Chapter 17 - DORCAS’S LETTERS
Dorcas wrote.
Through counsel.
First letter:
I never meant for one terrible evening to define our relationship.
Bad beginning.
Still about her.
I did not give it to Quincy.
Second year:
I believed fear could teach discipline because fear was how I learned obedience as a child.
More honest.
Still not for him yet.
Third:
I used your father’s fear of losing control over his future, and I used your love for your mother, because I wanted the family to remain arranged in a way that made me important.
There.
Better.
Quincy was nine.
He chose not to read.
At twelve:
Still no.
At fifteen:
One letter.
He read silently.
Then asked:
“Did she really think I was scared of you?”
“No.”
“She wanted me to be?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“So your feelings could help her custody plan.”
He looked disgusted.
“Adults are stupid.”
Often.
“Did Dad want me scared?”
“No.”
That answer remained important.
“He wanted you to say you felt safer with him. He participated in a plan that put pressure on you. But the recording shows he did not want Dorcas creating fear or hurting you.”
Quincy nodded.
“Bad in different size.”
Exactly.
He had invented that phrase after reading court summaries.
Bad in the right size.
I loved it.
May you like
He did not answer Dorcas.
No obligation.
