Chapter 17 - THE FACE-TO-FACE RECONCILIATION THAT NEVER WAS
Before leaving Connecticut for good,
I made one final stop at the federal holding facility in Hartford to visit my mother in the secure visitation lounge.
Victoria sat on the other side of the thick reinforced glass,
her prison-issued gray jumpsuit contrasting sharply with the pristine memory of her former elegance.
She picked up the heavy plastic telephone receiver with a trembling hand,
her eyes red-rimmed and hollow as she looked at me through the glass.
"Why did you do it,
Sienna?"
she asked,
her voice cracking over the secure intercom speaker.
"Why couldn't you just let us have the estate?"
I picked up the opposite receiver,
my expression completely neutral as I looked at the woman who had given birth to me but never truly known me.
"Because the estate wasn't yours to take,
Mother,"
I answered evenly.
"And because my father deserved better than to be remembered as a manipulated victim of your greed."
"We raised you,"
she whispered defensively,
a final flash of bitterness crossing her face.
"We gave you a home."
"You gave me a cage,"
I corrected her softly.
"And I chose to break out of it and build a life of honor,
integrity,
and absolute truth."
Victoria lowered her head,
the heavy glass barrier between us serving as a permanent monument to the insurmountable chasm that had always separated our worlds.
"Will you ever come back?"
she asked quietly,
almost pleadingly.
"No,
Mother,"
I replied,
hanging up the receiver and placing it neatly back in its cradle.
"My watch here is finished."
I turned away from the glass partition without looking back,
May you like
walking out of the visitation lounge and stepping out into the bright,
unforgiving sunlight of the outside world.
