Chapter 12
Celeste asked to see Mia.
Rocco’s first answer was no.
Dr. Price challenged him.
“Is that based on Mia’s safety or your anger?”
“Both.”
“Separate them.”
Rocco hated the question.
He considered it anyway.
Celeste had physically struck Mia and repeatedly removed a medical aid to control what the child could perceive.
That was serious.
Supervised contact, if any, needed professional assessment.
Rocco would not use access to Mia as revenge.
He also would not pretend biology was the only relationship children formed.
Celeste had lived with Mia for almost eighteen months.
She had read bedtime stories.
Taken her shopping.
Sat beside her when she had the flu.
Children could love someone who also hurt them.
Adults found that inconvenient.
Children lived with it.
Mia eventually asked:
“Celeste mad because I told?”
Rocco crouched.
“No.”
“Because glasses?”
“No.”
“Why?”
He chose his words carefully.
“Celeste made choices that weren’t safe for you.”
Mia thought.
“Adrian too?”
“Yes.”
She looked at her purple frames.
“They don’t take these?”
“No one takes those unless you or your doctor says they need to come off.”
That promise mattered.
A child’s medical device would never again become an adult’s tool of control.
Dr. Price eventually recommended that no contact with Celeste occur yet.
Not forever.
Yet.
Mia showed anxiety when discussing her.
May you like
Rocco accepted the recommendation.
For perhaps the first time in his life, he allowed a decision involving his family to remain outside his personal authority.
