Chapter 14
Odessa’s apology happened six months later.
Not because Luciano arranged it.
Mabel’s therapist believed a brief supervised meeting might help if Mabel wanted one.
Luciano asked his daughter once.
“Do you want to see Aunt Odessa?”
Mabel thought about it.
“Will she take my purse?”
“No.”
“You sure?”
“Yes.”
“Okay.”
The meeting took place in a quiet room at the fencing club with Luciano and the therapist nearby.
Odessa entered carrying nothing.
No clutch.
No jewelry except her wedding band.
Mabel noticed immediately.
“Where’s your bag?”
“I didn't bring one.”
Mabel sat with her purse in her lap.
Odessa remained several feet away.
“I did something very mean to you.”
Mabel watched her.
“I said you stole my brooch when you didn't.”
“You had it.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Odessa swallowed.
“Because you found a paper I didn't want your daddy to see.”
Mabel frowned.
“So you lied?”
“Yes.”
“Because paper?”
Odessa almost smiled through tears.
“When you say it like that, it sounds as stupid as it was.”
Luciano said nothing.
Odessa continued.
“I’m sorry.”
Mabel did not answer immediately.
Then:
“Don't do it again.”
“I won't.”
Mabel looked toward Luciano.
“Can we go?”
“Yes.”
Luciano stood.
Odessa did too.
She did not ask for a hug.
That mattered.
At the door Mabel turned.
“Maybe you can come fencing another day.”
Odessa’s face changed.
She looked toward Luciano.
He deliberately gave no signal.
This decision belonged to Mabel.
“Maybe,” Odessa said.
Mabel left.
Outside, Luciano took her hand.
He had expected some dramatic sense of closure.
There was none.
May you like
Only a four-year-old asking what they were having for lunch.
Sometimes the healthiest ending to a painful confrontation was simply being allowed to leave it.
