Chapter 11 - MARA LEFT ME A LETTER I COULDN’T READ IN ONE SITTINGIt began:
Nathan, if Sophie reaches you, then I was braver at the end than I was at the beginning.
I stopped.
Hours later, continued.
Mara apologized for not verifying the forged rejection email sooner.
Then corrected herself:
Actually, I have spent years apologizing for being afraid of a man who framed me. I will not make fear sound like guilt.
Good.
She wrote about Sophie.
Favorite food:
Macaroni.
Fear:
Thunder.
Habit:
Sleeps sideways.
Loves:
Dinosaurs, purple socks, drawing houses.
Then:
Do not love her because she proves anything about me.
That sentence mattered.
She is not evidence first. She is a child first.
Then:
If you are angry with me, be angry. Just do not make her carry it.
I cried.
Then read the final line.
You would have loved her. I am sorry Douglas convinced me you chose not to.
I put the letter down.
There are griefs with no villain strong enough to absorb all of them.
May you like
Douglas caused much.
But time was still gone.
