Chapter 8 - CALEB FINALLY LET GO OF THE RABBIT
Six months after the brunch, Caleb left his rabbit on the kitchen floor.
That sounds insignificant.
It wasn’t.
For nearly a year, he had carried it everywhere.
Meals.
Car rides.
Bed.
Doctor appointments.
If someone moved it, he panicked.
His therapist explained it simply.
The rabbit represented continuity.
Mom.
Safety.
Something nobody was supposed to take.
Vanessa had taken it during punishment.
So Caleb began guarding it constantly.
When he finally left it in another room without noticing—
I cried.
Quietly.
Sophie caught me.
“Dad?”
“I’m fine.”
She looked at the rabbit.
Then at me.
“You’re crying because Caleb forgot Mr. Brown?”
“Yes.”
“That is weird.”
“I’m aware.”
---
Sophie was doing better too.
Night-light still on.
Fine.
No one was taking it.
She began mentioning Claire without checking the room first.
One night at dinner:
“Mom used to burn carrots.”
I smiled.
“She absolutely did.”
“You told her they were good.”
“I was married.”
“That means lying?”
“No.”
Pause.
“Sometimes.”
Sophie laughed.
There it was.
Her mother becoming memory again instead of forbidden evidence.
---
Grace stayed.
Not as savior.
Not as substitute mother.
As Grace.
We promoted her to household manager because she was excellent at her job.
I tried to give her a ridiculous bonus.
She rejected half.
“I stopped a woman from hitting a child.”
“That matters.”
“Yes.”
Then:
“But if you pay me like I saved your entire family, you turn basic decency into something extraordinary.”
I stared.
People around me had developed a disturbing habit of saying insightful things.
“I hate everyone.”
Grace smiled.
May you like
“You’ll survive.”
---
