Chapter 11
Sophie became angry at her mother before I did again.
“I don’t want his room.”
Victoria tried to explain.
“It’s larger.”
“I don’t care.”
“You will when you’re older.”
“No.”
Sophie’s voice shook.
“I want my room.”
The guest suite she had used for two years whenever she stayed at the estate.
Nothing wrong with it.
Bright windows.
Desk.
Bookshelf.
Hers.
Victoria kept trying.
“This was supposed to make things easier for you.”
Sophie started crying.
“You made Noah think I stole his chair.”
Silence.
That was the first consequence Victoria seemed unable to intellectualize.
Her daughter did not feel protected.
She felt guilty.
Sophie looked at Noah across the room.
“I’m sorry.”
Noah frowned.
“For what?”
“Your chair.”
He shrugged.
“You can sit.”
Sophie laughed through tears.
“I know.”
Children again.
Refusing the complexity adults build for them.
Victoria covered her mouth.
Maybe she finally saw it.
Sophie had never needed Noah moved.
She needed permission to belong without replacing him.
I looked at Victoria.
“You taught both children there was only one safe place.”
She nodded slowly.
“Beside me.”
Another nod.
“And they had to fight for it.”
Her eyes closed.
May you like
“Yes.”
That was the first time she said the whole thing aloud.
