Chapter 4 - Teach Them Both
I asked Dad to meet Laura and me at a neutral office.
No Mom.
No Rachel.
He came.
He looked ten years older.
“Claire.”
I did not hug him.
He noticed.
Laura opened:
“Mr. Hayes, this is not an interrogation. Claire wants clarity. If anything overlaps with the criminal matter, you should answer only if your attorney is comfortable.”
Dad had brought counsel.
That alone told me how far we had traveled.
He admitted Mom wanted the camera disabled.
“She said Rachel was going to talk to Claire.”
“About what?” I asked.
“Emma.”
“What about Emma?”
“Respect.”
I almost laughed.
“Define respect.”
Dad rubbed his forehead.
“Your mother thinks you let her argue too much.”
“She is nine.”
“She asks questions.”
“That is not an answer.”
“She says no to adults.”
“Sometimes adults ask for things she should say no to.”
“I know.”
“Do you?”
He looked down.
Laura asked:
“Was there any plan to physically discipline Emma?”
“No.”
“Any plan to take her tablet?”
Dad hesitated.
“I think Rachel intended Tyler to use it.”
I stared.
“So the argument was planned because Emma would not surrender her birthday gift.”
“When you say it like that…”
“How else should I say it?”
Dad had no answer.
Then he said something that changed the next part of the story.
“Your mother thinks you have been turning Emma against family since Adam died.”
I froze.
“How?”
“Boundaries.”
“Boundaries?”
“You stopped making her hug relatives.”
“Because she said she hated forced hugs.”
“You stopped letting Mom discipline her.”
“She is my child.”
“You stopped overnight visits whenever Mom criticized you.”
“I stopped two weekends because Emma came home crying.”
Dad whispered:
“I know.”
“Then what did Mom mean when she said consequences affect me more through Emma?”
His face changed.
“You know that?”
“Harris told me what you reported.”
He closed his eyes.
“She said you don’t care what anybody says to you anymore. But you care what happens to Emma.”
Every part of me went cold.
“That sounds like a threat.”
“I didn’t take it that way.”
“How did you take it?”
“Emotional leverage.”
Laura spoke for first time in several minutes.
“Mr. Hayes, using a child as emotional leverage is not the harmless interpretation you think it is.”
Dad looked ashamed.
“I know that now.”
No.
He knew after a broken leg.
I asked:
“Why do you keep protecting Mom?”
Forty one years of marriage sat in the silence.
Finally:
“Because I’ve spent forty one years convincing myself peace was something I created.”
“And?”
“It was something I bought by letting somebody else pay.”
May you like
That was the first honest thing my father said.
But it would not be enough.
