Saturday arrived.
Daniel called me in the morning.
"Mom, I'm going to meet Vanessa at two."
"All right."
"Would you mind if I came over afterward?"
"Of course not."
He sounded nervous.
I wished him luck.
Then I spent the morning cleaning the cottage.
I changed the flowers in the sitting room and prepared lunch.
I wasn't trying to distract myself.
I simply wanted something ordinary to do while my son worked through a difficult part of his life.
At two, Daniel met Vanessa at a quiet café.
He told me about it later.
She arrived wearing a light-colored dress.
She looked tired.
They ordered coffee and sat near the window.
At first, they spoke about ordinary things.
Work.
Friends.
Family.
Then Vanessa asked whether he was happy.
Daniel told her he was getting better.
She looked down.
"I miss what we had."
He didn't answer immediately.
She continued.
"I know things went wrong."
Daniel asked what she meant.
She explained that the dinner had been a mistake.
She said she should never have laughed when her father insulted me.
She also admitted that she had allowed her family's expectations to influence the way she treated Daniel.
He listened.
Then he asked her something.
"Do you think I was good enough for you before you knew about my mother's company?"
Vanessa looked surprised.
She hesitated.
"I never thought you weren't good enough."
Daniel shook his head.
"You made me feel that way."
She lowered her eyes.
"I know."
He asked whether she could accept his career and his choices without constantly comparing them to her father's lifestyle.
She said she wanted to try.
But when he asked what would happen if he never earned as much as Richard, she struggled to answer.
That told him something.
He didn't become angry.
He simply realized that they were still looking at the same problem from different directions.
Vanessa asked whether they could start again.
Daniel told her he wasn't ready.
He said he still cared about her, but caring wasn't enough to build a marriage.
They finished their coffee.
Then they said goodbye.
There was no shouting.
No dramatic scene.
Just two people who had once planned a future together accepting that they wanted different things.
Daniel arrived at my cottage shortly after four.
I was sitting on the porch with a book.
He sat beside me.
"How did it go?"
He looked toward the garden.
"Better than I expected."
I waited.
"She apologized."
"That's good."
"She admitted that she was wrong about some things."
I nodded.
He took a breath.
"But I still don't think we should get back together."
I looked at him.
"How do you feel about that?"
"Sad."
He paused.
"But peaceful."
I smiled gently.
"That matters."
He leaned back in the chair.
"I think I've been trying to save the relationship because I didn't want to accept that it wasn't working."
I didn't interrupt.
"Maybe I was more attached to the future we planned than the way we actually treated each other."
I looked at him.
"That's a difficult thing to recognize."
He nodded.
We sat quietly.
Then he smiled.
"At least I can concentrate on my building project now."
I laughed.
"That sounds like a good plan."
We went inside.
I prepared dinner, and Daniel helped me set the table.
We talked about his new design.
He showed me a drawing on his phone.
I asked questions.
He explained the layout and the materials.
He was animated again.
I loved seeing that.
Later that evening, he left with a container of leftover food.
I stood in the doorway and watched him walk to his car.
He turned around.
"Love you, Mom."
"Love you too."
After he drove away, I went back inside.
There was a message from Vanessa.
"Thank you for being patient with me. I know I made mistakes."
I read it.
Then I replied.
"I hope you find happiness and learn from everything that happened."
I didn't write anything more.
Some conversations needed to end without another argument.
On Monday, Rebecca called.
The company had completed the transition to its new divisional leadership structure.
The employees had received updated reporting information.
James was satisfied with the operational arrangements.
I thanked Rebecca.
"Please send me the final transition report when it's ready."
"I will."
I put down the phone.
Then I looked at the calendar.
For the first time in weeks, there was nothing urgent scheduled.
I decided to take the following afternoon off.
I would visit the garden center and buy some new plants.
I wanted to spend a little time doing something that had nothing to do with business.
Click here to continue reading: PART 23: The Company Was Moving Forward, My Son Was Finding His Confidence Again, and I Finally Understood What Robert Had Tried to Teach Me
The Evening My Future Daughter-in-Law’s Father Mistook My Quiet Life for a Reason to Humiliate Me
Part 22 of 24
