Page 49 of Executive Decision

18RELIEF

Daphne

I foundMum in the living room. She turned off the TV as I entered, a concerned—but not angry—look on her face. I had no idea what Davey told her, but I was about to go off in a legendary way. If she threw me out, I would have nowhere to go, but I still had my pride. If I accepted defeat, the last bit of self-worth flew out the window onto North Astor Street.

“I don’t care what he’s told you,” I said. “But it’s all bullshit! And I’m not taking his stupid job. It’s all one big plot to embarrass me. Hasn’t there been enough of that? Why does everyone in this family fucking hate me?”

Mum furrowed her brow. “Daphne, what are you talking about?”

I crossed my arms and moved from one ball of my foot to the other. “Davey isn’t sic’ing you on me?”

“No,” Mum said. “What happened?”

“I rejected his job offer, and he went off on me. We need to fire the president. I would make a very, very good one. I have ideas, but he doesn’t want to hear them. He thinks I am an idiot. And—like everyone else in this family—he wants to blame me for the abuse I suffered at Chandler’s hands.”

“Daphne, what are you?—”

“What? You’re going to deny how badly he hurt me?”

I hoped she would understand the implications without me getting into the details of what happened.

“Darling, I had no idea he laid hands on you. Why didn’t you say anything?”

“Because of Paris,” I sobbed. “Because of you breaking me down. He’d already started to throw me around about three months before the wedding. He didn’t hit me until a few monthsafterwe were wed. The other abuse started around the time I wasn’t getting pregnant. He loathed me by the end and took it out on me daily.”

“But it never showed.”

“He was good at hiding it—like most abusers. He’d hurt me where you couldn’t see it. He’d always say he’d never bruise my pretty face because the only good part of me would be gone.”

Tears welled in Mum’s eyes, but I was done crying.

Not a hugger and always restrained, Mum kept to herself. Dad was the touchy-feely one. However, on this occasion, she stood. Wrapping her arms around me tight, she cried. And then, the gates opened. We both cried in the living room together for a good few minutes. I didn’t realize how much I needed to let it out. We both did.

“Darling, I am so, so sorry. I have many regrets, but upon realizing how bad things got with Chandler, my greatest is going to Paris. Before this, I had my suspicions—ones I shared with your father at the end—but this is worse. Sweetheart, you leaving him at the altar would have been bad. I worried it would ruin us—and you. I had no idea what was happening. I was concerned about all your prospects?—”

“Did it ever occur to you I could be happy unwed? That I could make a life for myself and my own happiness? Even now, I am on the cusp of it, and everyone is trying to drag me back down! Davey sees my return as some version of weakness. He punished me for staying with an abuser. I couldn’t leave! It’s very complicated and?—”

Mum shook her head and wiped my tears. She wrapped her arms around me tight, holding me close and shushing.

“I love you, and I am so sorry, my darling girl,” Mum cried.

I bristled. We did not often get an I-love-you, even if we knew she loved us all very much. But now, she was crying intomyshoulder.

“Truly, Daphne. I regret it very much. I… I have struggled to watch what Chandler has done after your filing. And… I am so sorry, sweetheart. I don’t expect you will forgive me, but if you choose to?—”

She pulled back, “If you choose to, I will try to start over from a better place.”

Her face, streaming with tears and pulled tight in contrition, made me break back into tears. We held one another, sobbing. As we calmed, our breathing synced, bringing me comfort and relief.

“I… I have been so angry with you for so long,” I said. “I am… it will take me time to trust you again, Mum.”

“I know, sweetheart. I know,” Mum sniffled, pushing a stray swath of hair behind my ear. “And I will wait. I am so sorry all of this happened. I just thought it was cold feet. I got cold feet the week before I married your father, and—it was different. I see why Davey fought so hard to save you. It’s why I don’t understand his reaction now.”

“You took that out on him foryears,Mother. It translated into his broken relationship with me.”

“I don’t recall?—”

“Dad carefully navigated Davey and I not getting along and your anger at Davey. Now, he’s dead, and I’m here trying not to go to war with Davey as he runs the company aground—all to fucking punish me.”

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