Chapter 12
Selene’s supervised visit with Willa lasted eleven minutes.
It was the first since the temporary custody order.
Lucius watched from behind one-way glass at the family-services center because the therapist believed his presence inside the room could make Willa feel she had to choose sides.
Selene sat at a small table.
No diamonds.
No formal dress.
No Barrone staff.
Willa entered holding her rabbit.
She stopped immediately.
Selene began crying.
“Baby.”
Willa looked at the therapist.
The therapist said, “You can sit wherever you want.”
Willa chose the chair farthest from Selene.
The sight nearly broke Lucius.
Selene tried to explain.
“I thought Daddy was gone.”
Willa looked down.
“I know.”
“I was scared.”
Willa said nothing.
Selene reached across the table.
Willa pulled the rabbit closer.
The therapist gently stopped Selene from advancing further.
Then Willa asked:
“Why Tristan throw me?”
Selene’s face collapsed.
“I didn’t tell him to do that.”
Willa looked at her.
Children sometimes cut through defenses without understanding they are doing it.
“But you didn’t get me.”
Selene stopped breathing for a second.
Lucius closed his eyes behind the glass.
That was the wound.
Not only what Tristan did.
Selene had stood inside the warm house and allowed it.
She had been so consumed by Lucius’s return and her own exposure that her daughter became secondary.
The visit ended early when Willa asked to leave.
Lucius picked her up in the hallway.
She wrapped both arms around his neck.
“Home?”
May you like
“Yes.”
That one word carried more meaning than it should have for a three-year-old.
