For our baby.
The door opens and an Assistant Editor that I don't recognize walks out. Mom's been replacing a lot of the people in the top spots lately. But now it makes sense.
What she's doing is pure and simple character assassination. And a lot of old hands at the Daily Journal wouldn't have stood for it. They'd have either refused to do what she was asking and been fired, or resigned.
They certainly wouldn't be crawling back here for a desperate attempt at mercy.
At least that's what it seems like to me—a desperate attempt—as I walk into Mom's office.
No, she wasn't expecting me, okay. That's why she looks surprised. I didn't call ahead or do anything.
"I need to talk to you, Mother," I tell her.
She's silent. She wasn't expecting this.
Good. Maybe I have the element of surprise. Maybe I can penetrate through that shell.
"I need to tell you something," I say trying to draw strength from the silence.
But it's like Mom reads my thoughts, you know?
Because she breaks that silence with a simple, "What is it?"
I take a sigh. And I say the words that I'd never thought I'd have to utter.
"I'm sorry, mother," I say. Now she really is surprised and her eyes go wide. "I should've never crossed you in the first place."
Mom looks at me in silence.
"I should've done what you said when you said to do it, but I didn't," I tell her. "I should've realized the kind of monster that Magnus was."
"That Magnus is," my mother says, bringing me back to the present tense. "He hasn't changed."
I wince. This feels like a betrayal. Maybe if I say nothing then Mother will take my silence as consent.
"But I don't know why you say such a thing, baby girl," Mom says in a sing-song voice as she stands up from her desk and walks around it. "Magnus is by all definitions, a perfect man."
My eyes flash and I look to her. How can she say such things?
I watch her as she walks to the door to her office and closes it.
"He's handsome. He's kind. Gentle. With a generous and compassionate soul. He's fun. Distracting. Engaging. Lively. Irreverent, but when he falls in love with you, well
, you better be holding onto something," she says, looking straight at me. "Am I right?"
She's expecting an answer. But I can't answer. I came to beg for forgiveness and save Magnus. He would be enraged if he knew I was here.
But I can't let that stop me.
"I'm waiting for an answer, girl," Mom asks, harshly. "He's very easy to fall in love with, yes?"
I sigh.
I can't lie about this.
I nod my head. "Yes," I say. "He is very easy to fall in love with."
Mom smiles.