She said she had kept waiting for the right time to confess and then let every passing year make the truth harder to tell.

I couldn’t determine from a letter whether she truly understood the harm.

But I recognized an apology that no longer expected the injured people to comfort her.

I called and thanked her for writing.

I told her the next steps would be slow and that she needed to apologize directly to Lauren when Lauren was ready, not because an apology would guarantee access to Mason but because it was owed.

“Will you ever forgive me?” she asked.