Chapter 7 - PATRICIA CAME FOR THE GIRLS
Patricia appeared at my house without warning.
Bad decision.
I spoke to her through the doorbell camera.
“I want to see my granddaughters.”
“No.”
“You cannot keep them from family forever.”
“I can keep them away from people who humiliate them until appropriate boundaries are established.”
“I apologized.”
“No.”
She had not.
She had said:
I’m sorry everyone became upset.
Different species.
Patricia straightened.
“They carry our blood.”
I almost laughed.
“At dinner, that blood wasn’t good enough because they were girls.”
Silence.
Then:
“They’re still Vances.”
There it was.
Possession without respect.
I said:
“Sophia asked me whether her father is ashamed of her.”
Patricia’s face changed.
For the first time.
Only slightly.
“Why would she ask that?”
“Because you took food from her while Andrew watched.”
Patricia looked away.
Then:
“She misunderstood.”
“No.”
I leaned closer to the screen.
“She understood perfectly.”
Patricia left.
No shouting.
No police.
Just a woman walking down a driveway after learning that grandmother was not a rank granting automatic access.
Months later, she sent Sophia and Chloe gifts.
I returned them.
The second time, she sent letters.
I read them first.
No apology.
Return.
The third time, almost a year later, the letters were different.
Sophia, I told you through my actions that being a girl made you less important in our family. That was wrong.
I stopped.
Then Chloe’s:
I took food away from you to teach your mother a lesson. Adults should never use children that way.
Better.
Still not enough for unsupervised access.
May you like
But truth had finally entered.
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