Chapter 5 - JACKSON’S MOTHER OR HIS DAUGHTER
Jackson started therapy.
Not couples therapy.
Individual.
I insisted.
He accepted.
Six weeks after moving out, he asked to talk.
Public park.
Daytime.
Mia with my sister.
He looked different.
Thinner.
Tired.
He sat across from me.
“I thought keeping Mom happy protected everyone.”
I said nothing.
“It protected me.”
Better.
“From what?”
“Conflict.”
He laughed bitterly.
“My whole childhood was managing her moods.”
There it was.
Lorraine did not begin with me.
Jackson continued.
“If Mom was angry, Dad disappeared into work. Cassandra and I learned to fix it.”
“By agreeing with her.”
“Yes.”
“By sacrificing other people.”
His face tightened.
“Yes.”
He did not defend himself.
Progress.
Then:
“When you complained, I heard danger.”
I frowned.
“What?”
“If I agreed with you, Mom would explode.”
“So you made me wrong.”
“Yes.”
His eyes filled.
“Because disappointing you felt safer than disappointing her.”
That sentence hurt more than almost anything.
Because it explained six years.
I had been safe to hurt.
Lorraine had not.
“What happens now?”
I asked.
“I’m no-contact with her.”
“Because she’s charged?”
“No.”
He swallowed.
“Because I finally understand that if the charges disappeared tomorrow, she still shouldn’t be near Mia.”
That mattered.
“What about Cassandra?”
“Same.”
“And when they say I destroyed the family?”
“They already do.”
“Your answer?”
“That they endangered my daughter.”
No hesitation.
Good.
Then Jackson pulled out a key.
My house key.
He placed it on the bench.
“I know you didn’t ask.”
I stared.
“But I don’t want you worrying I’ll use it.”
He slid it toward me.
“I’m not asking to move back.”
That was the first thing he said that made me believe he might actually be changing.
Not because he gave up a key.
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Because he gave up entitlement.
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