Chapter 15 - Cordelia Returns
A year after the staircase, Cordelia came to Briar House.
She didn't arrive as owner.
She arrived as a volunteer.
Her court-required service could have been completed elsewhere.
She requested the restoration center.
I almost rejected it.
Then I decided discomfort wasn't always a reason to say no.
Her first job was filing community records.
No cameras.
No special treatment.
For six hours, she alphabetized folders.
At lunch, she sat alone.
Weeks passed.
She kept returning.
One afternoon I found her standing beside the staircase.
“I think about it every day,” she said.
“So do I.”
“I don't expect forgiveness.”
“Good.”
She nodded.
Then looked at the stairs.
“I spent my entire life thinking wealth would make me safe.”
“Did it?”
“No.”
She turned toward me.
May you like
“It made me afraid of losing it.”
That was perhaps the first wise thing I'd ever heard Cordelia say.
