Charles’s Final Letter
Chapter 19 - Charles’s Final Letter
Charles wrote from prison during the third year.
Ethan received the letter first.
It was addressed to Laura.
He asked whether she wanted it.
Laura considered burning it unopened.
Instead, she read it once.
Charles did not ask for forgiveness.
He wrote that prison had reduced his life to choices made by other people: when to eat, when to sleep, when doors opened.
He knew the comparison was imperfect.
Still, it had shown him a fraction of what he imposed on her.
He admitted that after the first year, he knew Laura was well enough to return.
He kept her away because he feared losing the company and the children’s love.
The letter ended:
I told myself I was protecting everyone until there was no difference between protection and possession. There is no apology large enough. I am sorry anyway.
Laura folded the pages.
Grace asked, “Will you answer?”
“No.”
Ethan watched her carefully.
“Does that feel unfinished?”
Laura looked toward the Hawthorne Center courtyard, where residents were planting flowers.
“No.”
She placed the letter in the archive with the court records.
Not in her home.
Not beside her children’s letters.
May you like
Some truths belonged in history.
They did not deserve a permanent room inside the heart.
