
“To Victoria.”
“Yes.”
“I wanted you to leave her.”
“I know.”
“I told lies.”
Richard frowned.
“What lies?”
“I said she stole jewelry.”
Richard remembered.
A bracelet had disappeared.
Victoria denied taking it.
Richard had believed his mother but never confronted Victoria directly.
“Where was it?”
“I hid it.”
Richard closed his eyes.
“Mom.”
“I know.”
“What else?”
Eleanor cried.
She admitted several things.
She had blamed Victoria for missing medication she herself misplaced.
She had exaggerated arguments.
She had deliberately excluded Victoria from family events.
Small acts.
But relentless.
Richard felt angry.
Then remembered the bed.
The vase.
The terror.
Both truths.
“Why tell me now?”
Eleanor answered:
“Because truth late… still truth.”
Richard nodded.
“Yes.”
She looked at him.
“Victoria bad?”
Richard thought.
“I don't think people are that simple.”
Eleanor waited.
“She did something terrible.”
“So did Dad.”
“So did you.”
“So did I.”
Eleanor cried.
Richard continued:
“That doesn't make all of us the same.”
“It means we have to own what we did.”
Eleanor nodded.
Then:
“Emily?”
“She moved to San Diego.”
“Happy?”
“I think so.”
Eleanor smiled.
“Good.”
Richard had deliberately avoided contacting Emily beyond required legal communication.
Then Eleanor said:
“Write.”
Richard frowned.
“To Emily?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Sorry.”
“I already apologized.”
Eleanor shook her head.
“No ask forgive.”
Richard understood.
A letter without asking for anything.
He wrote it that evening.
He told Emily he was sorry.
He did not explain his fear.
Did not mention Victoria's manipulation.
Did not ask her to understand.
He simply named what he had done.
He struck her.
It was wrong.
He was working to ensure he never responded to fear with violence again.
He wished her peace.
He mailed it.
No response came.
Richard accepted that.
Then, three weeks later, a small envelope arrived.
Inside was one sentence in Emily's handwriting:
May you like
Take care of your mother—and learn to listen before you decide who the villain is.
Richard kept it.
