They also refused to turn her into a victim.
June met her for coffee first.
Ava followed weeks later.
Claire waited longer.
Vanessa accepted that.
She didn’t demand equal treatment.
She didn’t ask for holidays.
She didn’t say, “I’m your mother,” as though biology automatically gave her rights.
She answered questions.
Some questions made her cry.
Some made the girls angry.
When June asked why she hadn’t come back after Marcus left, Vanessa said,
“Because I was a coward.”
When Ava asked why she hadn’t tried harder after the letters stopped, Vanessa said,
“I convinced myself I was protecting myself from rejection.”
And when Claire asked the hardest question—
“Do you regret leaving us, or do you regret what leaving cost you?”
Vanessa took a long time to answer.
