Chapter 5 - GRANDMA MARGARET REFUSED TO STAY QUIET
Olivia came to the house one final time.
With counsel.
To collect jewelry and personal property.
Everything was documented.
No confrontation was supposed to happen.
Then Margaret rolled herself into the foyer.
“Olivia.”
Everyone stopped.
Olivia looked uncomfortable.
“Margaret.”
Grandma hated being called Margaret by her.
“You tried to destroy that girl.”
Olivia’s attorney stepped in.
“Perhaps this isn’t—”
Margaret raised one hand.
“I am seventy-nine. Interrupt me and I will die out of spite.”
I nearly laughed.
Olivia did not.
Grandma continued:
“You thought Sophie was easy to sacrifice because she needed the salary.”
Olivia’s face hardened.
“She made mistakes.”
“No.”
Margaret pointed toward me.
“You made a mistake.”
Silence.
“You mistook Michael’s kindness for blindness.”
Olivia’s eyes flashed.
Then she looked at me.
“You think you’re better than me now?”
I answered honestly.
“No.”
That surprised her.
“I think marrying you would have been unsafe for the people around me.”
Her face changed.
Not anger.
Something closer to panic.
Because that was not an insult she could argue against with status.
I continued:
“You didn’t lose the wedding because Sophie won.”
“You lost it because I finally saw how you behave when you think nobody important is watching.”
Olivia whispered:
“She’s a maid.”
Sophie stood ten feet away.
Still.
Everyone heard it.
There was no recovering from those three words.
Margaret smiled sadly.
“And that is why you still don’t understand.”
Olivia collected her things and left.
May you like
The blue vase stayed.
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