Chapter 12
Rosa visited Bellandi House once.
Her choice.
Not for confrontation.
Victoria invited her to lunch.
I expected tension.
There was some.
Mostly they complained about food.
Apparently Rosa still believed Victoria hated peas.
Victoria now liked them.
Scandal.
Isabella joined halfway through.
Rosa looked at her.
Then at Victoria.
No dramatic recognition.
Just:
“You must be Isabella.”
“Yes.”
“Do you like peas?”
“No.”
Rosa pointed at Victoria.
“See? Sensible.”
Victoria rolled her eyes.
The room relaxed.
Later Rosa walked past the giant portrait.
She stopped.
Knew exactly what sat behind it.
“Still there?”
“The recess?”
“Yes.”
“Empty.”
“Good.”
That was all.
No need to visit.
No ritual.
Before leaving, Rosa told me quietly:
“Don’t make Victoria spend the rest of her life apologizing for being hurt.”
I considered.
“She hurt Isabella.”
“Yes.”
“That part is hers.”
“Yes.”
Then:
“But what happened before that was done to her.”
Important boundary.
Accountability without turning victimhood into original sin.
May you like
I could hold both.
So could Victoria, eventually.
