He said, “You picked her over me.”
I answered, “I picked the person who was afraid.”
He looked away. “I’m your brother.”
“I know.”
“You think I’m some monster?”
“No.”
That surprised him.
I continued. “I think you’re a man who got used to controlling your wife and convinced yourself it was normal.”
He didn’t answer.
I don’t know whether he agreed. I don’t know whether he ever will.
Vanessa and the kids are doing better.
Not perfectly.
The divorce is still working its way through the legal system.
She picked up more nursing shifts.
Ava started therapy.
Mason still asks why Dad can’t just say sorry and make everybody live together again.
There aren’t easy answers for children.
As for the freezer? Vanessa didn’t take it.
After everything, neither of us wanted the stupid thing.
A charity wouldn’t accept something that old.
So eventually, I hired a junk company to haul it away.
Before they came, I removed the false bottom.
Underneath the metal box had been one more thing.
A photograph.
Mom, Vanessa, Ava, and Mason at the lake the previous summer.
On the back, Mom had written, “A home should be the place where you don’t have to be afraid.”
