Then I said, “I think we should remain apart for now. If we’re going to try to repair this, I need you to accept responsibility without making my mother the problem.”
Ashley was quiet.
Finally, she asked, “Does that mean you’ll tell her to apologize for looking down on me?”
I closed my eyes.
“No, Ashley.”
“Then you aren’t giving me a fair chance.”
I rubbed my forehead.
“That’s exactly what we need to talk about.”
But she ended the call.
Two weeks later, Ashley asked to meet Mom.
Mom didn’t answer immediately when I mentioned it.
She was sitting at her kitchen table reviewing driver schedules, her reading glasses balanced on the end of her nose.
“Does Ashley want to apologize?” she asked.
“She says she wants to clear the air.”
“That isn’t quite the same thing.”
“No.”
Mom folded the schedule.
“Nathan, I don’t want you arranging a meeting because you think it will save your marriage.”
I sat opposite her.
“I know.”
“If Ashley has something to say to me, she can contact me herself.”
She picked up her glasses.
“And I won’t promise to forgive her just because she asks.”
I nodded.
That evening, I gave Ashley Mom’s answer.
Three days later, she sent Mom a letter.
Mom showed it to me only after asking whether I wanted to read it.
Ashley apologized for the insult at the wedding.
But the letter also said she hoped Mom understood that her refusal to help us financially had created tension in our relationship.
Mom read that sentence aloud.
