Chapter 13
Octavia wrote to Lisette.
One letter.
I did not ask her to.
Lisette told me months later.
The letter contained no Sabine.
No childhood story.
No excuse.
Just:
I put the bracelet on you.
I knew you had not stolen it.
I wanted people to believe you had because I was afraid of losing what I thought the bracelet would give me.
I am sorry.
Good.
Lisette did not reply.
Also good.
Octavia moved away from her aunt.
That mattered more.
She took an apartment in Boston.
Worked with an art foundation.
No family-hostess role.
No engagement status.
No borrowed identity.
When we met almost a year later, she looked different.
Not visually.
Less arranged.
“I thought being your wife meant I needed to replace your mother.”
There.
The deepest mistake.
“My mother cannot be replaced.”
“I know.”
“Neither would I have wanted you to.”
“I know that now.”
She looked down.
“Sabine said houses like yours always compare women.”
“She wasn’t completely wrong.”
Octavia looked up.
I continued.
“But the answer was never to win the comparison.”
She nodded.
For once, no argument.
We drank coffee.
Then left separately.
Some relationships survive as understanding.
May you like
Not reunion.
That was ours.
