Chapter 6 - The Family Turns Against HimThe family dinner had started with Eleanor praising Julian.
It ended with Eleanor refusing to speak to him.
She called me the next morning.
“Elena?”
“Yes?”
“I owe you an apology.”
I closed my eyes.
“For what?”
“For everything.”
She began crying.
“I believed him.”
“You weren't the only one.”
“I treated you terribly.”
“You did.”
“I thought you were holding him back.”
I looked out the window.
“He was the one holding me back.”
She sighed.
“I know that now.”
Then she said something unexpected.
“Would you come to the house?”
I hesitated.
“Why?”
“I want to give you something.”
I went that afternoon.
Eleanor led me into a room I had never entered before.
It was filled with old photographs.
Julian as a child.
Julian as a teenager.
Julian graduating.
Then she opened a drawer.
Inside was a photograph of Julian and me from our wedding.
She handed it to me.
“I kept this because I believed you were the best thing that ever happened to him.”
I looked at the photograph.
“We were happy once.”
“Yes.”
She looked at me.
“Was he ever happy?”
I thought about it.
“Yes.”
“But he destroyed it.”
“He did.”
Eleanor cried again.
“I don't know how to fix this.”
“You can't.”
She nodded.
“I know.”
Then she hugged me.
It was the first time she had ever hugged me without judgment.
I hugged her back.
Not because everything was forgiven.
But because sometimes people deserve a chance to admit they were wrong.
Before I left, she handed me another envelope.
“This came from Julian's attorney.”
I opened it in my car.
Inside was a letter from Julian.
Three pages.
No excuses.
No anger.
Just confession.
He admitted everything.
At the bottom he wrote:
You were the only person who ever loved me before I became successful. I spent years trying to find someone who loved the man I became. I never realized I had already lost the person who loved the man I was.
I folded the letter.
For the first time, I felt pity.
Not love.
May you like
Not longing.
Just pity.
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