“How cruel,” That he would even ask something like this was almost evil in a way. Did he ask to satisfy his conscience, or to aggravate her own? “I don’t wish to answer this at all.” Somewhere between an eight and a ten, to be sure. She was quiet, seemingly unwilling to step forth with her thoughts on the matter but in truth – “I am – I am not sure.”
God, what a dreadful daughter she was! Her poor father would be turning in his grave if only he had one – and that only made matters worse, didn’t it?
“There – are times when I can understand it. When I agree with the decision so deeply that I scare myself. What my father did – what he allowed to go unpunished – it was deserving of an equal answer. I do think that.”
Again, she fell quiet, thoughtful. “But – I cannot help but regret it. He was my father and for all his sins, I am not sure I will ever be able to wholly condemn him. I do not think it is in me to hate him entirely – and that by trying to do so, I am – being dishonest, with myself, in order to – “ It was an unkind admission, but then, it was an unkind question. “In order to appease you.”
Ocean Archive 