PART 6
Paige came three days later.
She didn’t come to apologize.
She came angry.
She stood on my porch with her arms crossed.
“You’ve destroyed our family.”
I looked at her calmly.
“I didn’t.”
“You knew the property was going to be sold.”
“Yes.”
“You could have warned us.”
“You could have asked me where I wanted to live.”
She looked away.
“That isn’t the point.”
“What is the point?”
She hesitated.
Then she said it.
“You have millions of dollars.”
There it was.
The truth.
I opened the door wider.
“Come inside.”
She looked surprised.
Then entered.
I poured coffee.
She didn’t touch it.
“Why didn’t you tell us?”
“Because I knew you would treat me differently.”
“We wouldn’t.”
I looked at her.
“You laughed when you gave me a two-dollar scratch ticket.”
Her face changed.
“I was joking.”
“You called me a burden.”
“I was frustrated.”
“You chose a retirement home without asking me.”
She looked down.
“I thought I was helping.”
“No.”
I shook my head.
“You were making my existence convenient.”
Her eyes filled with tears.
For a moment, she looked less like the woman who had mocked me and more like someone who finally understood the damage she had caused.
“I was jealous,” she whispered.
I said nothing.
“I saw you sitting around the house while I worked all day, and I thought you had an easy life.”
I almost smiled.
“Do you know what I did every morning?”
She shook her head.
“I woke up before everyone else.”
I counted on my fingers.
“I made breakfast. Packed lunches. Did laundry. Cleaned. Bought groceries. Took the children to appointments. Prepared dinner. Helped with homework. Paid for things when you were short. And when everyone went to sleep, I cleaned the kitchen again.”
She started crying.
“I didn’t know.”
“You didn’t ask.”
That sentence silenced her.
Then I said:
“Paige, I’m not angry because you didn’t appreciate everything I did.”
She looked at me.
“I’m angry because you thought my usefulness was the same thing as my worth.”
She covered her mouth.
For a long time, neither of us spoke.
Finally, she whispered:
“I’m sorry.”
I believed that she was sorry.
But forgiveness wasn’t the same as trust.
So I told her the truth.
“I forgive you.”
Her eyes lifted.
“But things will never be exactly as they were.”
She nodded.
“I understand.”
“And that’s probably for the best.”
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