Chapter 8 - DIANE WANTS FORGIVENESSDiane requested contact when Grace was thirteen.
Years had passed.
No relationship.
Letters had been returned unopened until Grace was old enough to decide.
Now Grace wanted to read one.
Diane apologized.
Sort of.
She regretted “how events unfolded.”
She regretted “family misunderstandings.”
She regretted “allowing Sabrina's joke to go too far.”
Grace finished reading.
“That's not an apology.”
Laura said nothing.
Grace pointed.
“She never says what she did.”
Correct.
Diane requested a meeting.
Grace refused.
Another year passed.
A second letter came.
Different.
“I held you in that chair when you wanted to leave.”
Grace stopped.
“I helped Sabrina cut your hair after you told us to stop.”
Grace kept reading.
“I frightened you into keeping secrets from your mother.”
Then:
“I cared more about control and money than about being a grandmother you could trust.”
Grace cried.
Laura sat beside her.
“Do I have to forgive her now?”
“No.”
“Even if she's really sorry?”
“Yes.”
Grace looked surprised.
“An apology creates responsibility for the person giving it. It doesn't create an obligation for the person receiving it.”
Grace kept the letter.
May you like
She didn't meet Diane.
Not yet.
