Chapter 8: A Start Only
Silence.
"And the solicitor?" she said.
"Drop it.
Today.
In writing."
She looked at the baby again.
A long moment passed.
"And if I do those things?"
"Then I'll tell Daniel you came here.
I'll tell him you sat down.
I'll tell him it was a start." I shifted my daughter to my other arm.
"That's all I'm offering, Diane.
A start.
The rest is up to you."
---
She called the locksmith that afternoon.
I know because he called Daniel to confirm the change in the account notes, and Daniel told me that evening with an expression I couldn't quite read.
"She actually did it," he said.
"Yes."
"Did you threaten her?"
"No.
I told her what I needed."
He sat down across from me.
"What made her listen?"
I looked at our daughter asleep in the bassinet by the window.
"I think she wants to know her granddaughter.
And she knows she won't — not really — unless she earns it."
Daniel nodded slowly.
"That's not the same as being sorry."
"No," I said.
"It's not."
He reached across the table and took my hand.
"Are you all right with that?"
I thought about it honestly.
May you like
"I'm all right with starting there."
---
