Then my dad added, “She wants a relationship with you. She just doesn’t know how to say it.” I asked if Bethany had actually said any of that, or if they were just hoping I’d fall for it. They didn’t answer.
Then my mom said something that stopped everything: “She moved back in with us temporarily, just until she figures things out.”
Emily let out a breath loud enough for the room to hear it. So now the picture was complete. They’d paid her tuition. They let her move back in. And they were here now not to ask me for anything, but to make sure I didn’t make things harder for her. They weren’t mediating. They were managing.
I asked them flat out if they’d ever told her what she did at the wedding was wrong. My mom said she was overwhelmed. My dad said she didn’t mean to ruin it. I asked again, “Did either of you tell her it was wrong?” They didn’t speak.
That told me everything. They weren’t angry at her. They were embarrassed. And the easiest way to make the embarrassment go away was to push it onto me.