Chapter 7 - The Shadow of the Past
Six months passed.
A new routine settled in.
I saw Leo three times a week. We went to the zoo, the aquarium, and built massive Lego towers in my small condo.
Camilla got the accounting job. She quit the airport, finally hanging up that blue uniform.
Things were progressing slowly but steadily.
Then, one Tuesday evening, I got a knock on my door.
I opened it to find my mother standing there.
She looked older. The perfectly styled hair was a little flat, and the sharp designer suit looked too big on her.
"What are you doing here?" I asked, blocking the doorway.
"Can I come in, Lucas?" her voice lacked its usual commanding tone.
I hesitated, but stepped aside.
She walked into the living room and immediately noticed the toys scattered on the rug.
"He leaves a mess," she observed quietly.
"He's a child. That's what they do," I replied defensively. "Say what you came to say."
My mother sighed, sitting heavily on the sofa.
"The board is forcing me to step down from the family trust," she said.
I blinked. "What? Why?"
"Word got out about why you left. People talk. The partners at Camilla's old firm... one of them leaked the story about how I forced them to fire her."
I felt a dark sense of poetic justice.
"It became a PR nightmare," she continued. "They asked for my early retirement."
"Actions have consequences, Mom."
She looked up at me, her eyes red.
"I am completely alone in that massive house, Lucas. Charlotte is gone. You are gone. Laura refuses to speak to me."
"You chose your pride over your family."
"I know!" she suddenly shouted, her voice breaking. "I know I did! And it cost me my son."
She buried her face in her hands and began to weep. It wasn't manipulative crying; it was the raw, ugly crying of a broken woman.
"I want to meet him," she whispered through her tears. "Please. I want to meet my grandson."
I stared at her. The woman who had caused so much pain, who had forced the woman I loved to scrub floors, was now begging for scraps of grace.
"I can't make that decision, Mom."
She looked up, confused. "You're his father."
"And Camilla is his mother. After what you did to her, she has the final say. If she never wants you near him, you will never see him."
My mother nodded slowly, swallowing her pride.
May you like
"I understand. Tell her... tell her I am ready to apologize. Whenever she is."
She stood up, looking small and defeated, and walked out the door.
