Chapter 13 - SOPHIE ASKED WHETHER HER MOTHER WAS A BAD PERSONThis question was harder than the financial ones.


“Is Mom bad?”
I looked at my daughter.
I could have said yes.
Simple.
Wrong.
“She did bad things.”
Sophie frowned.
“That’s different?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“People are bigger than one action.”
She thought.
“Even really bad actions?”
“Yes.”
Then I added:
“But being complicated doesn’t mean people avoid consequences.”
That mattered.
We were not erasing Victoria.
Nor pretending the theft was a misunderstanding.
Sophie needed a mother she could understand truthfully.
Not a monster.
May you like
Not a saint.
A flawed adult who made serious choices.